We have teamed up with Mental Health Foundation and ITV Anglia for England’s first mental health promotion television campaign.  We are running a five-times-daily commercial between the 7th and the 11th October 2008 throughout the East of England to coincide with World Mental Health Day on 10th October.  

While other mental health campaigns have focused on raising awareness of mental health problems or stigma, the aim of this TV campaign is to empower individuals to protect and improve their own mental health.  The campaign is directed at the general public, linking positive lifestyle choices such as healthy eating, exercise and maintaining friendships with better mental wellbeing.
 
Susannah Howard, Programme Director at CSIP Eastern, said:
 
“We are running this campaign as part of a wider initiative to promote and reinforce awareness of mental health in the East of England. Far too often, people are unaware that there are very simple things that can make a real difference to the way that they feel and their overall mental well-being. The Mental Health Foundation has produced some excellent materials on this theme and we are delighted that they have supported our regional campaign.”
 
Dr Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said:
 
“This campaign is a fantastic way to get a positive message out about our mental health, and how people can look after and improve their mental well-being.  Too often, people are led to believe that mental health is an issue about other people – and don’t realise that we all have mental health and we all need to look after it. We’re delighted to be involved in this groundbreaking project with CSIP Eastern and ITV Anglia, which is the kind of public mental health promotion work we want to see happening more often in the future.”
 
Viewers of the television commercial will be directed to the Well-being in the East website (www.well-beingeast.co.uk), launched on 7th October 2008. This features five short film clips, each dealing with key mental well-being themes.