The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

CHAPTER FIVE OPERATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF 'see me'

Introduction

5.1 To contribute to the evaluation aim of co-ordinating a detailed account of the development of 'see me', this chapter, drawing largely on documentary material, describes how elements of the operational infrastructure of the campaign were put into place.

Campaign staff

5.2 As anticipated in the [ people too] project proposal, the campaign started with a staff complement of three: a campaign director, development officer and administrator. The campaign director was appointed in December 2001 and took up post in January 2002. The campaign development officer ( CDO) and campaign administrator were in post by July 2002.

5.3 In response to capacity issues experienced in the first 18 months of the campaign, the management group presented proposals to the Scottish Executive for an increase in the staff complement to six whole time equivalent posts. Once agreed this enabled the appointment of a senior campaign development officer, who would also act as deputy campaign director, and two new campaign development officers. The increased staff complement was in place by mid-July 2003.

5.4 In August 2004 the campaign director and the management group agreed that one person in the 'see me' staff team should take responsibility for recruiting to, and maintaining, the media volunteers programme. The post of development officer (Volunteer Programme) was filled in May 2005. Initially this was funded solely from the 'see me' budget. Additional funding was subsequently made available to the campaign to support the expansion of the role to encompass the management of the media volunteer programme for the different elements of the National Programme.

Commissioning a communications agency

5.5 The appointment of the communications agency IAS Smarts (called initially Citigate Smarts) took place in May 2002 following a competitive tendering process. The brief for the tender stated that [ people too] required a comprehensive, strategic approach, encompassing:

• Brand development
• Design and production of publicity and resource materials
• Web design
• Advertising
• Media initiatives
• Public relations.

5.6 The brief also proposed that market research and evaluation would play an integral role in the approach taken by the successful communications agency in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the campaign. An approximate budget of £400,000 was proposed for planning and communications activity for the two-year period 1 ^st April 2002 to 31 ^st March 2004.

5.7 The brief was circulated in April 2002 to ten Scottish PR companies with the aim of shortlisting five companies for interview. Of the ten, eight agencies submitted a written proposal. In total, four agencies were shortlisted to present their proposals to the [ people too] selection panel in May 2002.

5.8 Following the presentations the decision was between two of the agencies. Three members of the management group visited both agencies before making the final decision to appoint Citigate Smarts.

Developing the media volunteer programme

5.9 The concept of the media volunteer programme was put forward in the [ people too] project proposal. As noted in Chapter 4, the programme was seen as both a way of drawing on "the power of personal testimonies" to effect changes in public attitudes and a mechanism for enabling people with direct experience to speak out on their own behalf.

5.10 The proposal also anticipated that [ people too] would seek to gain support from celebrities to champion the anti-stigma cause and encourage those with personal experience of mental health problems to 'come out' and support the campaign.

5.11 Media volunteers were recruited prior to the launch of 'see me' in order for them to be available for press coverage. Subsequently, 'see me' also launched an appeal on the campaign website for individuals to contact them if they wanted their personal stories on stigma to appear as case studies on the website. 'see me' followed up some of the individuals who responded to the call for personal stories to explore whether they would be willing to talk to the media about their experiences. This helped to increase the pool of volunteers.

5.12 As Choose Life and Breathing Space became operational, they approached 'see me' to identify people who could speak out about their experiences in relation to their own areas of work. This approach formed the basis of a proposal to, and agreed by, the National Programme, for 'see me' to host the media volunteer programme on behalf of the other Programme delivery vehicles.

The media volunteer recruitment process

5.13 The documentary material suggests that the recruitment process for media volunteers was designed with the specific intention of introducing the media volunteers in a cautious and considered way to the concept of speaking to the media. A three-stage recruitment process was developed (see table 5.1). The objectives behind this process included:

• To develop a trusting relationship

• To ensure that people did not feel pressurised
• To allow people to think about the potential consequences of speaking out in public
• To allow the 'see me' staff to be certain that being a media volunteer was right for both the individual and the organisation.

Table 5.1 Media volunteer recruitment process

5.14 In July 2006, the media volunteer programme (including support to the other National Programme delivery agencies) had a pool of 48 volunteers willing to talk about a range of issues, including self-harm, anxiety, depression, secure care, suicide (attempted suicide, suicidal thoughts and bereavement by suicide), postnatal depression, workplace discrimination, recovery and stigma.

Co-ordinating the use of media volunteers

5.15 The media volunteer co-ordination works in two ways: proactively and reactively. Proactive work involves 'selling in' media volunteer stories linked to topical awareness campaigns, such as International Suicide Prevention Awareness Week or Men's Health Week, or stories based on current issues, if, for example, the mental health of a celebrity is being reported widely in the media.

5.16 Reactive work includes responding to journalists or other media professionals who may contact the National Programme delivery vehicles ( e.g.SRN) with requests for someone with experience of a particular issue to give an interview. The process in these cases for accessing the media volunteers is outlined in diagram 5.1 below.

Diagram 5.1 Process for accessing media volunteers

5.17 The process was designed to ensure there was no conflict of interest between the needs of the volunteers and those of the journalists. The communications agency focuses on working and building up relationships with the journalists and the media volunteer programme focuses on safeguarding and meeting the needs of the volunteers.

5.18 The documentary analysis and interviews with those directly involved in the campaign, media volunteers and other National Programme delivery vehicles indicate aspects of the media volunteer programme that were felt to have worked well. These include:

• Regular meetings between the media volunteer programme and all the Directors of the National Programme delivery vehicles
• The expertise the programme has developed in dealing with the media and the individuals who have volunteered
• The protection the process provides for individual volunteers to allow them to feel able to speak out ( e.g. not answering specific questions or having their photo taken)
• The consistency of the process for accessing volunteers which is the same for all delivery vehicles
• The opportunity the programme provides for maintaining the continuity of messages from the National Programme.

5.19 Where criticisms were made of the programme, these tended to relate to aspects of the process rather than the purpose behind it or its mode of delivery. For example:

• A view among several of the National Programme delivery vehicles that the process for accessing volunteers was not necessarily appropriate to their particular way of working

• The perceived time-consuming nature of the process for accessing a media volunteer
• The perceived uneven spread of the media volunteer pool across Scotland. It was suggested, for example, that there were no media volunteers from the Western Isles. People from black and minority communities were also perceived to be under-represented
• The perceived difficulties of access arising from holding the media volunteer training in Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Monitoring the media

Stigma Stop Watch

5.20 Like the media volunteer programme, the concept of Stigma Stop Watch was outlined in the original [ people too] project proposal in 2002. The main aim of Stigma Stop Watch was to challenge journalists' language and tone in their reporting on mental health issues and in more generic stories, including the use of derogatory terms.

5.21 Stigma Stop Watch is the process by which 'see me' acts on items of media reporting which merit a response - either because the item is negative or positive. Responses come through a number of routes:

• The campaign director or management group may respond directly, with the response either published or unpublished;
• The item may be put on the 'see me' website, with a request for individuals to contact 'see me' with their views or take action if they wish to; and/or
• The item may be emailed to a bank of individuals (Stigma Stop Watchers) who have been identified as willing to respond to individual instances of stigma in the media. Stigma Stop Watchers are also kept informed through a monthly bulletin and annual report.

5.22 Stigma Stop Watch was launched in March 2003, and became fully operational in relation to the media in September 2003, extending to other spheres, such as local advertising, in 2004. This followed the commissioning of a custom built database in 2004 with the aim of improving systems for tracking and monitoring both media and non-media occurrences of stigma. In November 2006, there were 1100 Stigma Stop Watch members.

An average of 10-12 Stigma Stop Watchers respond to an alert from 'see me'.

Media monitoring

5.23 The Press Data Bureau provides a scanning service on behalf of 'see me', covering all Scottish press titles (including national, local and regional press) plus major UK dailies (including Sunday editions) and trade press, on a daily basis. Media monitoring also includes coverage in other media, if items are brought to the attention of 'see me'.

5.24 In addition to capturing coverage of 'see me' and the alliance of organisations on the management group, media monitoring allows 'see me' to monitor, over time, the amount of coverage of mental health issues (including suicide), the nature of the mental health issues covered, and the quality of the coverage (is the reporting positive, accurate, mixed or negative). It also enables 'see me' to identify items which require Stigma Stop Watch action. Diagram 5.2 describes the media monitoring and Stigma Stop Watch process.

Diagram 5.2 The media monitoring and Stigma Stop Watch process

5.25 Information from media monitoring and Stigma Stop Watch is intended to provide intelligence to inform campaign messages and activities, so that areas of weakness can be addressed, and strengths built upon. Additionally, the media monitoring provides a vehicle for monitoring the reach of the campaign as well as identifying potential partners.

Working with the media

5.26 Since its inception as [ people too] it was anticipated that a significant strand of the campaign's work would be media focused. In addition to the work of the media volunteers and Stigma Stop Watch, this has included:

• Media guidelines. In the first year of the 'see me' campaign; media guidelines were produced to provide information to journalists and media professionals on how to report mental health problems. Subsequently, 'see me' in partnership with the Scottish National Union of Journalists produced a set of guidelines on 'Reporting of Mental Health and Suicide by the Media: a practical guide for journalists'
• Media oriented campaign launch materials. These include,for example, the distribution of a 'swear-box' to media organisations and individuals with a slot for a coin for whenever an inappropriate word is used in relation to mental health

• Media sponsorship awards. To provide a vehicle to praise positive and balanced reporting the campaign has sponsored media awards including a special category in the Scottish Newspaper of the Year Awards
• Factsheets. The campaign has produced factsheets on a range of topics relating to mental health including depression, eating disorders, manic depression, mental health, discrimination and human rights, the National Programme, recovery, schizophrenia, self-harm and employment. The aim of these is to provide factual information on mental health and to encourage factual and non-stigmatising reporting of mental health.

Working with local areas

5.27 It was anticipated in the original [people too] proposal that the campaign would link and work collaboratively with a range of local areas and with others working in anti-stigma and mental health promotion.

5.28 The patterns of partnership working which have developed are described in more detail in Chapter 7. Operationally, campaign development officers were not only allocated responsibility for particular strands of activity, but also for liaison with different parts of Scotland.

5.29 One campaign strand in support of local working was the development of the 'see me' anti-stigma Pledge (see box 5.1), launched in 2003. The idea behind the Pledge was that it provided an opportunity for local and national organisations to make a formal and public commitment to work with 'see me' to eliminate the stigma associated with mental health problems in their environments.

Box 5.1 The 'see me' anti-stigma Pledge

5.30 Signatories of the Pledge include mental health charities, schools, colleges and universities, local authorities, NHS boards, emergency services and football teams.

Website development

5.31 Construction of the campaign website began in September 2002, and went live in conjunction with the campaign launch in October 2002 ( www.seemescotland.org.uk).

5.32 Initial work on the website was managed by the campaign development officer and the senior campaign development officer. In October 2005, day-to-day management of the website was passed to the campaign administrator, with responsibility for content, tone and overall 'look and feel' issues resting with the deputy director.

5.33 An evaluation of the website was undertaken in June 2004, and an accessibility audit undertaken by the University of Dundee in early 2005. In June 2006, a decision was taken to develop a new website, as the old one was felt to be increasingly unfit for purpose. Management group and key staff were involved in a planning event, held in September 2006.

5.34 In October 2004 a separate micro site for children and young people was developed ( www.justlikeme.org.uk) to coincide with the launch of the young people's strand of the 'see me' campaign,

Key Points

• The campaign has grown in size, and at the end of the evaluation period comprised a core of eight staff drawing on the expertise of a communications agency commissioned to undertake creative development, implementation and research and evaluation.
• In addition to the high level campaign strands, the campaign had developed a number of different mechanisms for getting its message across including the Media Volunteers programme, which was subsequently expanded to support other National Programme initiatives, Stigma Stopwatch, media monitoring, media guidelines, as well as work with local areas.

« Previous | Contents | Next »