The challenge of turning awareness into action on mental health
As part of a series of initiatives with Plymouth & District Mind (our charity of the year for 2016) we’ve just released the results of a survey looking into the mental health awareness of students and their parents in the lead up to GCSE and A-Level results.
Some of the results came as a surprise to me – for example less than 8% of students who responded were male. That trend continued for the guys – only 9% of dads engaged in the survey too. Although the gender difference surprised me; it didn’t surprise the experts at Mind.
I was really pleased and not surprised that over 85% of students said they were ‘informed’ or ‘well informed’ about mental health. Without doubt the ‘1 in 4’ campaign on the likelihood of suffering from mental health has had considerable impact in terms of awareness. That great work has been followed up by schools up and down the country.
However, I came back down to earth with a bump when 46% of those students said they wouldn’t seek support. Why not? They are still too embarrassed to talk about it and they have difficulty approaching the subject.
I have to say it made me think of a recent conversation with a senior colleague recently who moaned: “Why the f!#$ are major brands still fixated about awareness in the marketing mix? Surely they must recognise there are significant steps beyond just that!”
With the results (and my colleague’s rant) in mind, I wrote the following in the official press release:
“There is no doubt that general awareness of mental health issues has risen in recent years thanks to high profile national campaigns and a significant step up in activity within schools. The results reveal the need for greater focus on self help information and intervention to turn awareness into effective action.”
So let’s focus on the stuff that is going to encourage action. Greater self help (because some people will never reach out), better education for parents and more communication to break down the barriers to seeking help.
If the results have made you think enough to act or seek help in the future, I’ll be very happy.
Please take a look at the findings here
Thank you for reading.
