Celebrating comms excellence

Mental health awareness has seen incredible change – in no small part down to communications teams in private and public sectors that have ramped up efforts to raise awareness, reduce stigma and introduce new vocabularies for mental health conditions.

The shift from hushed conversations to open dialogue represents one of the most significant public health communication achievements of the past decade. We communicators can celebrate normalising discussions around anxiety and depression, and creating spaces where individuals feel empowered to share their experiences without fear of judgment.

Still, mental health encompasses a wide range of systemic issues to solve, and people living with these conditions have unmet needs; significant gaps persist in our collective understanding and support systems for people who need them.

This is especially true for people with serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, PTSD, depressive and dissociative disorders. The stigma surrounding these conditions remains particularly stubborn, often fuelled by misrepresentations in media and entertainment, and those with complex needs frequently encounter additional hurdles in accessing appropriate care and fewer specialised resources tailored to their unique circumstances.

We healthcare communicators love a good challenge, though, and this is one that allows us to tackle behavioural and social change as we call attention to new interventions.  Whether new therapeutic modalities, innovations in virtual reality exposure therapy, artificial intelligence-powered mental health monitoring and mobile applications designed for cognitive behavioural interventions, this expanding ecosystem of solutions helps people get care when, where and how they need it most.

By crafting narratives that resonate with diverse audiences, we can bridge knowledge gaps and foster environments conducive to meaningful action. And, when strategic communications serves as the connective tissue between emerging technologies, healthcare providers and those in need, we can point people in the direction of new advances while addressing existing challenges. Our collective responsibility extends beyond raising awareness – we must ride the wave of awareness and turn it into sustained engagement, the kind that drives real and lasting policy, and attitudinal and systemic change.

Amanda Moulson is Head of Strategy at Virgo Health