Mental health - a behaviour change approach to awareness & acceptance
Our social change team worked alongside NHS Tees and a wide variety of stakeholders, service providers and community partners on a ‘Time to Change’ - a groundbreaking 12 month social marketing campaign to reduce stigma around mental health and help people access support services.
We carried out in-depth quantitative and qualitative research as part of the project’s creative development to help decide what practical steps were needed to promote sustainable behaviour change, awareness and acceptance of mental health issues.
An important aspect of this social marketing approach included testing out a range of creative concepts with target groups to gauge perceptions and evaluate what messages and marketing channels would most effectively encourage positive behaviour change and attitudes around the complex and sensitive issue of mental health.
The intervention phase of the campaign built on the national ‘Time to Change’ brand, adapted as part of a Tees-wide approach across Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Hartlepool.
Our social change specialists officially launched the awareness campaign with a major public awareness event around mental health for shoppers at Parkway Shopping Centre in Middlesbrough, offering a range of free information and advice sessions. This was supported by local radio station TFM, and followed by a series of community roadshows and additional PR and community engagement activities.
