Every sixth child in Austria grows up with a mentally ill parent. The Austrian Federal Ministry of Social Affairs commissioned the #visible project to make the issue visible and support those affected. The aim was to reach as many (affected) young people as possible and get them to take advantage of counseling centers offered online and offline. In addition, the taboo topic of “children with mentally ill parents” would be made visible in order to create social awareness of the needs and realities of life of affected families and thus ensure support and understanding.

According to an Austria-wide health study in 2022, a fifth of people in Austria are mentally ill, and around 40 percent of the population have had experience with mental illnesses such as anxiety disorders, depression or burnout. Nevertheless, until a few years ago, mental illness was always a topic little or rarely discussed in public in Austria - and therefore considered a taboo. This has led to those affected - as well as their relatives and all professional groups dealing with this topic - experiencing many disadvantages due to stereotypes and prejudices. It created barriers to open communication because those affected did not want to come out or share their experiences. Social understanding of the situation stagnated. Children of parents with mental illnesses are particularly hard hit, as they experience all the disadvantages of the emergency situation without bearing any blame of their own and having comprehensive awareness of what is happening. In recent years, a rethink has taken place: The issue has been taken up and discussed both in private, educational and media contexts - a new development that needs to be actively supported and promoted.

For young people - and especially children - the topic of mental illness is often intangible. What they do experience, however, is the changed behavior of their parents. In order to make the various forms of depression, anxiety and psychoses and their manifestations tangible and visible, we have given them a face.

Strikingly illustrated visuals deal with depression, anxiety and psychoses and use different motifs to tell the personal experiences of those affected and the effects in everyday life. For the implementation, we invited local artists to illustrate the children's personal experiences. Each motif told what everyday life is like for 275,000 children in Austria. Experiences such as “When the father cries all day” or “When the mother fights with herself 24/7” were artistically interpreted and became key visuals in an online campaign to create more visibility for an important topic.