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Mental Health Research Matters Campaign

#MentalHealthResearchMatters is a campaign sparking a conversation about why mental health research matters, and what good mental health research looks like.

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Video transcript

Audio Visual
For all of us, our mental health varies over time. The shot opens above street level and the camera pans down to a street with a an apartment building directly in front with potted tree outside of it, as well as a lamppost and a post box. There is a small shop to the right in-front of a wall that spans the length of the street. An older man walks slowly with his shopping bag towards the bus stop, where a young high-school boy is waiting for the bus whilst looking at his phone, and a millennial woman in her wheelchair approaches the bus stop, also with her phone in her hand. All of them are looking happy.
Sometimes our mental health is in a good place, but sometimes things happen that take us into poor mental health. Thought bubble appear from each one of their heads, displaying things in their loves that are causing stress. The man is worrying about bills and the cost of living, the boy is worries about his maths exam and the woman is concerned about the rising cost of petrol.
Researching mental health is vital – to give us better understanding of what helps and what doesn’t. The next scene is of a park. Initially we see an art class taking place in the park lead by a non-binary person with an easel with 2 classmates. The camera pans slowly from left to right across the scene and we see a Sikh man jogs by on the path in the foreground, past a young family with 2 dads and 3 children having fun on the park swings.
Although we’ve come a long way, there’s still so much we don’t know – so we need to keep investing in more and better research so people can get the right support at the right time. The camera pans past a young man on a park bench looking sad with a bottle of beer in his hand. His friend, a young woman approaches him on her wheelchair to speak to him. We then see 3 young school friends all looking at their phones. Most of the people in the park scene have a thought bubble appearing from their head as they think about things going on in their lives; one of the art class attendees is worrying about gambling, the other is thinking about her health. One of the dads with their family playing on the swings is thinking about their relationship. The young man on the park bench is feeling sad about the end of a relationship. Lastly one of the three school friends is worrying about social media, whilst another is thinking about a friendship.
Our mental health stories are complex and are influenced by so many factors. We focus in on the young man on the bench with a beer in his hand. We see 4 thought bubble appear from his head, representing all the complex issues he is dealing with and thinking about in his life; heartbreak, world peace, social justice and his job.
Take Shazhad. He’s adjusting secondary school, and spending more time online. The next scene cuts to the apartment building that we saw in the opening scene. This time we can see into rooms in different apartments as the camera pans from the bottom floor upwards. The camera stops at one families apartment where we see a young boy, Shazhad in his school uniform in the living room looking at his phone. His younger sister tries to grab his phone from him as he pulls it away from her and looks embarrassed.
His mum Aleena wants to support him to make sure he can be the happiest version of himself. Shazhad’s mum walks in from work with her briefcase and he looks up at her and smiles.
Or her husband Osman, a keen amateur chef, who struggles with severe mental illness. The camera pans from the living room to the kitchen as Aleena walks between the rooms to greet her husband, Osman who is cooking the family meal. They greet each other by holding hands.
Or Rochene, a psychology student, managing her studies, feeling isolated and missing her support network in her hometown. The camera pans down from Shazhad’s families apartment down to a shared apartment, where we see a student, Rochene, who is working on her degree course work at her laptop. In the background on her bookshelf, we can see the Mental Elf, from the National Elf Service.
She inspired her housemate Paul to use his own experiences of depression to shape research. The camera pans left where we see he housemate Paul, who is holding an iPad displaying his research.
Or Phoenix, their flatmate, artist and survivor of abuse, navigating new challenges while living independently for the first time. They found community and belonging by running a local art class. The camera pans left again from Rochene’s room to Phoenix’s room, where they are working on a painting of a big brain in multiple colours, surrounded by 2 tables with paint tubes and paint brushes on top. A thought bubble appears from Phoenix’s head as they recall the art class that they ran from the earlier park scene.
Everybody’s mental health stories are unique, and there’s not going to be one thing that helps everyone. We now zoom out from Phoenix’s room, and as we do see other people in other apartments.
It’s only through working together to produce good-quality research that we’ll find answers to meet people’s specific needs. We return again to the park scene from earlier. This time we see Paul and Rochene talking about research whilst the art class takes place in the background. The young man on the park bench no longer holds a beer, and when the young woman in the wheelchair approaches him again, he stands up and gestures the ‘thumbs up’ signal to her. The young family with 2 dads and 3 children continue having fun on the park swings. In the background we see Shazhad’s school friends kicking a football to each other, whilst Shazhad and his family stand together smiling towards the camera. The young man that previously sat on the park bench recognises Osman and waves at him, Osman waves back at him and nods his head,
That’s why we’re sparking a conversation about why mental health research matters, what good mental health research looks like, and how each of us can get involved to make a difference. The outro scene begins. We see Shazhad appear into the scene alone, as the words ‘Mental health research matters’ animate in above him.
That’s why we’re sparking a conversation about why mental health research matters, The outro scene begins. We see Shazhad appear into the scene alone, as the words ‘Mental health research matters’ animate in above him.
what good mental health research looks like, Rochene and the young woman in the wheelchair join Shazhad as the words ‘Good mental health’ animate in above them.
and how each of us can get involved to make a difference. The older man from the first scene and Aleena join them as the worlds ‘Get involved, make a difference’ animate in above them.
Join the conversation. Visit mentalhealthresearchmatters.org.uk or follow the hashtag #MentalHealthResearchMatters. The words ‘Join the conversation’ animate in, followed by the web address and the hashtag.
No audio The characters fade out as the logo sequence commences. Produced by: University of Oxford, McPin Foundation, The Mental Elf. Funded by: UK Research and Innovation. Based upon the work of eight UKRI funded networks: Emerging Minds, enurture, Triumph, VAMHN, CLOSING the GAP, Loneliness & Social Isolation in Mental Health Research Network, MARCH Network, SMaRteN.

The background

In 2018, UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) funded 8 mental health research networks. These networks are formed of academics, clinicians, 3rd sector representatives and those with lived experience, amongst others. They tackle a variety of mental health research subjects, ranging from youth mental health to violence and abuse, to loneliness and social isolation.

In 2022, the Mental Health Research Matters team launched a digital conversation about why mental health research matters, what good mental health research looks like and how we can all get involved to make a difference.

Animation still: A street scene in a local community. A young teenage Asian boy is standing at the bus stop in his school uniform waiting for the bus and looking at this phone. A young white woman wheelchair user is also at the bus stop looking at her phone. An older white man in a cardigan is walking towards the bus stop. An Asian lady wearing a hijab drives past in her car, she is thinking about her family as we can see a thought bubble above her head with a visual of herself, her husband, her daughter and her son - who is the boy at the bus stop. Over the other side of the road is an apartment block, a small shop and a post box.
Animation still:

The campaign

The narrative follows a group of people in a local community from different backgrounds and shines a light on the the factors that may impact on their mental health and why multi-disciplinary research, co-produced with people who have lived experience of mental health difficulties, is impostant.

Animation still: An apartment block illustrated in a cut away fashion so that we can see inside the residents apartments.
Animation still: A young white man sits on a park bench. He is looking very sad as he worries about personal stresses and world events. There are 4 thought bubbles appearing from his head displaying visuals of the things he has on his mind; the 1st bubble shows a heart broken in 2, representing recent heartbreak. The 2nd bubble shows a peace sign to represent his concern for world peace. The 3rd bubble shows a protest placard displaying the words 'we want change', representing his concern for various causes, the last bubble shows a laptop with graphs and information on it, representing the pressure he is under at work. In the out-of-focus background there is a young family playing on the swings.
Animation still: A young Asian teenager in his school uniform and his younger sister are standing in the living room of their apartment. The boy is looking at his phone and his sister is trying to see what he is looking at. Their mum stands next to them wearing a hijab and carrying her briefcase, having just walked in from a day at the office.
Animation still: A young black woman is sitting at her desk in her bedroom studying for her degree on her laptop.
Animation still: A young, white, non-binary person is in their room painting a picture of a colourful brain. Whilst the are painting there is a tough bubble appearing from their head as they think about the art class they teach in their local park.
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We have been working with Ange at Love & Logic for some 6 months supporting our campaign #mentalhealthresearchmatters and she has produced an animation and infographics. Fantastic. So easy to work with and such brilliant designs. Thank you.

Vanessa Pinfold, McPin Foundation View review on Google