Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) recently undertook a new initiative to prevent child sexual abuse. The project takes on a public health approach to inform, educate, and provide support and resources to individuals who are at risk of offending, per the legal statutes of Canada. Supported by Public Safety Canada as part of their commitment to the prevention of crime and creating a safer Canada, CAMH hopes to accelerate the delivery of early intervention and treatment services into general health care, while also providing direct support to individuals seeking the same. Talking for Change (TFC) takes a public health approach to child sexual abuse. Our challenge was to develop and implement a social media campaign, as well as an overarching public relations campaign.
Through the engagement we garnered, we developed media partnerships with Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The focus of our messaging was on Talking for Change’s service provisions, which was accompanied by informational and educational messaging that targeted a wider audience group, to decrease the stigma around both the services, and the overall subject matter. This included a core component of recruiting individuals to the program and initiative, specifically in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces, but also digitally, across the country.
