Every day in May, throughout National Mental Health Awareness month, the Child Mind Institute shared stories from prominent individuals speaking to his or her younger self about growing up with a mental health or learning disorder. #MyYoungerSelf is the Child Mind Institute’s annual public education campaign to raise awareness and counter the stigma for the 17 million children struggling with these disorders. Our goal for the campaign was to foster an international conversation about childhood mental health and learning disorders, combat the stigma and shame associated with them, and raise awareness that these disorders are real, common, and treatable.
The Child Mind Institute is an independent, national nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders. Our teams work every day to deliver the highest standards of care, advance the science of the developing brain, and empower parents, professionals and policymakers to support children when and where they need it most. Together with our supporters, we’re helping children reach their full potential in school and in life. We share all of our resources freely and do not accept any funding from the pharmaceutical industry.
The #MyYoungerSelf campaign aimed to impact the public perception about children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders; that mental health is just as important as physical health and that children and families should be able to access accurate information and quality care without the fear of stigma. #MyYoungerSelf released one video every day on youtube, childmind.org and on Child Mind Institute social media channels including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. All videos were accessible to like and share through social media and email.
Campaign participants shared their videos on their own social media channels, giving our campaign unprecedented reach to new audiences. The campaign offered multiple opportunities to get involved including signing up for email alerts to be among the first to see each day’s video, links to invaluable resources on childmind.org for families and loved ones who want to learn more about childhood mental health and learning disorders, and encouragement to our audience to share their own stories with the #MyYoungerSelf hashtag.
Since launching in 2017, the campaign has attracted 125 celebrity participants, including authors, athletes, actors, radio and television personalities, business leaders and social media influencers. Each person shares a simple and meaningful piece of advice about what they would like to tell their younger self about struggling with anxiety, ADHD, depression, and more.
Over three years, these videos have garnered over 9 billion impressions, was covered by 674 media outlets, reached 526 million people on social media, and yielded 5.9 million page views on childmind.org Each video can be life-changing for a young person in need. The message: there is help and you are not alone.
Press coverage included outlets such as the Associated Press, Rolling Stone, People, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Essence, The Hollywood Reporter, Glamour, USA Today, Parents and many more.
