OUGD505 SB2 Mental Health Charity Research

I started off by looking more into the idea of mental health and the various charities that are already doing their part for mental health in general, but more specifically men’s mental health. 

Mind 

One of the most prominent mental health charities is Mind. Mind are a great organisation that does really good work with mental health in general, but especially last year have done great things for men’s mental health. Their work with the EFL (English Football League) this season has been incredible and their work to spread awareness has worked massively. Their work worth the EFL sees the mind charity iconography subtly placed connected to every player name on the back of shirts, as well as the charity logo on every player number. Something as simple and little as this has sparked interest in men’s mental health in a massive way, being the 3rd most watched football leagues in the word behind the Premier League and the Bundesliga (Germany) the exposure given to the topic has been huge, with an aggregate league attendance of just over 11 million (as of 2016/17 season.) I want to try and create something similar in style to this, something subtle that has the potential to have mass exposure, subtlety could potentially be key in my project, with smart, well thought out placement being more important than over saturation. 

Movember

Movember are better known for raising awareness for prostate cancer but to a great job raising awareness for men’s mental health and male suicide among general mens health and quality of life. The work they do is really positive and they’re doing a great job of breaking stigma and discussing men’s mental health more. I need to be clear with my project and stay true to what it is, it isn’t a charity and something as large as people like movember, but more an awareness campaign that aims to get more people talking, and for people to come forward to people like Movember and reach out for help. Their moustache event is incredibly popular in the UK and the idea of something that raises awareness and money in such a positive, light hearted is something I want to try and implement into my work. Is there anything I can think of that could become an annual thing to raise awareness? Or is it more how I look at engaging with people through my campaign as oppose to a yearly gimmick, the impact may be something I look into more so than the actual activity. 

CALM

Another great charity is CALM, that focuses on male on suicide in the UK. Their focus on male suicide is clear, as they boast the prevention of at least 65 suicides via their helpline in January 2019 alone. CALM have great events such as ride for suicide, run for suicide and a host of hikes and other rides/runs across the UK. This is a great example of a charity that is focused on tackling a specific issue that is a direct result of poor men’s mental health. The idea of my campaign is to direct people to these sorts of places if they seek help, these sorts of places are able to help deal with peoples’ issues and my campaign aims to get people to talk about these issues and have the courage to seek help from various charities such as CALM. Their events are large scale and country wide, and the impact they have is inspiring, if I was to implement various ideas into my project that could generate a fraction of the traction these get then hopefully it has the potential to be useful and helpful. 

Andys Man Club

Andy's Man Club is a local volunteer run club focusing on men mental health. The group run sessions all over Yorkshire and originated in Halifax. AMC is really important initiative, run by volunteers who genuinely care about the issue. The creator of the club has had personal experience with mens mental health and suicide and knowing this makes the club even more genuine.