5TH ANNIVERSARY NATIONAL MENTAL HEALTH AWARDS
Category: Partnership
Honourable Mention: MINDCHECK.CA
B.C. MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTION SERVICES, HEALTH LITERACY
Vancouver, B.C.
mindcheck.ca
B.C. YOUTH KEEP MENTAL HEALTH IN CHECK THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA
BACKGROUND
Mental illness is often perceived as an “adult” problem, but mental health problems experienced in adulthood typically begin in childhood or adolescence. Some seven in 10 adults who experience mental illness and mental health problems say their issues started before they were 18 years old.
Current data indicate that one in five children and youth struggle with their mental health and more than half of those who have a mental or emotional health issue have not accessed the services they need. The stigma of mental illness is a formidable barrier to youth.
Literature suggests that mental health and substance use disorders are the primary health issues for young people in their teen years and early 20s, and that youth typically go to their friends for mental and emotional support more than anywhere else.
Recognizing the signs of mental health problems and intervening early — in a way that reflects the distinct needs of youth — can be far more effective and sustainable than waiting until the problem becomes chronic and persisting.
OVERVIEW
The Fraser Health Authority, which provides health care services for 1.6 million people living in B.C.’s lower mainland, developed a website — mindcheck.ca — in 2010 as part of its Youth and Young Adult Mental Health and Substance Use Early Intervention Pilot Project. The pilot’s success spoke to the site’s potential to serve the wider mental health concerns of youth.
In 2011, in partnership with B.C. Mental Health and Addiction Services, Health Literacy, the
transformation of mindcheck.ca into a province-wide resource for youth and young adults began.
The relatively small-scale site would be enriched and expanded to reach a wider audience, meeting the particular needs of youth in the way that best suits their preferences for information gathering, communication and interaction.
The revamped mindcheck.ca website was launched on Jan. 24, 2012. It aims to improve the mental health status and quality of life of youth and young adults, and prevent emerging problems from escalating into more severe disorders requiring more intensive resources. It encourages kids and
youth with early symptoms to come forward, and offers a level of engagement for youth rarely seen for a site devoted to something as serious as mental health.
To achieve this, extensive work was completed on the original website in order to enrich content (which focuses on depression, stress, anxiety, psychosis and substance abuse issues most relevant to youth), enhance navigation tools and graphics to appeal to and engage youth, and develop a voice that was less about the classic mental health discussion and more about taking the conversation to a level where youth would immediately relate to and understand it.
The interactive website enables youth to complete quizzes to check how they’re feeling and get connected to support early and quickly. Support includes education, self-help tools, web links and assistance with making connections to local professional resources.
In the first six months following its launch, mindcheck.ca tallied more than 70,000 individual visitors from across B.C. and around the world.
The provincial site was developed and continues to be managed as a partnership between Fraser Health and B.C. Mental Health and Addiction Services. Both teams collaborate for ongoing maintenance and enhancements to the site.
Initial funding for mindcheck.ca was provided by Fraser Health. Additional financial support from the RBC Foundation, B.C. Mental Health and Addiction Services and the Canucks for Kids Fund made it possible to redevelop the site and to launch it to kids and youth across the province.
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Early on, it was easy to see the potential of mindcheck.ca and the niche it would fill. Provincial mental health services offered a wealth of web resources for children, youth and families, but the websites were primarily for parents, teachers and health professionals. mindcheck.ca, on the other hand, spoke directly to youth.
“We understood that being on the internet was a really good way to reach out to that target population,” explains Connie Coniglio, Provincial Executive Director, Children and Women’s Mental Health and Substance Use Programs, with B.C. Mental Health and Addiction Services.
The engagement of the Vancouver Canucks in the project — a partnership which extended well beyond providing funds — was a unique opportunity that has significantly raised the profile of mindcheck.ca and the discussion of mental health among youth.
INNOVATION
Effective use of social media and technology has been instrumental in mindcheck.ca’s success. The interactive website, quizzes that help youth assess their mental health and the ability to share the information via Facebook and Twitter are fully integrated, enabling youth to immerse themselves in a realm and use communication channels that resonate with them and their peers.
Partnership with the Vancouver Canucks elevated the profile of the initiative and the discussion, and played a key role in heightening awareness of the site’s relaunch. The club had a personal connection to the issue and its involvement resonated with youth and the community because of the suicide of one of its former players, Rick Rypien, in August 2011 [see The Canucks Connection for more information]. Five Canucks players personally tweeted about the launch, the general manager was interviewed about mindcheck.ca, the club showed a video at its home game showcasing the site on launch day and the team sold t-shirts in memory of Rypien. On the anniversary of Rypien’s death, Dr.
Coniglio appeared on the local sports radio station to further raise awareness and reflect on what had
been achieved and learned through the past year.
The In One Voice video submission campaign invited visitors to mindcheck.ca to upload their video pledge to support those experiencing mental health challenges. Literature on stigma reduction indicates that one of the most effective ways to reduce stigma is by learning from people who have experienced mental health challenges, found ways to overcome them and moved forward in their lives. The videos enabled mindcheck.ca to capture personal stories, inspire people and educate the public in a way that has never been done before.
MAKING AN IMPACT
On the day the revitalized mindcheck.ca website was launched, 20,000 people visited it. On Twitter, the #mindcheck hashtag was the third-highest trending topic of the day in Canada. “We made the global news,” says mindcheck.ca Program Manager Andrew Tugwell. “Traditionally you do a launch, you have a cake, you cut a ribbon … and we did none of that.” The 21st century approach to unveil its innovative concept of communicating with the province’s youth underscored its strong opening-day numbers.
In addition to the more than 70,000 visitors to mindcheck.ca from across B.C., Canada and internationally recorded through June, 2012, the In One Voice page has garnered more than 1,700
“likes” on Facebook.
More than 40,000 youth have now completed the self-assessment quizzes available on the site. “This shows that people aren’t just clicking around. They are taking these quizzes and are really looking into their own mental health,” Tugwell notes.
LEARNINGS AND INSIGHTS
The effective use of online media is pivotal to achieving mindcheck.ca’s goals. “We’ve learned that it isn’t just about having a web presence,” says Connie Coniglio. “It is social media that really reaches to a population that can link to resources that we are trying to help them find.”
Using social media to spread the word about the site has offered a glimpse into a new world of possibility for promoting health and disseminating information, and has led mindcheck.ca to
challenge traditional methods of sharing information and to find more effective ways to connect with youth.
A feedback page on mindcheck.ca captures comments and suggestions from visitors, which helps to inform continuous improvements to enhance quality and appeal for young people.
The collaborative effort of all initiative partners has been pivotal, leading to success that would not have been possible without every team member’s involvement.
THE FUTURE
Further upgrades to the website are in development, including expanded subject matter. A new section unveiled recently discusses social anxiety and a section on body image and eating will be added in February, 2013. “Social anxiety has high prevalence in mental health issues,” Tugwell explains. “We felt it needed to be distinguished. Eating disorders affect larger numbers of young people and we felt this needed to be talked about as well.”
mindcheck.ca is also building relationships with the people who work directly with youth. This involves creating a space on the site to engage community groups, schools and other organizations that work with youth, by offering postcards, fact sheets, letters, social media content and other
materials.
More videos will be introduced and a new section called “Speak Up” is being implemented, which will again encourage youth to submit content. The group is also involved in developing web-based applications for youth that can be accessed through smart phones and tablets.
THE CANUCKS CONNECTION
Former Vancouver Canuck Rick Rypien was known for his toughness and offensive skills on the ice.
He also became known as a philanthropist in the B.C. community, donating time, equipment and advice throughout the year. Yet while his good will and dedication to the game were public, the fact that he was dealing with depression was not. Rypien told this only to a select few, including confiding in former teammate and good friend Kevin Bieksa.
In August 2011, Rick Rypien took his own life, stunning the hockey community and deeply shocking the Canucks organization, and especially Bieksa. Rypien’s death led the Canucks to begin searching for a way to prevent such a tragedy in the future.
The Canucks demonstrated their commitment to make a difference in the lives of youth experiencing mental health concerns by partnering with mindcheck.ca, providing funding support and getting team members directly involved in promoting the mindcheck.ca website to encourage kids to talk about mental health. They also focused on language, wanting to ensure that they were using appropriate words. With advice from mindcheck.ca, the group decided to focus not on what shouldn’t be said, but on steering the conversation towards early recognition and help-seeking and encouraging youth to talk openly about mental health.
By Séamus Smyth and Cathy Nickel Mental Health Commission of Canada
