Case Study
Effective Standalone Event - Birchwood Highland
About the initiative
Service users, staff and volunteers cycled from Wick to Fort William. The objectives of the initiative were team-building, promoting Birchwood Highland and the anti-stigma message. We joined forces with ‘see me’ to maximise the effectiveness of the message.
Involving ‘see me’
Birchwood Highland provides services for people recovering from mental health problems in Caithness, Easter Ross, Inverness and Lochaber. We planned the project over six months and approached ‘see me’ for help and advice. They were immediately enthusiastic about the idea and kept in touch by phone and email. The continuing contact with ‘see me’ before the start of the cycle tour helped to clarify our aims and how we would get the message across.
The challenge
Apart from cycling 237 miles we wanted to attract maximum publicity to the ‘see me’ campaign as we travelled from north to south through each service location. We spent four days together, staying in bunk houses and other memorable accommodation. We had to try hard to stay together as a team of cyclists with different abilities. The physical exertion of our project almost caused some people to drop out. However, we shared a sense of doing something important. We were helping to change attitudes.
The people we met and spoke to about mental illness and stigma and the interviews we filmed inspired us and we discovered new energy to complete the cycle tour.
Resources
‘see me’ provided high quality campaign materials in the form of ‘see me’ T shirts, 5 foot high flag poles with flags fixed to the rear wheel of the cycles, stickers for cycle helmets and distinctive self adhesive stickers for the back up vehicles. ‘see me’ co-ordinated publicity for the start, duration and end of the cycle ride and arranged for one of the group leaders to be interviewed on Moray Firth Radio. ‘see me’ waved us off from Wick and put in an appearance on several occasions along the way. This was much appreciated by everyone and helped to reinforce the importance of what we were doing.
What we did
A group of service users, staff and volunteers formed a team of eight cyclists and six back-up helpers. For four days in September 2005 we cycled 237 miles from Wick to Fort William. Wherever we rested during the day or stayed overnight we talked to local people and tourists we met about our project and their views on stigma and mental illness. We filmed a number of interviews with people we met along the way and this formed part of a DVD produced by one of the back up team as a memento of our project.
What we achieved
We raised the profile of the ‘see me’ campaign and of the anti-stigma message. As well as being a great adventure for team building, it brought a real sense of achievement to all those involved. Producing the DVD has given Birchwood Highland tool to promote the work we do in challenging stigma and is a lively way to engage any audience. Also, wearing the ‘see me’ t-shirts raised the profile of the campaign and made the participants really feel part of the campaign.
What we learned
- The importance of supportive relationships, activity and fun in contributing to good mental health.
- The impact of ordinary people (with mental health problems) doing ordinary things and having fun and how this can positively effect other peoples attitudes.
- The power of simply talking to people where you find them about mental illness and stigma, sharing of experiences and how this can influence and change pre-conceived ideas about mental illness and treatment.
- It’s best to do some training before embarking on a 237 mile cycle in the Scottish Highlands.
‘see me’ is owned and run by an alliance of five mental health organisations: Highland Users Group; National Schizophrenia Fellowship Scotland; Penumbra; Royal College of Psychiatrists Scottish Division; and Scottish Association for Mental Health. ‘see me’ is fully funded by the Scottish Government.
Published by ‘see me’
1/3 Great Michael House
14 Links Place
Edinburgh
EH6 4EZ
www.seemescotland.org