'Hey, it's oké': An initiative of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS)
The campaign 'Hey, it's oké' is an initiative of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS). The goal of the campaign is to remove the stigma on mental illnesses and lower the threshold to talk about it for both people with a mental illness and those around them. The campaign does this by providing information about known and lesser known prejudices, sharing stories of experience of people who make mental illnesses discussable, and giving concrete tips and sample questions to start the conversation yourself.
Importance of the campaign
The threshold for talking about mental illness is quite high. People experience it as something private: something you might not just start talking about. People do not always expect the other person to enjoy talking about their illness. The initiative is therefore often placed with the person with the mental illness, also because people expect that someone will tell them if they want to talk about it. People also feel that by talking about it you establish a personal bond with someone. Almost a third feel a responsibility to help then, too. These considerations, combined with the fact that only a small group knows what people with a mental illness would actually like for themselves, means that the subject may be difficult to discuss and is therefore avoided.
Three audiences, three stories
In support of this important campaign, Mediahuis has visualized three stories of experience. In these stories the focus is not so much on the disorder itself, but rather on making it a subject of discussion and what thresholds are experienced when talking about it as a bystander. Of course there is also room for how the person with the mental illness benefits from a listening ear. Watch the story of girlfriends Tember and Nina via the link below.
A combination of video, online and print
A combination of video, online articles and a print article was chosen for this campaign. The stories focused on the following target audiences: Parenting (including Famme, J/M parents, Mamaenzo), women (VROUW, women's channel) and men (Telesport, Sportchannel). Watch the interview with FC Utrecht captain Willem Janssen via the link.
Media House has created wonderful, open stories that very well show én feel why it is so hard to talk about mental illness. But oh so important.
— Edith Janson, Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS)
