World’s first blog psychologist and founder of Psychreg, Dennis Relojo-Howell, was named as this year’s ‘Blogger of the Year’ at the Mental Health Blog Awards (MHBA) – which, due to COVID-19, was held virtually last Saturday 25th July 2020.
Besting five other nominees, Dennis emerged as this year’s winner of one of the most highly regarded recognitions for mental health bloggers in the UK.
Dennis created Psychreg in 2014 while studying for an MSc at the University of Hertfordshire.
Psychreg is a global resource in psychology, mental health, and well-being. It became notable for publishing mental health stories, which aims to reduce the stigma of people who are struggling with mental health issues.
He shares: ‘I’m very honoured to have been chosen as this year’s “Blogger of the Year” and I’m very humbled, even though sometimes I consider myself more of a curator than a blogger – I have only created a platform for people to share their mental health journeys. So, I share this recognition to all those inspiring souls who have trusted Psychreg with their mental health stories.’
MHBA was launched by Mike Douglas – a mental health advocate from Hampshire – in 2018 and since then has been at the forefront of recognising mental health bloggers across the UK.
In spite of COVID-19, MHBA 2020 was a success, having managed to gain 2,014 online votes for all the nominations this year.
Mike says: ‘I look forward to continuing to celebrate the amazing work, effort, energy, emotion and so much more that bloggers all put into raising awareness, supporting, signposting, explaining and comforting in 2020.’
The ‘Blogger of the Year’ award is the second recognition that Dennis received this year after Psychreg was awarded ‘Wellbeing Excellence in the Workplace’ by Ayanay Psychological Accreditation.
Growing up in the slums of Manila in the Philippines, Dennis has been an active mental health campaigner since he moved to the UK in 2013.
At the core of his advocacy is promoting the psychological benefits of blogging which made him decide to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Edinburgh this September 2020.
Dennis is also a successful mental health YouTuber. His channel The DRH Show, which has over 12,000 subscribers, features interviews with thought leaders and practitioners within psychology and mental health.
He recently published a mental health book, Let’s Talk About Behaviour, which is available on Amazon and all good bookshops.