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Hear Me NOW: A Celebration of Resiliency Through the Performing Arts

(image) Hear Me Now - Logo

Thursday, May 7, 2009, 7 p.m. EDT | Washington, DC

The Awareness Day national event will be held at the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Harman Center for the Arts on Thursday, May 7, at 7 p.m. EDT. Featuring co-hosts Sabrina Bryan of Disney Channel's "Cheetah Girls" and Solomon Trimble of the film "Twilight," the goal of the event is to inspire, and most important, teach peers and others that youth with mental health needs can and do thrive at home, at school, and in the community.

The event will feature performances by systems of care youth from across the country. A SAMHSA Special Recognition Award will be presented to Academy Award-winning actress Goldie Hawn for her work on behalf of The Hawn Foundation.

Click here to get tickets for Hear Me NOW.

(image) Post Now - Logo

Get Involved in Awareness Day-Post NOW

The Awareness Day Post NOW Campaign is a tactic for demonstrating the critical mass of support for addressing children's mental health. It is intended to serve as a means of creating solidarity among the vast and growing community of Awareness Day 2009 program partners, sponsors, supporters, friends, and allies by offering them materials that communicate simple, yet powerful, messages about children's mental health.

The materials are being distributed to:

  • approximately 60 Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)-funded systems of care (SOC) communities across the country;
  • CMHS-funded Safe Schools/Healthy Students sites and Child Trauma sites nationwide;
  • several Federal agencies; and
  • key organizations/opinion leaders in the mental health field including MHA, NAMI, The Federation of Families and the growing number of child, youth, and family organizations that are returning as sponsors or supporters of Awareness Day in 2009 or joining this initiative for the first time.

Organizations and individuals participating in the Awareness Day Post NOW Campaign are asked to use the materials provided by the Caring for Every Child's Mental Health Campaign to saturate local and national message environments, including virtual message environments via online social networks, Web site postings, etc. We are asking that participants disseminate at least one of the Post NOW Campaign messages on or around the 7th of each month from now until Awareness Day on May 7, 2009.

Why get involved?

As you may know, research on social marketing shows that the two most important factors that determine whether a message is "received" by the intended audience are: 1) the source of the message, and 2) the number of times that message is delivered to that audience. When you and your organization share basic messages on children's mental health with the full spectrum of your stakeholders, trusted allies, partners, and reference groups, you are demonstrating a commitment to children's mental health issues that is both personal in nature and virtually limitless in outreach. The added benefit of the Post NOW Campaign is the potential for an audience group or individual policy/decision-maker to receive the same message from several other trusted sources, thereby reinforcing the "tide of support" for children's mental health galvanized by the supporters of Awareness Day. Dissemination of the materials also provides an opportunity for Post NOW Campaign participants to create messages about children's mental health that are tailored to their unique audiences while still communicating a value common to all Awareness Day participants: Children's Mental Health Matters.

Post NOW Campaign materials include electronic files for the production of electronic as well as hard copy materials appropriate for blogs, Twitters, and other e-messaging correspondence.

Who should participate?

You are encouraged to participate in Awareness Day and the Post NOW campaign if you are an organization that serves children, youth, and families. This includes SOC communities, national sponsors and their local chapters and affiliates, and all other Awareness Day allies.

How do I use the Awareness Day Post NOW Campaign materials?

There are three Post NOW posters in PDF format. The first reads: It's More Than - a space left blank for your message - Children's Mental Health Matters. This option gives you the opportunity to create a message tailored to your audiences. The file provided for this and the two other message options is intended for electronic posting or the production of an 11 x 17 PDF and an 8.5 x 11 document in similar format.

There are also two posters with messages pre-printed that anyone can use. The first reads: It's More Than... Just a "phase." Children's Mental Health Matters. The second reads: It's More Than... Just a "bad day." Children's Mental Health Matters.

We encourage you to rotate these three message options in your postings between now and May; however, if you prefer to use just one message (possibly the version featuring your unique message) for each posting, it would likely be just as effective.

Where should I place the Post NOW Campaign messages?

You are encouraged to use as many ways of disseminating the Post NOW messages as are routinely used to communicate with your colleagues, community, and other audiences-from posting electronic messages on Web sites and social networking pages to pinning up fliers in the library or grocery store to producing inserts for your newsletters and other publications distributed by your organization.

When considering where to Post NOW, focus on places where children, youth, and families-as well as decision and policy makers, program partners, and colleagues-will be exposed to the messages. Social networks and other internet "spaces" frequented by children, youth, and families are good spots, but also consider printing signage for posting at community centers, local festivals, malls, parks, schools, recreation centers, libraries, supermarkets, video rental stores, movie theaters, and transportation depots/stations. Get creative and think about where children, families, and youth are in your community, and then bring the message to them by placing Post NOW posters in the locations that they frequent.

Following are descriptions of online social networking and online services that you might consider:

Twitter. Twitter is a free online service that allows you to send short message updates on what you are doing or thinking to your own page on Twitter's Web site. You can send updates (or "tweets," as they are known) as text messages from your cell phone or through the Twitter Web site. All Twitter messages are limited to 140 characters, so you have to keep your updates short and sweet. Through the Twitter Web site, you can arrange for your updates to also be sent to your Facebook page, Web site, My Space page, or blog. Visit www.twitter.com to sign up!

Flickr. Flickr is an image- and video-hosting Web site that allows you to upload your pictures and videos to share with the Flickr community. You could easily upload pictures of your Post NOW poster to share with a larger audience. Visit www.flickr.com to sign up!

YouTube. YouTube is a popular video-sharing Web site that allows you to post videos for the online world to view. You must be a registered YouTube user to upload videos. Visit www.youtube.com to sign up.

National blogs are also a great place to consider contacting to post your Post NOW campaign information. (You are also encouraged to do a search for national and local blogs that fit the Post NOW campaign and Awareness Day. You can also start your own blog if you are interested.)

Mental Health Blog. This blog posts news and current research about mental health. www.mentalhealthblog.com

Family Resource Blog. This blog provides information about child development, health, and safety issues with topics ranging from asthma to water safety to starting preschool. This blog has a section for mental health. www.familyresource.com/blog

Psych Central Blog. This blog is part of the PsychCentral.com Web site. Psych Central is a mental health social network that is run by mental health professionals. http://psychcentral.com/blog/

Where can I get more information about Post NOW?

For more information or to become a supporter of Awareness Day, e-mail AwarenessDay2009@vancomm.com.


Last Update: 4/14/2009