Matt Haig once said, ““Mental health problems don’t define who you are. They are something you experience. You walk in the rain and you feel the rain, but, importantly, YOU ARE NOT THE RAIN.”
Mental health is a very important aspect of our lives. Your thoughts matter and since you have to live with yourself all your life, it is important for you to have a healthy and good state of mind. The youth of today have been exposed to a lot of challenges and problems that have resulted in some of them suffering from depression. The sad reality of this is that in Zimbabwe we only tend to care about these problems when we have been affected on a personal level or when the damage hits close to home.
The Importance of mental health Campaigns
It is very important for people to know that they can get help regardless of what situation they are facing. We want people to know that there are people and avenues available to help them get better and help them heal and recover.
Our method
Each topic will be introduced by a video that will address the topic. The introductory videos are meant to be cruel/direct/ruthless and unfiltered. We want the introduction for each topic to be powerful and impactful so that when the discussion/panel is hosted, people can really connect with what they’ve just seen.
For example we will use the Topic: “Body Shaming and Self esteem issues”
Watch the video below: Dear Diary
After such a powerful video is played, a discussion is then done to expand more on the topic. The discussion is meant to highlight the important facts about the topic and address it head on. The discussion will talk about facts, suggestions, solutions and other related content.
Then after the discussion, a video on a lighter tone but on the same topic is introduced to end the section on happy and hopeful note. Since our example is the body shaming and self acceptance, we would finish with a video like Bouquet: See video below
After a section is concluded, we then show a screen with a list of therapists and organisations that are dedicated in assisting people with this problem. We can’t exhaust every aspect of each problem and some of these issues need serious introspection and assistance. Furthermore, we really want this to have impact so the conversation does not have to end at the end of the live stream, the therapy doesn’t have to end when our live video ends.
So the “screen of help” will conclude each section and provide a short list of qualified professionals and institutions that are able to assist someone if they make the decision to continue and look for help.
Planning for maximum impact
There are a lot of people hosting shows and awareness campaigns on these issues. However, some of these efforts do not get as much traction as they should because the sad truth is, Social media is a game of numbers.
Platforms with huge followings have the capacity to reach a lot of people. Our goal with this show is to have it on as many platforms as possible so we can increase the maximum possible reach.
Maximum impact can be reached if advertising and awareness for this show begins at least 3 weeks before and the advertising content is engaging and well designed. Furthermore, by using Facebook’s live stream keys that allow us to share live streams from 1 page to multiple ones simultaneously, meaning the live stream can be broadcast on the facebook pages that have the highest following in Zimbabwe. Examples of these are, Zimcelebs, 263Chat, earGround etc.
Financial Investment
For this show to have a significant impact, a lot of resources are required to finish off the projects and also boost the strong marketing strategy we want to use. We are appealing for sponsorship for this show to help it become successful and help as many people as possible.
We require financial assitance in the following areas:
- Production of the animated videos
- Guest artists and dance crew
- Facebook and Instagram sponsoring of the marketing material
- Multistreaming on different facebook pages
You are welcome to sponsor as many areas as possible or sponsor 1 area.
Each contribution counts.
You can download the official proposal document below for the full proposal and budget breakdown:
We are looking forward to hearing and working with you on this project!