As a core function, communicators facilitate authentic connections between audiences and organizations. These relationships are particularly important to address disparities, improve patient outcomes and increase provider safety in the health care industry.
With the United States facing a mental health epidemic (the surgeon general has labeled it the “defining public health crisis of our time”), health care communicators own a unique responsibility when communicating with patients, providers and families to connect them with the resources and access to the care they need.
Best practices in these communications campaigns include:
1. Uplifting Patient Stories
Audiences deserve to hear directly from the patients who live daily with mental health conditions.
What are their dreams, fears and goals? What are their experiences with our health care system? How do they benefit from more well-established treatments like medication management and talk therapy, and how are they navigating the newer frontiers of medicine with psychedelic-assisted therapy?
Putting the patient front and center in the campaign is key to informing others that they are not alone in confronting these and other questions, building credibility with your target audience.
2. Correcting Historical Misconceptions
Despite the medical advances in diagnosing and treating mental health conditions, several unfortunate misconceptions persist about the broad subject of mental health as a whole.
Among these is the perception that people with mental illness are dangerous—which is incorrect, as they are more likely to be the victims of violence than perpetrators.
Other false beliefs—for example that mental health concerns are rare and people with mental health conditions can’t work or be productive in society—make it more challenging for people experiencing symptoms to seek out care.
Communicators can disprove these ideas by featuring medical experts and other authorities who can speak to the credible benefits of recovery and treatment. Most people with mental health issues will live long and healthy lives with the appropriate care from their health care providers.
3. Improving Access to Resources
Another superpower of many communicators is the ability to connect with both internal and external audiences.
When designing your next campaign, think beyond the external voices you need to reach. Who are the employees in your organization that would benefit from mental health resources (hopefully, everyone)? What are the tactics you can use to reach them? How can you build resiliency across your work culture and teams?
The North Star should be to connect people with the resources they need when they need them—offering multiple touchpoints for your employees about the 988 lifeline and other resources is critical when time is of the essence.
As different audiences reflect on their own experiences with the health care system, communicators can build trust with these groups by relying on these and other best practices.
For more information about responsible mental health reporting and coverage, the National Press Foundation offers additional resources for those working in communications and media to more accurately reflect the patient experience.