Nipissing Mental Health Housing and Support Services [NMHHSS]
What outstanding effort would you like to share?
“10 Days, 10 Ways.” is a multi-part social media campaign to help people cope during the current Ontario lock down.
What challenge initiated the effort?
The Province of Ontario’s April 7 declaration of a third state of emergency [and a province-wide stay-at-home order] had a significant impact on our population’s mental health. The Canadian Mental Health Association [CMHA] commissioned a third survey, which was released on the one-year anniversary of the pandemic. It clearly shows that the strain on the mental health of Ontarians has reached an all-time high.
Whose idea was it?
The idea was adapted from materials provided by CMHA Ontario to branches and partners. NMHHSS created the “10 Days, 10 Ways.” campaign on Facebook and Instagram. The series offers a daily piece of advice to promote self-care and positive mental health during the stay-at-home period. The messages are useful, of course, throughout the pandemic.
How did it go from idea to action?
Information was packaged into an introductory post, Ten easily digestible daily tips, consisting of a social media graphic and accompanying caption were created. The overall tone is encouraging and uplifting. NMHHSS adopted the tag line “Keep going, you’ve got this” and leveraged hashtags #mentalhealthmatters #selfcare to drive engagement.
Start date:
April 8, 2021
Goal:
Engage the community around the issue of how the pandemic has had an impact on our mental health. We wanted to share strategies for wellbeing and positive mental health, while promoting awareness of the agency and available resources [e.g., local crisis line, ConnexOntario information and referral service, BounceBack, CMHA Ontario’s free, guided self-help program.]
Progress:
Ongoing (series concludes Sunday, April 18)
Measurable outcomes:
We’ve seen a significant bump in the agency’s FB and IG activity in terms of organic reach, post likes/interactions, new followers, page views, etc.
For more information:
Carla Ammerata, Nipissing Mental Health Housing and Support Services, ckemsley@nmhhss.ca or 249-591-1775.