Image: Gary Hellemen and his mom
Retired gardener turned ‘agony aunt’ celebrates his fourth year spreading motivational morning tweets to raise awareness for mental health.
Gary Hellemen, 60, has been posting a ‘Good Morning Rotherham’ every day of the week from his home in East Dene since 2019.
Mr Hellemen said: “I have got lived experience of mental health problems and I think looking after mental health is important.”
Mr Hellemen’s following began to climb after he posted about the passing of his mother, May, on 28 September 2023.
“When I lost my mum, I had around 300 followers. The next day, after tweeting about it, I had gained a lot more and had almost 1200 likes on the post.
“It’s my way of putting a bit of cheer on people’s lives in the morning and obviously other people enjoy it too.”
His motivational tweets to Rotherham include wishing the residents a ‘Marvellous Monday’ or a ‘Wonderful Wednesday’.
In his spare time, Hellemen volunteers as a lived experience researcher at local schools and Universities. He also frequently responds to twitter DM’s.
“It gives me a sense of happiness. I don’t want people to suffer in silence. I try to help people, tell them to take care and look after themselves. I was like an agony aunt at first, but it’s a brilliant help.”
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