Bringing your campaign to life

Time to Change is all about bringing people together and breaking down barriers...

Social contact

Whatever type of activity you decide to do, evidence shows that social contact is an essential part of breaking down stigma. Time to Change focuses on creating opportunities for people with and without experience of mental health problems to interact on an equal footing. Involving people with direct experience of mental health problems in events or public engagement activity is one of the best ways to connect with the public. Why not run a Time to Get Moving event to engage people through getting active?

The Pledge

We are asking people to pledge to end mental health prejudice throughout 2010, and you can help by making this the focus of your activity. If you’re running public-facing events, distribute pledge postcards and ask people to make their own pledge.  We want people to take a specific and meaningful action in their own lives that will help end prejudice – this could be supporting a family member, getting back in touch with a friend who has mental health problems, or, for someone who’s experienced a mental health problem, they could pledge to speak out more about it.
  

Campaigning

Local campaigns can really make a difference.  Our local campaign in Cambridge in October 2008 had a positive impact on attitudes towards people with mental health problems – and you could achieve this in your area too. Talk to us if you have budget for a local media or advertising campaign, but it doesn’t have to be costly.  Could you get a stall or stand in a public space to distribute materials and get the public talking?  Or maybe you could distribute our free materials in your local area.  Finally, check out our top tips for how you can use the space you already have to get the anti-stigma message out there, using our simple tools.
 

Team work really does work

Involving colleagues is a great way to boost your campaign. Identify ways in which different members of your organisation could contribute to the success of the campaign, and while you are doing this everyone can also sign up to the pledge themselves.
  

Partner up with other organisations

Creating partnerships with mental health organisations, service user and carer groups, marginalised community groups, voluntary groups, local businesses or NHS and council organisations will make sure the campaign is joined up locally and help to raise the profile of your activity.
  

Tell us your plans!

We would love to know what you plan to do in 2010 to end mental health prejudice – tell us by registering your Campaign or Time to Get Moving event.