This activity allows you to lead or contribute to a mental health awareness campaign that promotes well-being and reduces stigma in your community.
Whether you prefer working behind the scenes or taking on a more active role, this activity offers a variety of ways for you to make an impact. Through campaign planning, content creation, and small-scale events, you’ll help spread important messages about mental health and encourage others to take action.
First, get inspired
In this TEDxCherry Creek Women talk, Téaghan Ferguson captures our attention on the society in which youth are actively prevented from advocating for themselves and their peers. This is why we need generational learning to help break down this barrier. Youth need to be heard and supported as they advocate for their needs.
In their TEDxLFHS talk, high school student Sarah Mack shares takeaways from their mental health struggles and treatment experiences to illustrate how society stigmatises and trivialises the hardships of mental illness.
The following videos showcase five mental health campaigns making a difference (according to a blog post by Roger Horberry, a senior copywriter at GWI with a special interest in research and data topics).
Mind’s “If this speaks to you” mental health campaign aims to challenge how we speak about mental issues and listen to others.
This simple but hard-hitting mental health campaign from the UK’s Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) reminds us that suicide is something that happens to ordinary people from all walks of life.
In this campaign, Dove invites young people to share stories of how they’re affected by “appearance hate and discrimination” caused by toxic beauty ideals, with a wider mission to make social media a more positive place that’s safer for kids.
This mental health campaign video, made by UK Championship League side Norwich City FC to support #WorldMentalHealthDay and Samaritans mental health charity, addresses themes of suicide.
ASICS – one of the world’s leading sports shoe brands – to take action and create this mental health campaign to encourage more people to experience the mental health benefits that the movement can bring.
Now, take action!
By completing the following activities, you’ll learn how to contribute to or lead a mental health awareness campaign that makes a real difference in your community by raising awareness, promoting mental well-being, and reducing stigma.
- Campaign planning workshop or toolkit: Attend a campaign planning workshop or use an online toolkit to create an impactful mental health awareness campaign. The toolkit provides templates and practical steps to help you design a campaign that fits your interests and resources, whether a social media campaign or a community event.
- Content creation (flexible roles): Choose a role that matches your strengths and comfort level. You can create digital content (e.g., social media posts, videos, graphics) to spread awareness or work behind the scenes to help with research, event organisation, or outreach. This allows you to engage in the campaign in a way that feels right for you.
- Get involved in a small-scale event or online campaign: Join a mental health awareness event, such as a peer discussion, wellness workshop, or an online awareness campaign. These smaller-scale initiatives are designed to be manageable while still having a meaningful impact on your community.
Get your badge!
Complete some activities from the list above and apply for a badge (=click the "Get this badge" button below) by submitting your campaign plan, content, or reflections on how you contributed to raising mental health awareness and reducing stigma.
Who is behind this activity?
Cities of Learning Network partners invite you to learn and do something about the European Youth Goal #5, Mental Health and Wellbeing. We value your efforts and contributions and want to reward you with badge recognition.
Contact us for more details about the Erasmus+ co-funded project "European Youth Goals for Cities of Learning."
- System&G, Greece - the project lead partner
- CODEC, Belgium
- Badgecraft, Lithuania
- System&G Finland
Disclaimer: We are grateful for the ideas generated by youth leaders and youth workers during the international study visits. To create this activity, humans collaborated with AI using the Youth Goals Hub GPT custom-built version, informed and inspired by the best youth work practices.