Our Approach
Our team reviewed the literature, extracted lessons from previous campaigns, and convened focus groups with diverse audiences.
Our research showed that previous campaigns had made progress in reducing stigma and increasing mental health awareness—but awareness alone wasn’t enough. People still needed help recognizing when they or someone they cared about might need support, and practical tools and guidance on what to do next.
From there, we created Take Action for Mental Health to promote three actions: (1) Check in—on your own mental health and that of others; (2) Learn more—about the signs of mental illness, mental health self-care, and the different types of help available; and (3) Get support—by finding resources available in your area, for yourself or someone you care about.
Built in both English and Spanish, TakeAction4MH.com offered practical tools to help individuals assess their own mental health and learn how to initiate “check-in chats” with others, as well as direct people to the mental health support options most relevant to their immediate needs.
Outreach included hyper-targeted paid digital media focused on high-impact zip codes and underserved communities, in addition to paid search, native display ads, online video, and organic social media. Our influencer campaigns featured Jordan Chiles, Jeremy Lin, and Karamo Brown from Netflix’s Queer Eye discussing his mental health struggles and strategies.
Toolkits included May Is Mental Health Matters Month, Juneteenth, holiday self-care, rural resources, and support for student athletes. Materials were customized for the campaign’s priority audiences of Hispanic/Latinx, LGBTQIA+, transition-age youth, and rural populations, and were adapted into Spanish, Vietnamese, Arabic, Armenian, Cambodian, Chinese, Farsi, Hmong, Korean, Punjabi, and Tagalog.
Through quarterly workgroup sessions with representatives of county behavioral health agencies, we ensured that the voices of all California counties were heard.
