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FEATURED CASE STUDY

Woman wearing mask with caption What You Say Matters

Client: Denver Department of Public Health and Environment

CHANGING HOW DENVERITES TALK ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH

A public outreach campaign.

Situation

Untreated mental health and substance use issues are simply devastating, and can impact anyone.

1,287 Coloradans lost their lives to suicide in 2019 alone, and the count continues to rise.

So why are people not receiving care? Stigma is one of the primary reasons people don’t seek help, fearing they will be treated differently, or even lose their job.

In 2020 the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment (DDPHE) hired AIM to develop an anti-stigma outreach campaign that came to be called, What You Say Matters, to help Denver reduce stigma as a barrier to receiving care and to save and improve lives.

Approach

In a 4-phase process AIM and a media / creative partner created, What You Say Matters, an award winning anti-stigma outreach campaign that includes videos, social media assets, a How To Speak About Mental Health Language Guide, and a comprehensive toolkit intended for medical providers, community leaders, law enforcement, teachers and everyday people wanting to be more informed and supportive of people living with mental health or substance use issues.

AIM began with a formative assessment to measure and deeply understand the nature of stigma in Denver which informed the development and testing of possible messages that would work across different populations, languages, and cultures. The next two phases involved design, production and dissemination of the campaign assets using a strategic media plan. The final phase formally evaluated the anti-stigma campaign’s effectiveness using social science best practices.

Outcomes

The initial What You Say Matters campaign began running in October 2022 and continued through January 2023. Even before formal evaluation of the initial campaign was complete, the campaign won 2nd place at the 2023 National Association of Government Communicators awards, recognizing excellence in government communications. The campaign also won a Blue Pencil & Gold Screen Award in 2023 and garnered outstanding feedback from Denver’s mental healthcare community.

In the final formal evaluation phase, using a diverse sample of nearly 300 people living in Denver who saw or heard the What You Say Matters campaign, result highlights were resoundingly positive:

60%

said they talked “somewhat more often” or “much more often” about their serious mental health condition after seeing or hearing the campaign.

53%

said they are “very likely” or “extremely likely” to change their behavior because of seeing or hearing the campaign.

55%

said they found the campaign “highly effective” or “extremely effective”.

75%

said they could “relate to the message”.

60%

said they talked “somewhat more positively” or “much more positively” with people who have a serious mental health condition after seeing or hearing the campaign.