Kahlil Thompson-Coyle See Change Workshop NOSP Forum, 28 th April 2010

Introduction SEE CHANGE is Ireland’s national programme working positively to change social attitudes and behaviour so that there is a reduction of stigma and discrimination associated with mental health problems and to ensure that everyone enjoys the same rights on an equal basis.

Stigma International research identifies stigma as one of the most persistent barriers to understanding mental health problems and the importance of mental health. Stigma = “A cluster of negative attitudes and beliefs that motivate the general public to fear, reject, avoid and discriminate against people with mental ill health. Stigma leads others to avoid living, socialising, or working with, renting to, or employing people with mental disorders... It leads to low self-esteem, isolation, and hopelessness. It deters the public from seeking and wanting to pay for care. Responding to stigma, people with mental health problems internalise public attitudes and become so embarrassed or ashamed that they often conceal symptoms and fail to seek treatment.” (SAMHSA, 2004)

Four Core Issues Lack of knowledge – little understanding of mental health and mental health problems, misperceptions of particular mental health problems and unaware of the concept of recovery. Negative attitudes (not always prejudice) – anxiety, fear of doing or saying ‘the wrong thing’, fear of embarrassment or harm from individuals with experience of mental health problems, low expectations.

Four Core Issues cont’d Self-stigma (internalised discrimination) – discourages help-seeking, creates expectation of discrimination leading to avoidance of situations and fear of the consequences of being open about mental health problems. Negative or hostile behaviour – being isolated, discriminated against or persecuted in the family, the community, in the workplace, in the media and/or in equality of access to goods, services and citizenship.

How can we reduce stigma? Decrease Stigma by… Education Talking openly Quality support and treatment MediaLanguage Personal role

Approaches to influencing behaviour Social marketing is... ‘the application of marketing along with other concepts and techniques to achieve specific behavioural goals for a social good.’ (French, Blair Stevens 2006 National Social Marketing Centre) Social contact theory

Equal Status, both groups taken into an equal status relationship Common Goals, both groups work on a problem/task and share this as a common goal Intergroup Cooperation, the task must be structured so that individual members of both groups are interdependent on each other to achieve this common goal Support of authorities, law or customs, some authority that both groups acknowledge and define social norms that support the contact and interactions between the groups and members.

Putting social contact theory into practice Direct person-to-person contact Indirect exposure Personal testimonies Common cause

England

Direct personal contact

Indirect personal contact Works on the principle that talking about mental health is the best way to confront stereotypes and tackle prejudice.

Scotland

Personal Testimonies

Common Cause

See Change’s Planned Process where we are now… Scoping to understand the problem and gather insight into prevailing attitudes and behaviours – desk research, interviews, surveys, meetings  Amnesty’s research  See Change’s baseline survey Development of campaign: key messages, delivery mechanisms, creative routes, ‘Be the Change’ ideas competition  Initial information session  Strategic planning session (vision, mission statement, aims/objectives – an agreed basis for development)  Ideas generation workshop  ‘Be the Change’ ideas competition

See Change’s Planned Process what we will be doing… Implementation of integrated strategy of national and local action including marketing, communications, media work and events Evaluation through surveys, focus groups, monitoring of demand, media monitoring, web stats, requests for campaign materials Follow up informed by evaluation and feedback on phase one activity, going beyond just 2 years…looking forward to phase 2

Key Ingredients for See Change See Change partnership to lead the way, and to support and validate national and local effort Evidence-based Strong relationships Responsive, flexible and opportunistic Tailored to different target groups High profile and strong first-person voice of people with experience of mental health problems Culture of constant learning Being tenacious

See Change Partners so far…

We invite you to become part of See Change