Actress-turned-rapper Mandisa Nduna who suffers from anxiety herself has started an initiative to encourage other people to talk about mental health issues.

Mandisa told TshisaLIVE that after dealing with anxiety for years‚ she knows how difficult it is for one to express their hurt or to find a professional setting to release when they are triggered.

"I have anxiety. It manifests itself physically sometimes where I find myself with a stiff tongue and neck‚ temporary paralysis in fingers and toes and sometimes temporary loss of hearing. I also have mild social anxiety."

Mandisa said she knew that everyone was going through something and hoped to find a community of people willing to help pick each other up.

"I'm not someone looking from the outside in‚ I am also dealing with my own things. The reason I started this platform was because in my own journey it was difficult to only speak to family and to also access any kind of professional help... be it because of money‚ accessibility or time. For me‚ my social anxiety makes it hard to even want to leave the house‚" she told TshisaLIVE.

The actress explained in a lengthy thread on Twitter how the idea of a "video diary" came to her and why she thought it could work.

"I know first hand what it's like to feel like nobody understands you. To be 14 years old and have anxiety attacks and be told you’re crazy or bewitched (true story) and that you just need church. I know what it’s like to feel like you aren't being heard."

She hopes the platform will be refuge and perhaps a place to heal for her and many others.

Read her comprehensive thread below.