Nova Scotia Health Authority and Mental Health Innovations is launching a peer support service, using first person POV to connect with locals in a very straightforward manner.
In the simple spot, a woman talks about her battle with depression and being unhelpfully told to “just smile more” as a way persevere and power through it. The tagline counters that idea by telling people “when you’re ready to talk, we’re ready to listen.”
“With peer support, you are talking to someone who is a peer, who is there to listen and provide an empathy piece,” says Robert Graham, director, policy, planning and clinical virtual care, mental health and addictions for Nova Scotia Health. “To really get that message across, you have to be straightforward with people about what the service is and what it is going to provide. That means being simple, and describing the peer phone service’s functionality and to clearly differentiate its offerings, and using a diverse group of principles to accurately reflect the people it serves.”
[iframe_vimeo video=”776685924″]
The campaign supports the launch of NS Health’s Peer Support Phone Service across the province, a new, “non-judgmental, and confidential” phone service offered free to all Nova Scotians.
According to Graham, the organization had already been investing in peer support, but it was originally connected to inpatient psychiatry units, supporting those being discharged and returning to the community. NS Health recognized the broader community could also benefit.
“We kinda mapped out what the need was here in Nova Scotia,” he says.
The human voice and the anonymity of a phone service is what appeals to stakeholders, Graham notes. “Some people don’t want to be on camera, or want people to see them in their home or in their car.”
The campaign is province-wide in out-of-home, transit, digital, Facebook and Instagram, YouTube, digital audio, radio and doctor’s waiting room screens and posters.
Graham tells strategy the mix was to get the broadest reach as the service was launching.
Creative and media buy was handled by Trampoline, which began working with Nova Scotia Health in March.
