Of all the mental health stigmas, the scariest ones turn out to be those our closest ones have. There’s probably nothing more hurtful and discouraging than being judged and misunderstood by the “safest” ones, who should instead be the first ones you open up to in challenging times. Sadly in fact, friends are really leaving - according to WHO, there’s a one in three chance one’ll lose contact with friends if they use a mental health service. For mentally-struggling people now, disclosing their situation and seeking help means putting their friendships at stake.

Therefore, the anti-stigma campaign should begin right where the stigma has the biggest impact - the close friend circle. Knowing that friends will always accept and understand them no matter what will be a huge reassurance and encouragement for people to talk things out if by any chance they are undergoing mental health conditions.

“The Friendtal Vow” is a campaign in which Club HEAL invents the “Friendtal Day” (Friendtal = Friend + Mental) under the general master theme of World Mental Health Day, creating a perfect occasion and tool for friends to manifest the spirit of committing to being there for each other even through mental challenges. By posting their best friends with The Friendtal Vow on Friendtal Day, one reassures themself and the public against the stigma, while promising their friends a safezone to expose the difficult feelings.

Social network users these days are fond of social posting as a form of showing appreciation or paying tribute to what is meaningful to them. Probably, nothing facilitates that sharing desire so well as the “invented” occasions - for instance we must have seen the “National Partner Day”, “World’s Pet Day”... when people bombarded the media with photos of their partners and pets accordingly.

Leveraging this psychology and trend, we at Club HEAL can introduce THE FRIENDTAL DAY - a special occasion to post your friend and make the special Friendtal Vow to stay by their side no matter what, even in times of mental difficulties.

Media-wise, we use Instagram/Facebook popular feature Add Yours as the hero means to widespread the campaign. With the readily-designed Friendtal Add Yours template, everyone can take just one easy step of adding their photo with friends and boom, a personalized Friendtal Vow version is born for your special posting on Friendtal Day.

We create an Add Yours template with:

- Standardized:

1) Prompt: “It’s Friendtal Day! Post a photo with your BFF and The Friendtal Vow! 💕”

2) Friendtal Vow: “You’re strong and lovable, and this will always be true even in times of mental struggles. I vow to always trust, love and listen to your stories, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health.”

3) Club HEAL logo

- Editable: user’s photo - freely add photos to generate a personalized Friendtal Vow.

To the one who posts, this is a self-reinforcement and commitment to stay woke and out of the stigmas about people with mental health conditions. To their friends, this is a sweet reassurance and reminder that they are safe to share in case of any mental health hardships.

The detailed deployment plan will be elucidated in the entry visual image.