December 3, 2009
Program with UW involvement a finalist for ‘Changemaker’ award, and you can vote for it
Since last May, the UW School of Social Work, funded by the Mental Health Transformation Project out of the Governor’s office, has been helping to build the Washington State Coalition to Improve Mental Health Reporting, which aims to build relationships between journalists and community members with the goal to improve the public’s understanding of mental health and wellness through accurate news reporting.
Now the coalition has been chosen by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Ashoka Changemakers as one of 12 finalists out of 340 submissions in 42 countries in the “Rethinking Mental Health: Improving Community Wellbeing” competition.
And you can help the coalition win the Changemakers International Award, just by going to a Web site and voting.
Changemakers asked for submissions for smart programs and bold solutions to expand understanding of mental health and wellness. The goal of the competition is to “provide a platform to change societies’ narrow perceptions and improve the rights and resources of individuals living with serious mental illnesses.”
That’s exactly what the coalition has been about, said Jennifer Stuber, an assistant professor of social work and lead author of a report last spring on how mental health is covered in the state’s newspapers. That report found that the majority of news stories published in local newspapers are about the rare event of violence that involves a person with mental illness.
“This contributes to widespread stigma and discrimination that becomes a barrier to treatment for millions of Americans”, says Stuber.
Since then, Stuber, aided by Sue Lockett John, a doctoral graduate from the Department of Communication, have been traveling around the state to meet with journalists and editors in newsrooms to talk about the need to improve news reporting and to train community members about how to engage with news media. “More than 150 people have been trained so far and are ready to work with news media to help improve reporting”, says Stuber.
The coalition launched a Web site that contains accurate information about mental health and illness, a link for community members needing assistance in engaging news media, and a link for journalists looking for community members who can serve as a credible resource for news stories.
The winners of the Changemakers International Award competition will receive a $5,000 award in support of their work. More importantly, Stuber said, “The winners will have an international platform to help spread their innovation”—which is why she’s excited about being a finalists, “as there are so many opportunities to improve mental health reporting and the public’s understanding of mental health and illness around globe”.
As an open competition, anyone can vote for the finalists by visiting here from now through Dec. 9.
“Changemakers” is a program of Ashoka, an organization dedicated to expanding the work of social entrepreneurs across the globe. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the nation’s largest philanthropic organization devoted exclusively to improving health and health care of Americans.
