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Caring for
Every Child’s Mental Health Campaign
(National Association of State Mental
Health Program Directors/Vanguard Communications/Federation of Families for
Children’s Mental Health)
Background
Since its inception in 1994,
the Caring for Every Child’s Mental Health Campaign has supported system of
care (SOC) communities through the strategic use of social marketing and
communications strategies. Funded
by a contract with the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for
Children and Their Families Program, the Campaign operates through a
partnership between the National Association of State Mental Health Program
Directors (NASMHPD), Vanguard Communications (Vanguard) and the Federation of
Families for Children’s Mental Health (the Federation).
The team works together to address the needs of diverse system of care
communities using social marketing and communications techniques that are
youth- and family-driven, culturally competent and responsive to individual
community needs.
Founded in 1959, NASMHPD is a
non-profit organization that represents the $23 billion public mental health
service delivery system serving 6.1 million people annually in all 50 states, 4
territories and the District of Columbia.
Vanguard, an Hispanic woman-owned firm specializing in public education, social
marketing and culturally competent communications on behalf of social issues,
has supported the Campaign since its inception.
The Federation is a national family-run organization dedicated
exclusively to helping children and youth with mental health needs and their
families achieve a better quality of life.
Campaign Goals
Increasing awareness around children’s mental health
has been one of the core goals of the Caring for Every Child’s Mental Health
Campaign since its inception in 1994. The core messages and themes, materials,
and products initially developed still play a significant role in national
public education initiatives. Now in its third phase, the expanded Campaign is
working with system of care communities across the country to reach new
audiences and forge partnerships in the public and private sectors to further
refine the national agenda on children’s mental health.
The overarching
purpose of the Campaign is to stimulate support for a comprehensive system of
care approach to children’s mental health services. To accomplish this, the
Campaign has set the following primary goals:
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Reduce stigma associated with mental illness and
promote mental health.
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Use social marketing strategies to help increase the
likelihood that children and youth with SED (severe emotional disturbance) and
their families are appropriately served and treated.
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Increase awareness of mental health needs and services
for children and youth among mental health providers, SOC communities,
intermediary groups/organizations, and the public.
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Demonstrate to communities that the mental health
needs of children and youth with SED are best met through the utilization of
systems of care.
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Use social marketing strategies to help build capacity
within SOC communities to sustain services and support to children and youth
with SED and their families.
To achieve the goals outlined above and to support
system of care communities in their efforts to promote and sustain systems of
care, the Campaign established an advisory group known as the Campaign Resource
Group (CRG). They advise the Campaign on issues such as marketing, materials
and message development, training, cultural competence, and evaluation. The CRG
consists of culturally diverse family members, youth, communications
professionals, and project directors from several system of care communities.
Technical Assistance in Social Marketing/Communications
Communications plays an important role in promoting
awareness of the need for coordinated services—systems of care—for children and
adolescents with mental health needs and their families. The following is a
summary of social marketing/communications activities and resources available
to system of care communities through the Campaign.
On-call/Onsite
Consultation. All system of care communities that are part of the
Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services Program for Children and Their
Families have access to on-call assistance from our social
marketing/communications professionals for guidance on any
communications-oriented effort. Communities can call the Campaign Team any time
during business hours (Monday-Friday, 9 am-5 pm EST) with communications
questions. Onsite technical assistance is available to system of care
communities that have demonstrated a need that cannot be fulfilled via any
other communications technical assistance offerings.
Communications
Listserv. The Campaign operates the Communications Listserv (a
real-time, online e-mail exchange) to provide system of care communities and
program partners with a venue for dialogue and lesson learning on
communications/social marketing with other system of care communities, updates
on Campaign activities and system of care community materials, and updates on
media coverage related to children’s mental health. There is no obligation to
post messages, but people are encouraged to actively participate. To become a
member of the listserv, please send an e-mail message to:
4-THE-CHILD-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Write “Subscribe to 4-THE-CHILD” in the body of the message (not the subject
line) then send the message. You will be notified when you are accepted as a
new listserv member.
Bimonthly
Conference Calls. The Campaign hosts bimonthly conference calls to
discuss social marketing/communications topics of interest and address
communications training needs and/or timely topics related to current events
(e.g., school violence, release of national data). The purpose of the
conference calls is to provide a forum for system of care communities to
receive peer education that is augmented with professional assistance from the
Campaign. If you are not currently receiving conference call announcements,
please contact Brandi Dobbins at 202-331-9816 or
bdobbins@vancomm.com.
Resource Center.
The Campaign coordinates the Communications Resource Center, which serves as a
central library of system of care community communications materials,
communications plans, brochures, videos, fact sheets, newsletters, promotional
items, posters, press releases, local clips, and other materials appropriate
for the center. To be most helpful, it is important to have every system of
care community represented in the resource center. Please include
the Campaign on your distribution lists and send samples of your outreach
efforts to Campaign Resource Center, c/o Brandi Dobbins, 2121 K Street, NW,
Suite 300, Washington, DC 20037 or via email to
bdobbins@vancomm.com.
Tip Sheets.
The Campaign distributes Communication
Matters to all system of care communities over the Communications
Listserv and via fax. Communication Matters
is a monthly tip sheet that provides an at-a-glance resource for a variety of
communications options that can be incorporated into communities’ outreach
programs. Topics for Communication Matters
are selected based on issues of timely interest as well as system of care
community activities and requests. If you are not currently receiving the tip
sheets, please contact Brandi Dobbins at 202-331-9816 or
bdobbins@vancomm.com.
Workshops. Social
marketing/communications workshops are integrated into the agendas of national
and regional meetings supported by the Comprehensive Community Mental Health
Services for Children and Their Families Program. These sessions address a
variety of communications-related topics, including involving families in
outreach efforts, utilizing data for communications, persuasive storytelling,
event planning and more.
Training
Academies. These hands-on training sessions help increase system of
care community communications capacity.
Topics for the Academies vary and reflect system of care community feedback on
social marketing and communications challenges.
These training sessions have received national recognition awards from a
number of organizations, including the International Association of Business
Communicators. Special adaptations
of the Academies for youth and Tribal populations are offered.
For more information about the Academies, please contact Becky Marquis
at 202-331-9816 or bmarquis@vancomm.com.
Excellence
in Community Communications and Outreach (ECCO) Recognition Program. To
highlight and celebrate innovation and creativity in communications and social
marketing, the Campaign sponsors the annual ECCO Recognition Program.
Recognized by the National Association of Government Communities with a
Blue Pencil Award, this popular program provides the opportunity for system of
care communities to submit materials and initiatives related to communications
and community outreach. Annual
ECCO Recognition celebrations are held at a system of care community meeting.
Watch the mail and listserv for entry information or contact Dana West
at 202-331-9816 or dwest@vancomm.com.
Stakeholder
Education Products. Families and
children, as well as the agencies that serve them – including mental health
professionals, child welfare workers, juvenile justice officials, and
educators, are key audiences targeted in the Campaign’s product development
initiatives. Products developed for these groups draw heavily on discussion
group research as well as field input.
Materials tailored for educators, for example, focus on the academic status of
children in systems of care, dropout and expulsion rates, and are accompanied
by testimonials from families involved with systems of care.
The Campaign’s collection of materials includes brochures, posters,
print ads, screensavers, coloring books and other outreach materials.
Check out what is available at the National Mental Health Information
Center at http://www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/child.
Caring for Every Child’s Mental Health Campaign
National Communications Campaign
2121 K Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20037
Phone: 202-331-9816
Fax: 202-331-9420
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Brandi Dobbins
Technical Assistance Coordinator
E-mail: bdobbins@vancomm.com
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Brenda Foster
Technical Assistance and Training Director
E-mail: bfoster@vancomm.com
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Leah Holmes-Bonilla
TA Provider
E-mail: lholmes-bonilla@vancomm.com
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Barbara Huff
Family Outreach Director
E-mail: bhuff2837@sbcglobal.net
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Scott LaLonde
Event Coordinator
E-mail: slalonde@vancomm.com
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Beverly Lancaster-Hyde
Deputy Project Director
E-mail: blancaster-hyde@vancomm.com
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Becky Marquis
Training Manager
E-mail: bmarquis@vancomm.com
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Juanita Panlener
Technical Assistance Provider
E-mail: jpanlener@vancomm.com
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Roy Praschil
Contract Manager
E-mail: roy.praschil@nasmhpd.org
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Maria Rodriguez
Project Director
E-mail: mrodriguez@vancomm.com
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Erin Thacker
Promotion Manager
E-mail: ethacker@vancomm.com
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Jane Tobler
Technical Assistance Manager
E-mail: jtobler@vancomm.com
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Eric Turner
Project Assistant
E-mail: eturner@vancomm.com
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Dana West
Technical Assistance Provider
E-mail: dwest@vancomm.com
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