BUILDING SUSTAINABILITY OF MENTAL HEALTH MESSAGES
IN NEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA
Nedra Kline WeinreichEntertainment Industries Council, Inc.
@Nedra
Core Principles
• Mission Statement: To bring the power and influence of the entertainment industry to bear on communication about health and social issues
• Engage with stakeholders to develop messages• Collaborate with media – not a “watchdog”• Respect for media and right to free speech
TEAM Up Project Partners
Media Partners
Project Funding
TEAM Up provides resources to news and entertainment industry professionals to
depict mental health issues accurately and in a nonstigmatizing way.
What is TEAM Up?Tools for Entertainment and Media
Project Goals
To increase the level of mental health among Californians by working with entertainment, news and social media professionals to:
– Decrease the level of stigma felt by those who need to access mental health services or have been diagnosed with a mental illness, leading to help-seeking behavior
– Decrease the level of discriminatory and prejudicial actions toward people with mental health issues by others in their community
Objectives
Media professionals will have positive changes in:
– Knowledge – mental illness facts, how to talk about mental health in a non-stigmatizing way, that EIC/TEAM Up is a resource they can use
– Attitudes – level of stereotypes/prejudice, belief that what they do can affect their audience positively or negatively, self efficacy, accuracy as a value
– Behaviors – attend TEAM Up events, contact us for assistance, consult our website/materials, create and report accurate stories following guidelines, adopt our recommendations as organizational policy
Program Pillars
News Media
Entertainment Industry
Mental Health Stakeholders
Key Messages
Key Messaging Points
• Assessing relevance to story• Using reliable sources for diagnosis• Choosing words for accuracy• Avoiding reinforcement of stereotypes and
stigma• Using person-first language• Avoiding assumption that violence caused
by mental illness
Usual Approach – One by One
Our Approach: Message Sustainability
Sustainability through:
• Creating Message Infrastructure• Establishing Partnerships• Working at Corporate Level• Working at Association Level• Training the Next Generation• Building Organizational Capacity
Message Infrastructure
Partnerships
California Newspaper Publishers Assn
California Broadcasters AssnJournalism Assn of Community Colleges
Working at Corporate Level
• Univision– 12 affiliates in California
• Digital First/Media News Group– 70 newspapers in California
• Patch/AOL/Huffington Post• Television Networks– Standards & Practices, Programming, Creative
Executives
Newsroom Briefings
– Riverside Press-Enterprise
– Orange County Register– San Jose Mercury News– Contra Costa Times– Oakland Tribune
– Other Digital First Papers
– KQED– Patch
(NoCal)/AOL/Huffington Post
Working at Association Level
• National Association of Broadcasters/California Broadcasters Association
• Radio Television Digital News Association• California Newspaper Publishers Association• New America Media• Ethnic-Specific Media Associations– e.g., Asian American Journalist Association,
National Association of Hispanic Journalists, etc.
Building Organizational Capacity
• Training mental health stakeholders to tell their stories and work with media– County Mental Health Departments– Community Based Organizations/Providers– People with Lived Experience/Family Members
• Picture This forums create dialogue between media and stakeholders
• Mental health reporting fellowships for journalists
Training the Next Generation
• Generation Next Program– Training film/television and journalism students
on accurate depictions/reporting – Faculty training and curriculum adoption grants– Guest lectures in classes/student organizations– Student competition– Active Minds chapters mini-grants for participation
• Partners– UC/CSU/Calif. Community Colleges– Journalism Association of Community Colleges