“How are you?”
“How ya doin?”
“You good?”
We ask some version of that question many times every day.
But … do we really mean it? Do we really want an honest answer?
A new campaign from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) wants to encourage people to use those daily interactions as opportunities to address challenges, big and small, and break down barriers to talking candidly about mental health.
The “Saying, Not Saying” campaign aims to reveal the things left unsaid when answering “how are you?”, this campaign points to some signs of mental health concerns like body aches, inability to concentrate, inability to get out of bed, loss of appetite, losing interest in hobbies, and trouble sleeping. This awareness and common understanding of mental health helps create a safe space where people feel they can be honest when answering the question “how are you?”
The name of the campaign comes from the idea that you could be saying you’re okay, but not saying that you had trouble getting out of bed; or saying “I’m good” and not saying your body aches.
“We don’t really have a culture of talking about mental health openly, and that contributes to a lot of stigma and doesn’t allow space for folks in their everyday conversations with friends and loved ones to be honest about the challenges that they’re experiencing,” says Paula Tran, DHS Division of Public Health administrator.
Tran says those small daily interactions could be an “entry point” to talk about mental health, just by mentioning some of the physical symptoms – “I didn’t sleep very well” or “My body is just achy today” are good answers to “how are you” that could spark deeper conversations.
“Instead of saying I’m okay, you could say, ‘I’m having a really hard time concentrating today.’ We really encourage folks to be honest about how they’re feeling.”The idea really is to reduce fear of talking about mental health, creating spaces where you’re not feeling judged, or you’re not judging others for experiencing those concerns,” Tran says. “Every greeting is an opportunity to increase recognition of how you’re doing, and that opens up a conversation towards resources, towards supports, to letting that burden out a little bit … as well as for those askers of the question, ‘how are you doing?’ to really welcome an honest answer.”
Tran says the campaign’s origins go back before the COVID-19 pandemic. DHS held six different focus groups representing a wide range of groups and communities – people of color, people of different ages, veterans, and so on – and found that how mental health stigma plays out differently in different groups, “we are seeing similar trends in different population groups.”
Finding those commonalities between populations led to the creation of the campaign, which is being shared on broadcast and streaming radio, on social media, on websites, and in print now through August. The advertisements direct people to findsupportwi.org for resources to support positive mental health. It also includes tips on things people can say when they’re not fine, as well as what can be said when someone tells you they’re fine, but you know they’re not. The webpage also features materials individuals and organizations can share to promote this campaign in their communities.
The FindSupportWI.Org website offers ideas for what to say when you’re experiencing mental health challenges, as well as how to respond when someone expresses to you, when you ask “how are you,” that they’re not okay. It also contains links to a number of resources for support.
