family at the dinner table

While driving in rural Northwest Ohio (in particular Defiance, Fulton, Henry, and Williams counties) have you noticed billboards that focus on mental health? These billboards are one piece of a local effort to promote and improve mental health.

The “4 Your Mental Health Campaign” or “#4YourMentalHealth” is the result of work between the four-county health departments and the Four County ADAMhs board. The purpose of this project is to use a community-based approach to improve mental health. The campaign uses a steady approach in the four-county area by reaching communities through billboards, print ads, park signs, social media advertising, TV streaming ads, cable ads, email messaging, and the revamped website, 4YourMentalHealth.org.

At the start of the group campaign, health department employees began looking at research and talking with focus groups to decide the aim and scope of the 4 Your Mental Health Campaign.

Through this approach, the group decided to focus on the following strategies to improve mental health:
• Take care – Practice self-care, eat healthy, move more, and make time for hobbies.
• Connect (with others) – Make time for friends and family. Social connections improve quality of life.
• Relax – Minimize distractions and focus on the moment.
The 4 Your Mental Health campaign provides outreach in the four-county area by encouraging these strategies. If you are struggling with mental health, are feeling stressed, anxious, or depressed, you are not alone. We understand days are difficult. Our goal as a coalition is to remind everyone of the tools available for preventing and dealing with mental health challenges.

Being resilient means adapting to and overcoming difficult situations. This campaign encourages everyone to take care of himself or herself by preparing a mental health toolkit. This means taking care of yourself, paying attention to your own needs and feelings, connecting with others, and engaging in activities that make you feel good and allow your body to de-stress.

Brian Heil
Health Promotion Coordinator | Defiance County Public Health

Categories: Mental Health