Exclusive greetings cards mark World Mental Health Day

Three specially-designed greetings cards have been launched today (October 10) to mark World Mental Health Day, by Liverpool-based national mental health charity, Chasing the Stigma.

All profits from the cards will be donated to the charity.

The three designs were selected from around 120 responses to a brief submitted to user-generated social content community, One Minute Briefs.

The challenge asked creatives to come up with designs for a mental health greetings card in just one minute and share them on Twitter, with three being chosen to go into production.

Chasing the Stigma has joined forces once again with creative card marketplace, thortful, to launch the cards.

Created by designer Lizzie Owen, copywriter Gary Lewis and creative designer Phil Issac, whose submission incorporated an illustration by @DoodlemumWales, the cards are now available to purchase on thortful’s website.

Jake Mills, chief executive of Chasing the Stigma, said: “We’re committed to removing the stigma around mental health issues and normalising the topic.

“Encouraging and empowering people to acknowledge and talk more freely about their own mental wellbeing and that of others is a huge part of our mission.

“We’re delighted to be working alongside thortful again following the success of our last range of ‘Are you ok?’ cards.

“We’re excited that thortful want to continue the conversation around mental health by adding these new designs to the existing collection, to make it easier for people to reach out and show people we care.”

He added: “The response to the One Minute Brief was incredible and it was no mean feat to pick the final three.

“We want to congratulate the three winners and to thank the team at thortful for their continued support.”

Andy Pearce, chief executive of thortful, added: “Studies have shown that receiving a handwritten card is far more personal, creates a positive boost, and makes people feel far more special than receiving texts, emails or social media messages.

“We are delighted with the results and 100% of the profits on these cards will be going to Chasing the Stigma.”

Chasing the Stigma is a national mental health charity committed to removing the fear and unnecessary stigma around mental health issues.

Working in conjunction with Liverpool design-led technology agency Mashbo, the charity created The Hub of Hope, which is the UK’s first comprehensive national mental health database.

The Hub of Hope app uses the location of a web browser or mobile device to allow anyone, anywhere, to find the nearest source of support for any mental health issue, from depression and anxiety to PTSD and suicidal thoughts, as well as providing a ‘talk now’ button connecting users directly to the Samaritans.

Everton Football Club has also embraced the Chasing the Stigma message.

Chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale, first team manager Marco Silva and club captain Phil Jagielka undertook a mental health awareness training session as part of the club’s ongoing work to promote positive mental health.

The trio joined other senior Everton figures, including director of football Marcel Brands, in undertaking the ‘Ambassadors of Hope’ training, which was delivered by Chasing the Stigma founder Jake Mills.

The session, which took place at the club’s USM training ground, provided the group with an understanding of mental health and how best to identify the signs that someone may be suffering.

They were also given guidance on how to effectively signpost individuals to support provision using the online resource, The Hub of Hope, and advice on dealing with crisis situations.

Jake delivers the workshop at Everton’s training ground

Everton FC and its official charity, Everton in the Community, has an ongoing commitment to tackling the stigma around mental health and recently launched a new mental health-focused campaign to raise funds to build a permanent facility – called ‘The People’s Place’ – in the shadow of Goodison Park.

With a fundraising target of £1m, Everton in the Community aims to develop, build and maintain a new purpose-built facility that will become a delivery site for programmes and enable signposting to other services.

Speaking after the training session, Denise Barrett-Baxendale said: “When you are provided with the statistics that reveal both the number of young people taking their own lives each year and the number at risk of suicide, it is absolutely staggering.

“As a football club, we are determined to reach out and help.

“We need people to come in and receive support. That means overcoming any concerns related to embarrassment or stigma that may be preventing people seeking help.

“Having a purpose-built facility that provides this opportunity, just as we would with people with physical health, is essential. We want people to know there is an opportunity to secure positive mental health support and that it is okay to say, ‘I’m not feeling too good today’.

“It’s also vital to raise awareness of tools like Chasing the Stigma’s Hub of Hope app, which is available to all of us to access now in order to help ourselves – or to help signpost others to potentially life-saving support.”

Everton manager Marco Silva said: “The People’s Place project is important to us as a club and as a charity – we are more than just a club, we are a family.

“We want to support our fans and community and do everything we can to help them.”

Jake Mills said: “What we try to do through the Ambassadors of Hope training is to create a baseline level of understanding about mental health. What we’re not trying to do is make people experts, but we don’t believe you have to be in order to have that level of understanding to know what to do in those situations.”