Help turn psychosis around
Creating awareness about Headspace’s Early Psychosis program
Psychosis can turn a young person's life upside down, but the earlier it's recognised, the sooner we can turn it around.
The headspace Early Psychosis program runs out of a number of headspace locations around Australia. This program provides young people and their families with the support needed to treat this complex illness, and live a healthy and fulfilling life despite the adversity they face.
85% of young people whose psychosis is treated soon after the first episode make a good recovery, meaning early diagnosis is crucial. Lack of awareness around the illness however, means for many young people, this is not the case.
Challenging stigma and encouraging action
The early signs of psychosis are hard to spot, often leading to misdiagnosis and consequently, sufferers not getting the treatment they need. What’s more, as an illness, it’s been highly stigmatised and sensationalised in the media and pop culture.
The combination of lack of proper treatment and stigmatisation compound problems sufferers face, leading to their condition getting worse. Our challenge as such, was to develop a campaign that encouraged GPs, health practitioners, schools and parents to spot the early signs of psychosis, and refer sufferers on to headspace so they could make a full recovery.
Let's turn psychosis around
Drawing on inspirational workshops with young people who had been through the psychosis program and flourished, our creative team set about developing a brand that would cut through the banality of the medical sector and truly inspire change.
Under the creative platform ‘Help turn psychosis around’, the Icon team developed a set of gripping visuals demonstrating the dichotomy between treated and untreated psychosis. Visualising the symptoms sufferers of psychosis often experience, material showed young people caught in a distorted, upside-down world while simultaneously demonstrating their return to health through proper treatment. A short video inspired by these visuals was developed to further amplify the campaign.
