Sharing information about mental health services: To reach adolescents where they are, we need to market early help provision on social media

Project: Research council

Project Details

Description

There is a large and widening gap between the need for mental health help and timely access to services for adolescents. To enable adolescents to access evidence-based help when they first begin to struggle, we need widespread public health messaging which promotes prompt problem recognition and encourages and facilitates help-seeking. Current messaging approaches are often to share information on websites, but adolescents do not tend to look at these. Adolescents have an almost ubiquitous presence on social media, including using these platforms for information and support. As mental health professionals and researchers, we need to capitalise on their presence in this space and share messages about early help and support in ways that are engaging, relevant, credible, and perceived to be trustworthy by adolescents. To do this, we need to learn from our interdisciplinary colleagues with social marketing expertise, and from co-designing messages and messaging strategies with adolescents themselves. We illustrate the unique value that each of these partners can bring to improve how information about early help for mental health is shared.
StatusActive
Effective start/end date1/04/22 → …

UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This project contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

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