Awareness Makes A Difference. Awareness Can Be Life-Saving.
Impact 2019 - 2020
45
Number of Videos Created
249426
Total Number of People Reached
16811
Total Number of Engagements
3
Number of Campaigns
Andy Himself- If You Feel Like Giving Up On Your Dreams
Sponsored by Powergen, this video by musician, Andy Himself, shared some of his personal mantras and belief systems for dealing with rough times and depression, meant to inspire anyone going through a similar time. It reached and impacted thousands of people.
4,399 engagements
68,303 people reached
636 Likes, Comments and Shares
Hanif Benjamin- Children in T&T are Suffering
Children in Trinidad and Tobago face a lot of traumatic events but their mental health is rarely ever addressed. Instead their common reactions to trauma, such as irritability or “bad behaviour”, are punished for being “too harden”. It’s important for family members to understand that children’s mental health matters, too, and we need to meet them with care and support instead of punishment.
Photo by Krysy Baptiste
20,679 People Reached
1,736 Post Engagements
667 Likes, Comments and Shares
“Thank you so much for putting this information in the public realm… a lot of people experience depression and do not know they are in it.”
Instagram follower
Updated Policies and Guidelines on Language and Imagery
We developed stricter guidelines for the language and imagery we use when talking about mental health and abuse, to avoid use of ableist or otherwise discriminatory language, to avoid outdated and stigmatizing language towards mental illness (such as the use of "died by suicide" instead of "committed suicide", or the use of "substance misuse" instead of "substance abuse"), and to avoid triggering or upsetting language or imagery.
“Thank you for sharing such critical information especially in these times. We are all in this together.”
Facebook follower
The Launch of our Depression Awareness Campaign
In October we launched our depression awareness campaign, called “Understanding Depression”, to run until May 2021.
Depression is a highly stigmatized illness, with some of the stigmas including the idea that people who are depressed are “mad”, “lazy” or “ungrateful”, that antidepressants are for “mad people” and that children who have depression are “too happy” and need to realize that “other people have it worse”.
When we judge, ridicule, or belittle depression, we make the person with depression feel worse, and we reduce their chances of opening up to us again and getting the support they need.
The campaign covered the basics of what depression is, who can have it, postpartum depression, social media and its effects on our mental health, the main stigmas towards depression, how to support someone with depression and, of course, what is #notokay for us to say to someone with depression.
“Gonna be honest, if not for the work you started in your NGO I would not have taken the counseling session. So just saying thanks for doing what you do and bringing awareness to mental health issues and demystifying the “only mad people does go for counseling” for me at least. Yuh doing important work.”
Facebook follower
The Launch of Our Blog
This year, we fully launched our blog, opening up a new space for people in the country to share their mental health experiences, and to learn about stigmas that others experience. This blog provides a new platform for us to share mental health content, helping us to de-stigmatize mental health, and to build a space that lets others going through similar mental health issues know they're not alone. In 2021, we're excited to say that we'll be opening up this space even more to public submissions, so keep an eye on our blog. We've worked on guidelines to make this a safe space, including when to use trigger warnings, excluding details of medications or specific methods of suicide, and what stigmatizing language to avoid. This is all to create a healthier, safer space for us to raise awareness of these issues in a responsible way, and ultimately de-stigmatize them.
Thank you
to everyone who volunteered, worked with us, spoke, contributed, or gave us feedback and advice, for helping us to make this possible
- Dr. Sabrina Ramkisson
- Nicholas Voisin
- Charlene C.A. Cudjoe
- Stephanie Barburam
- Beena Persard-Harris
- Simone Da Costa
- Hanif Benjamin
- Della Ramcharan
- Rayhaan Joseph
- Christopher Parks
- Andy Himself
- Ashley
- Ashvini Nath
- Little Big Tone Studio
- Jelani Serrette
- Kyle Salavaria-Assue
- Karline Brathwaite
- Reycine McKenzie
- Marlon Nicholas
- Mark Howell-Paul
- Brittany
- Krista
- Natile
- Tricia Ramkhalawan
- Radeyah H. Ali
- Penny Williamson
- Kareayne Adrianna Fairman
- Brandon Miguel Photography
- Nadine Ali
- Carissa Nanan
- Alycia Joseph
- Asad Ali
- Jasmine Renee Whitney