The Client: The California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA)
The Project: Walk In Our Shoes
The Agency: Runyon, Saltzman, Einhorn (RS&E)
My Role: Concepting + copywriting + production
The Backstory: This was my first copywriting campaign, and it was a doozy. The overarching, ongoing goal of CalMHSA is to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health in California with a special focus on youth and young adult audiences. For this project, I had the distinct challenge of creating an integrated behavior change campaign that was targeted at 8-12 year olds.

Our assignment was to “inoculate” children against mental health stigma starting at a young age by accurately and artfully explaining what common mental health conditions actually feel like. The client thought they wanted a basic (read: boring) talking-head PSA that would run on kid-focused channels like Nickelodeon, as well as online. Instead, my creative partner and put our heads together and somehow convinced them that we had to do something different to capture kids' attention and communicate this serious message in a relatable, noticable way. Add a few pairs of finger shoes and a handful of hand models, and the Walk In Our Shoes campaign was born.

The advertising assets drove traffic to the campaign website that hosted true stories of reality, resiliency and hope, and included additional information, such as mental health definitions, myths and facts, and links to other valuable resources aimed at kids.

All campaign content had to be age-appropriate (and legally-compliant) for a sensitive target audience and was rigorously reviewed by a counsel of cultural and child development experts. Due to the high success of the campaign, increased funding was allotted to continue it for several additional years.

Live site: walkinourshoes.org

Television Commercials

Radio Spots

The Bonus: Reach Out Here Campaign
The second arm of my CalMHSA work was a campaign targeted at teens and young adults that utilized “text conversations” in flash banners that encourage teens to talk to one another about what they are experiencing, and drive traffic to ReachOutHere’s peer-support forums, and reduce the stigma of reaching out to friends about mental health challenges.