See Billie Eilish Advocate for Mental Health in New ‘Seize the Awkward’ PSA

Billie Eilish discusses her mental health journey and the importance of reaching out to others for help and offering help as well in a new PSA video for ‘Seize the Awkward‘ in partnership with the Ad Council. The campaign encourages people to check in with their friends who might be struggling and open a line of communication.

“I think when people hear, ‘Remember to take care of your mental health,’ they think that everyone else is, and that is not at all accurate,” Eilish says in the clip. “You know, for me I’m trying to learn still to make sure that I stay OK.”

“It doesn’t make you weak to ask for help. It doesn’t. It doesn’t make you weak to ask for a friend to go to a therapist. It shouldn’t make you feel weak to ask anyone for help,” she adds. “And you should be able to ask anyone for help, everyone has to help someone if they need it. You know, starting that conversation, you don’t have to make it super serious right away, you know, you say, ‘How are you feeling? Like, are you OK?’” she advises to get the conversation going.

Eilish has been open about her own depression and night terrors, which she discussed with Apple Music Beats 1’s Zane Lowe. “Depression has controlled sort of like everything in my life,” she told Lowe. “For my whole life, I’ve kind of always been a melancholy person.”

Her new album, When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, alludes to these issues. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she said the subject matter resonates. “Kids use my songs as a hug. Songs about being depressed or suicidal or completely just against-yourself — some adults think that’s bad, but I feel that seeing that someone else feels just as horrible as you do is a comfort. It’s a good feeling.”