Instagram recently launched a campaign, which is now trending – #HereForYou. It is designed to help users get help with preventing and recovering from mental illnesses by finding resources and support online and offline with ease. In this minute-long spot Instagram users can be seen speaking about how they have had hard times with indigestion, depression and even thoughts of committing suicide.
The Ad spot features three individuals who are not social media celebrities but ordinary folks talking about mental health issues which is helpful for others with similar problems. In addition to the hashtag #HereForYou, users have been using positive tags such as #ItsOkayToTalk, #RecoveryIsPossible, #EndTheStigma and #SelfLoveClub to connect with folks struggling with mental health. Marne Levine, Instagram’s Chief Operating Officer, said, “People come to Instagram to tell their stories in a visual, and through an image they’re able to communicate how they’re feeling, what they’re doing. So what we decided to do is to create a video campaign highlighting these communities of support that exist in Instagram.”
Elyse Fox, an Instagram user, who suffers from depression, is one of the three individuals running the campaign. This three member team has built positive communities of support on the platform for individuals with similar problems, struggling with mental illness. The 27-year-old woman says in the campaign video, “I knew that something was off, but I didn’t want to speak about it because I didn’t want to feel like an outcast. Through Instagram I was able to connect with other girls who were going through similar things. My main thing is to bring girls together and to let the girls know that they’re not alone.”
Instagram co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom, writing in a blog post, mentioned that in the US, half of all chronic mental illness problems begin by age 14. He wrote “Every day on Instagram, we see people share their mental health journeys and connect with communities of support. From dedicated accounts around an issue to unique hashtags adopted by groups, these communities are helping to make illnesses that are often invisible to friends and family visible through photos and videos.”