One of the most valuable things you can do about any issue is to educate people about the facts and the effects.. Using your school as an audience you have the opportunity to create an awareness campaign about suicide and depression. This can be done in a number of ways, but the idea is to get information out there and to get people interested in doing something.

Gather Facts

Do your research and find the facts that you find the most compelling. If they grab your attention they are more likely to grab your classmates’ attention!

Create a Presence

Find someone who is artistic or good at graphic design. The best campaigns have a visual cue such as a logo or a color scheme. Put together some posters and flyers that use your interesting facts and grab your attention visually. Place them in strategic locations that people will take notice. Put them all around school, bathrooms and the school cafeteria are great places to hit! Just don’t forget to get permission first!

Have a Kick-Off Event

If you can hold an assembly or put together an after-school event, gathering people together is likely to go a long way to get the word out and create interest.

Get an outside speaker or health teacher at your school to explain the reasons why depression is a serious issue and how students can know the symptoms and help others.

Get Creative

Idea: Come up with interesting ways to inform people about the issue. Maybe put together a candy gram fundraising event where people can pay a dollar or fifty cents to send a positive message to their friends, maybe with a fact about depression.

Idea: Post signs in all mirrors and in locker rooms to remind people of reasons to be happy and thankful. This could help create a culture of positive thinking at your school, balancing the bullying that often goes on. Go here for affirmations you can use.

Idea: One of the best ways to raise awareness about an issue is to get everyone to unite. Can you get everyone in your school to wear something (a button, ribbon, color, etc…) to demonstrate that you are a school who cares about supporting young people with positive body images.

Bring Your Campaign Home

If you really want to spread the word, don’t confine the issue to your high school. Head to your community, talk to government officials, parents in your neighborhood.

Start a Chain

Want to really spread the word? Grab the students at your school who were interested or inspired by the campaign. Take a field trip to a school nearby and lead a workshop or pass out some information. Let other students know about this important issue and with students teaching students, we know young people will be more willing to listen. Ask each school you visit to take their new knowledge and bring it to another neighborhood.

This way we can begin to empower the wider community to understand the issue and to start helping to promote change!

Don't forget to tell us how it went! Go here to share your project.