By Elinor Slomba | Red Rock Branding – Your Purpose Driven Agency
We recently had a chance to sit down with over fifty first episode psychosis awareness specialists across the US to speak on this topic in a scheduled webinar hosted by Red Rock Branding. The presentation was well-received, but what really got us excited was the great questions people brought with them into the Zoom room. Posting a synopsis of the highlights here and elaborating a bit more on the responses we gave will help keep these empathetic communications top of mind as we continue to do the work with partners and collaborators.
Do your campaigns typically always include a research component to measure effectiveness?
Yes, we’re a creative bunch, but we really geek out on the numbers. To stay true to our purpose, we need to see impact. However intrinsically motivated we may be to do this work, being able to demonstrate outcomes provides a solid foundation for continued funding and other resources. That’s the real win, in our opinion.
Our work has been cited in these peer-reviewed publications:
Srihari VH, Ferrara M, Li F, Kline E, Gülöksüz S, Pollard JM, Cahill JD, Mathis WS, Yoviene Sykes L, Walsh BC, McDermott G, Seidman LJ, Gueorguieva R, Woods SW, Tek C, Keshavan MS. Reducing the Duration of Untreated Psychosis (DUP) in a US Community: A Quasi-Experimental Trial. Schizophr Bull Open. 2022 Jan 4;3(1):sgab057. doi: 10.1093/schizbullopen/sgab057. Erratum in: Schizophr Bull Open. 2022 Mar 13;3(1):sgac020. doi: 10.1093/schizbullopen/sgac020. PMID: 35295656; PMCID: PMC8919192.
Weiss A, Chaudhry S, Atiya W, Long S, Roy R, Mojtabai R. Reducing Duration of Untreated Psychosis: Strengthening the Case for Early Detection Campaigns. Psychiatr Serv. 2025 Jun 1;76(6):598-601. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.20240061. Epub 2025 Feb 6. PMID: 39911000.
And another one is in progress. We will share it just as soon as it’s allowed!
What tips and suggestions would you share with a team just starting a statewide social campaign?
Going directly to where the affected population hangs out makes sense. TikTok has been a new arena for us, and it’s paying off! Start small, run mico-experiments that have measurable targets, repeat what works, refine what doesn’t, and then scale up by adding money behind your most popular content. Every state is different and has its own culture and sense of place. We try to emphasize those things. For example Michigan being a nature-loving state where time spent outdoors and team sports are important. Related images and metaphors showed up in our approach to the Michigan Minds social media accounts.
How do you reduce medical jargon to communicate public health messages effectively?
In the beginning, simply using the word ‘psychosis’ was a bold move. Since then, translating is often our biggest job. Without diluting medical precision or scientific status, we take what the clinical teams have to say and apply empathy to our target population. We mainly try to avoid acronyms so that a website, for example, doesn’t become alphabet soup. We also try to use simple, clear descriptions and run our copy through a software that tests readability, aiming for a 5th grade level across the board. This is what we consider best practice and has become a good discipline for us.
What tools do you use to track analytics across platforms?
Google Analytics is a powerhouse for websites, and its AI on the back end has become more useful in offering interpretations. For creating quizzes, we use Interact, which tracks open and completion rates, so we can spot where people may tend to drop off. In terms of social, in app analytics can be very powerful, but we also use a scheduling platform. On Sked, for example, you can go back up to one year in the reporting function, which is a longer historical timeline than the social media apps themselves (Meta has a 90 day maximum lookback period.) Being able to collaborate across different accounts also gives qualitative data. We look at who’s following first, and what their followers are interested in, as strong qualitative engagement signals.
Do you have experience in communications campaigns that join cannabis use with psychosis?
Not as a standalone topic, but for CALM we incorporated it into a campaign about high-risk factors for psychosis. For example, we designed a billboard and transit ads naming drug use as a significant risk factor, and showing the smoke to suggest cannabis in particular. This was along with other ads focused on other risk factors, including: family history of schizophrenia, and social determinants for health, such as being low-income, with the added stress of an urban upbringing. We’d love to focus on cannabis more as the focus for a future campaign!
How did you honor lived experience in your campaign development and content creation?
With Mindmap 1.0 we began working with Students with Psychosis, headed up by Cecilia McGough. Since then, we’ve partnered to give voice to the members of that group. Interviews live on YouTube and have been distributed across all the channels we can think of, including TikTok.
We also have some additional suggestions and implementation suggestions. First of all, media clearance forms are essential when incorporating any patient likeness, their words, or creative expressions. That said, with CALM we had access to poetry and artwork for interior transit ads, something people could sit and think about while riding a city bus. These weren’t meant to pass by briefly but really contemplate. That seemed respectful and perhaps conducive to greater understanding. As we built trust with the creators their clinical team found that the experience became a self-esteem boost and a lever for their empowerment. Based on this experience, the CALM team requested we set up a page of the CALM website dedicated as a digital gallery, where an even bigger cadre of creative individuals living with psychosis could showcase and even potentially sell their artwork.
Please note the link is media rich and may take time to load.
One of the reasons we love doing these webinars is hearing feedback!
When we asked attendees if Duration of Untreated Psychosis (DUP) was their team’s main measurement, only 6 out of 27 said yes.
The full recording of the webinar:
If you want to find out more about this life-changing work and to see if Red Rock can help you in utilizing Communications as a form of Intervention, book a chat with our Founder Glen McDermott.