As a journalism student, my role was to promote the event through multiple media platforms to ensure that as many people as possible knew about the day. 

The demographic group that we decided to aim our event towards was university students, so my promoting revolved around trying to reach this audience. I used social media and the university magazine, The Grok, to spread the word about our event, as well as producing posters to hang around the campus. As promoting and article writing are contributions that occur before and/or after the event takes place, I posted updates on social media during the day to keep people informed on what was happening and where. On the day, I also gathered information for the article that I wrote after the event, as well as running a petting zoo. 

Tameka Riches and Indiana De Paolis, Chairpersons

·       What would be happening – the documentary, photography exhibit, who would be speaking at the talk, the petting zoo etc.

·       A digital copy of the poster that was created through collaboration with Indiana

·       A short clip of Caryssa’s documentary that would act as a “teaser”, showing them what it would be about and hopefully intriguing them and encouraging them to watch it on the day

On the day, I posted reminders a few hours before each activity took place so that people would be reminded of what was happening; and could then head down and join in. during the activities, I used my photojournalism skills to take photos during each activity, and posted them to attract people to get involved. I also interviewed people to add captions to the photos posted, and also for quotes for my article to be written post-event. 

Below is an example of a post that i posted on the morning of the event, encouraging people to visit the photography exhibition.

·        Before and after photos of somebody who has gone through bad mental health and what their life was like afterwards 

·        People’s Physical impersonations of depression, anxiety, bipolar and stress

·        Photographs of all those that are interviewed for Caryssa’s Documentary 

·        And photographs of the Curtin student councillors- so that those viewing the exhibition can identify the people that can potentially offer them help

 

Strategically, I hung these posters in the most frequently visited places on campus, including in the library, at cafes (such as the Veggie Patch), outside the Tav, and around the Guild area. This was to ensure that as many people as possible saw the posters and became aware about the event and when it was on.

·         identify those that can offer help

·        Show what real people with real mental illness look like 

·        The show their reaction while talking about their past, present and future with mental health

When someone was on campus and takes a snapchat, they had the option to place our Mental Health Day filter over their photo, as the filter had a geotag that linked it to Curtin’s location. By doing this, it allowed people to send their snapchats to their friends with the filter, and this helped to spread awareness that it was Mental Health Day to an even wider audience. In particular, this was aimed to reach students from other universities, as they were part of our target audience.
The designs for these filters can be seen under Indiana's section, where she talks about them in detail as she created them.

In the article published before the event, I thought it was important to outline the effects of mental illness, common types of mental illness and how to cope with them; this would give background knowledge to those who do not know anything extensively to this issue. I also advertised our Mental Health Day event to encourage people to get involved, and intrigue them to attend and to support and raise awareness for this worthy issue. 

The second article, published after the event, reflected on the event and how it was a success. I used photos that I took on the day to add to the article, as well as interviews that I conducted on the day with the people who got involved. 

In a journal article by Beetz, Uvnäs-Moberg, Julius and Kotrschal (2012), they compared 69 studies on animal-human interaction and whether these interactions have an effect on us. These studies supported and provided evidence that they do in fact benefit us. They actually have a positive effect on us in numerous ways, including reducing stress, anxiety and aggression, and improve overall mental and physical health.

After discovering this research, I thought that a fun way to get people involved in our event, and to promote interesting ways to cope with mental illnesses, would be to set up a petting zoo! I ran this activity, as most of my contribution to the event happened before and after the event. I decided to set this petting zoo up in the lower Henderson Court area as it is a popular spot for people to sit in and walk by. I thought by setting the petting zoo up in a popular area would encourage more people to join in.

Curtin is also known for their own animal therapy program, Curtin PUPS (People Under Pressure at School). This program usually involves taking puppies to adjacent high schools around exam periods, and letting them pat and play with the pups. The aim of this is to reduce the students’ stress levels and improve their mental wellbeing. I asked the coordinators of the Curtin PUPS program if they would get involved on our Mental Health Day by bringing the pups around the Curtin campus, and they agreed and even thought that it was a great idea!

Julie Hare, A student attends a University of Canberra stress-relief session. 2015, Digital Image. Available from: The Australian (Hare 2015)

Hare, Julie. 2015. “A student attends a University of Canberra stress-relief session”. The Australian. Accessed May 8, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/students-find-stress-relief-in-animal-spirits/news-story/5b0ac13d3f832f66c7fc4e966a31c982

 "John Curtin Gallery". 2017. Johncurtingallery.Curtin.Edu.Au. http://johncurtingallery.curtin.edu.au/gallery/location.cfm.

 Kate, Jasmine. 2016. "Jasminekatephoto". Jasminekatephoto. Accessed May 8. https://www.jasminekatephoto.com/disquiet.

White, Claire. 2015. "Claire White Photography - Mental Health Campaign". Claire White Photography. Accessed May 8. http://www.clairewhitephotography.com/mental-health-campaign.

We’d like to say thank you to those that have contributed towards this event. Tameka, Indiana, Caryssa, Tyla and TJ, our founders for this event, your development and encouragement to our community has made a successful day that has brought together the wider community. A huge thank you to the teams and volunteers that were under the control of our founders. Curtin University, for allowing us to hold this event. All those that participated in the event- even if you just contributed by petting the animals. And lastly, we’d like to thank the Noongar people, our custodial land owners, for allowing us to use your land for this event. 

We hope to hold this event again next year, thank you all again. 

Tameka Riches and Indiana De Paolis, Chairpersons