Case study: NHS Greenwich

In 2009, the launch of the Time to Change national anti-stigma campaign offered NHS Greenwich the opportunity to show their support and communicate anti-stigma messages locally.

In line with Time to Change’s first burst of advertising activity in January 2009, NHS Greenwich and partners:

• Distributed Time to Change campaign materials across the borough.
• Featured Time to Change advertising and an article focusing on a local comedian’s experience of depression, to raise awareness in the local media.
• Ran a two-week Time to Change bus shelter advertising campaign in target audience areas.
• Invested in local Time to Change advertising shown on GP practice’s ‘Life Channel’ televisions covering the majority of practices in Greenwich.

They also led on the development and delivery of a Get Moving week, 3 to 10 October 2009.  This included: 

• Marketing a ‘Super Older People’s Sports and Physical Activity Event’
• Hosting a high profile Get Moving Festival on World Mental Health Day with key partners. 
• Promotion of existing and additional taster physical activities, offered by a range of physical activity providers across the borough, during this week as part of the campaign. 
• Further distribution of marketing materials in that week, including another two-week bus shelter campaign across the borough. 

The success of Get Moving generated a large amount of positive media coverage.  The local campaign and Get Moving activities offered an opportunity to strengthen joint working with key partners.  Additionally, the campaign and particularly Get Moving gave them an opportunity to involve local residents who had experience of mental health problems and offer them a voice.  Involving these volunteers enabled the social contact approach to be carried out very successfully at the event. 

“I came with my daughter and met some friends, and we had so much fun together with the line dancing, hula-hooping and jive dancing. And I also learnt more about mental health, which I had maybe been a bit ignorant about.”

Partners included Oxleas Mental Health Trust, Greenwich Council, NHS Greenwich’s Public Health and Wellbeing and Communications Teams, Greenwich Community College, Greenwich Volunteers, GLL, Greenwich Dance Agency, Greenwich Mind and volunteers with experience of mental health problems recruited via Oxleas, Greenwich Mind or via the promotion of their event on the Time to Change website.

NHS Greenwich’s advice to other organisations wanting to run their own local campaign and Get Moving event is:

• The involvement of partners was crucial as they were able to link them with volunteers, provide activities, increase capacity for promotion and advertising, and offer activities for the event.
• Offering a broad range of activities at the Get Moving event within a ‘dance zone’, ‘active zone’, ‘chillout zone’ and ‘games zone’ was a successful way of attracting a broad audience, including many families. It also promoted the message that physical activity is something we can all do to look after our mental wellbeing.
• Positioning the Time to Change zone as the welcome areas of the event meant that social contact occurred as soon as people arrived via volunteers welcoming them, distributing goody bags and conducting ‘myth/fact’ quizzes.
• Having a local celebrity to launch the event also attracted an audience and raised the event’s profile locally.

More information can be found on NHS Greenwich’s Health and Wellbeing Website at www.greenwichsplash.nhs.uk