Jo Rixom from Status Employment came to Idea Shop about creating awareness of mental health issues in the workplace. Here’s what happened:

The organisation:

Status Employment are a charity providing employment support to individuals recovering from mental health conditions. 1 in 4 suffer from mental health issues, and yet it’s a massive taboo in the workplace.

The challenge:

Jo wanted to create awareness of mental health in the workplace but wasn’t sure how. She has a clear target of getting 101 people with mental health issues back into full employment in Lambeth.

Status Employment had already created leaflets which were distributed to private companies. Jo clearly cared a lot about the work she was doing but beyond the leaflet drop, couldn’t work out how to create more awareness.

The ideas:

It took quite a lot of in depth discussion, we wanted to understand what had been done before and what had and hadn’t worked. Firstly we looked at how to build on the existing leaflets. Adrien, an Art Director and one of the Ogilvy Idea Shop volunteers, explained how typography, colour and logos can be used differently to say different things. Then we came up with a some different designs directions that would support the aim of creating awareness of mental health in the workplace.

Then we explored ideas for awareness creating event.

First and foremost we want people to want to be involved in addressing the issues associated with Mental Health. 1 in 4 of us suffer from mental health problems. But it’s still a taboo subject. How can we encourage people to learn more?

We proposed organising an event in the Lambeth area. Ideas included inviting local artists from a college to paint well know celebrities who suffer from mental illness. This would challenge the preconceptions of mental health. For instance pictures of Stephen Fry and Winston Churchill – both mental health sufferers. The local element and the celebrity element would draw people in and start conversation about mental health. We discussed having a Q&A session at the event with people who live with mental health talking about their experiences in the workplace.

We then looked at research and how this could help Jo think of more ways to tackle her problem.

Adrien and I encouraged Jo to explore what approaches have been used to address the public’s approach to drugs, alcoholism, sexuality, racism about other taboo or once-taboo subjects – how have these been different? How effective where they? What made them stand out/work? What can Status Employment learn from them? With this knowledge, Jo would then have leverage with her team to try something different and new.

A six point strategy was then formed:

1) Create a ‘Big Ideal’ for Status Employment by finishing the sentence: ‘The world would be better if……. ‘ This Big Ideal will help make their aims more concrete and so more achieveable.

2) Research what has been done – review campaigns and learn about approaches – apply to that to the context of Status Employment and create assets that are true to their brand and their new way of thinking.

3) Hold an event to create publicity, start conversations and learn further from those affected and those attending.

4) After the event encourage discussion online using social media. Then conduct further strategic planning based on the learnings.
5) Repeat points 1 to 4 until objectives are met and progress is made – how have they changed? Developed?
6) Continue research and brand development. As confidence develops from point 1 to 5 encourage further PR and brand leveraging.

Jo said this simple approach of a 6 point plan really helped frame her thoughts. She said she was going to put it to good use. We believe that by looking at what other organisations had done successfully, Jo would understand there are many ways to skin a cat successfully. She’d be inspired and motivated to approach this awareness problem from a new viewpoint. Adrien and I are both looking forward to seeing how things develop.

Inspiration we suggested included:

Awareness Test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4

Car Demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvxGXSGuHbA&feature=related

Stop Smoking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf3bsB-L8DU&feature=related

Kick homophobia out of football: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy7QqloN8Do

Don’t drink and drive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQtTREndJKk

Binge drinking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jftfU30xJg&feature=fvw

Stigma – depression: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64EWjvxqbYg

Posted by Nick Bennett, Account Manager at OgilvyOne

Tags: Awareness, events, Idea Shop Brixton, Mental Health, research