Monday 18^th May 2020 marked the start of mental health awareness week in the UK and this year, reaching out to as many people as possible was high on The Kaleidoscope Plus Group’s agenda.

As we begin to see a decline in deaths from coronavirus, it’s clear that the two-month lockdown is going to take its toll on the nation’s mental health for some time to come. So, in the UK’s hour of need #TeamKPG tasked us and our sister company, Yogurt Top Marketing, to work together and bring to life a campaign to transcend the taboos associated with mental ill-health.

In recent years there’s been a seismic shift in our society’s willingness to be open about mental health and wellbeing, which is great, but it’s important to recognise that there’s still so much to do if we’re to make sure that we don’t leave people behind. As one of the most dynamic, community-focused, media publishers in the UK, we believe in being a voice for the community, content creators as well as ethical brands and businesses. So working on this project meant a lot to our team – yes we want to provide our communities with humour, nostalgia, and fun but we also want to be a voice for anyone and everyone – the message that mental ill-health is a fact of life and nothing to be ashamed of is something we, as a team are passionate about conveying.

Mental ill-health is still shrouded in stigma and given the current crisis, we hope that the new celebrity ambassadors that Yogurt Top Marketing introduced to The Kaleidoscope Plus Group along with the viral content we produced, will help the charity break down barriers & reach out to as many people as possible.

In order to spread the message that the Kaleidoscope Plus Group offer one of the most accessible and inclusive mental health services in the UK, we decided that the campaign should actively promote the fact that their services and team understand a multitude of communities and cultures.

Ralf Little, Paul Chuckle, Suzanne Virdee, Romaine Sawyers, Frank Sinclair, Will Mellor and Rustie Lee have all produced a video to mark the national awareness day, where they each talked about their personal experiences with mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and loneliness.

A simple message, from the heart, spread via the charity’s social platforms and The Viral Group’s community pages, to let people know that it’s ok not to be ok, that there is accessible support available and that mental health doesn’t discriminate.

The Kaleidoscope Plus Group operate a range of services to help people with their mental health and wellbeing including their new mental health and wellbeing support line and live chat service, Talk2Us, which is free to use for anyone in the UK. The charity also operates a 24/7 crisis text line for anyone who needs urgent mental health support. There is also a free self-help tool box available on the charity’s website where people can access a range of helpful guides to manage and control their personal mental health.