Final plans book for public relations competition. I contributed some writing about the designs, as well as the design of the book and deliverables.

1. 2017 PRSSA Bateman Case Study Competition
Campaign to Change Direction
Washington State University
Created by:
Elise Locke
Matt Martin
Meaghan Phelan
Stacey Reynolds
Faculty Adviser: Chris Cooney
Professional Adviser: Amanda Boyd
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2. 1
2-3
4
5
6
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8
A1-12
Table of Contents
Executive Summary........................................................
Research.........................................................................
Audiences and Key Messaging......................................
Challenges, Opportunities, and Objectives....................
Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics.................................
Evaluation and Outcomes...............................................
Conclusion......................................................................
Appendix.......................................................................

3. Executive Summary
1
Mental health is a topic that is receiving widespread attention on the national stage, especially on college
campuses. With the combined stresses of student debt, employment, and cost of living increases, students
are under significant pressure. This directly affects the wellbeing of student’s holistic health including their
mental health.
For the 2016-2017 Bateman Competition, the Washington State University team developed a promotional
campaign and day-long series of events under the theme “A Day to Lend a Hand,” based on the
well-established messages for the Campaign to Change Direction. The day included three main components:
an information tent event, a guest speaker, and mental health training. The purpose of the information tent
was to bring together multiple groups on campus to establish a dialogue about mental health issues and
increase awareness of the Five Signs. Our guest speaker combined the key messages about the Five Signs
with her personal experiences as a disabled student to present a powerful message about changing the stigma
of mental health. The overall goal was to engage diverse student groups as well as administrative offices on
campus who are dedicated to mental health awareness and services to establish a common ground to begin a
dialog about mental health.
The team staffed a information table in our student union building, utilized social media, and promoted the
cause through community outreach. Our event consisted of a full day with our tent display and program that
night about mental wellness and the five signs. Our tent was on the Terrell Mall, which is at the center of our
university campus. The tent included messaging, displays, and representatives from five student groups and
administrative offices. We connected to students and staff around a common cause, sharing mental health
resources on campus.
Our evening program featured Allie Pennington, a WSU alumni who is blind and has a history dealing with
depression and mental suffering. Through stories of her experiences as a student and person with a disability,
she conveyed the importance of the Five Signs and how her life would be different had her loved ones been
aware of her symptoms.
The next day we concluded our event with a suicide awareness training, led by a professional from our Health
and Wellness service department. We measured our success for our event primarily based off of attendance.
We also had a large sign where people of the community would trace their hands in acknowledgement of the
five signs and pledge to apply them to their lives. This banner holds over 200 signatures and is a show of
success for our event and ability to reach students and staff in the community to spread the word of the
Campaign and how we can change the stigma by focusing on our mental well being just as much as our
physical well being by pledging to know and apply the five signs of mental suffering.

4. 2
Research
Situational Analysis
The Campaign to Change Direction is an initiative to change the culture surrounding mental health in Amer-
ica. This nationwide campaign encourages people to be honest about their mental health in order to get the
help they may need. At WSU, there are many efforts on campus that share similar missions to that of the Cam-
paign to Change Direction. These groups however, are all separate and they target a small demographic on
campus. In the fall semester at WSU there was a mental health awareness week that focused on destigmatizing
mental health. Clearly, there is a need for dialogue about mental health on campus and we were very lucky to
have that foundation within the community.
We were able to gain a better understanding of our situation at WSU by reading the Health and Wellness
services website According to the 2016 National College Health Assessment, out of 3,168 WSU students of
different backgrounds:
We wanted to continue to open up a dialogue for the WSU students because the need seemed to grow stronger.
In late November, three WSU students died of drug overdoses and the Greek system canceled all social
gatherings for the rest of the semester due to the increased amount of deaths. With the recent events, there has
been a push from the university and the community to start talking about mental health on campus.
• We found 11 resources not directly affiliated with the University that provided valuable resources for stu-
dents: ACHA-National College Health Assessment, the JED Foundation Campus Program, 2015 Suicide
Prevention Grant, Suicide Prevention Hotline, Veterans Crisis Line, Suicide Prevention Resource Center,
To Write Love On Her Arms-National/WSU
• Health and Wellness has a Mental Health sector that was used as a resource
• Currently 304 veterans on WSU Pullman campus
• In a recent survey of 137 students, when asked how frequently mental health is discussed on the WSU
Pullman campus, 64 of them reported “rarely” or “never.”
• The WSU Greek Community makes up almost 4,000 students (based off of a report from 2015) that we
targeted to spread our message
34.8% 8%
Feel so depressed they have trouble sleeping
5%
WSU Students: Students across
the nation:
Have sleep difficulties that impact academic
performance
18%
Have anxiety that
negatively affects
academic performance
Deal with
mental
health issues

5. 3
Research
We learned that we needed to identify the sources and messages current WSU students were using to learn
about mental health issues and the services available, as well as the most effective means to reach them. While
we targeted underrepresented groups like veterans, we opened up our event to the greater WSU student
community in order to reach as many people as possible with our campaign.
Primary Research
To gain a better understanding of the perception of mental health on the WSU campus we conducted several
in-depth interviews as well as surveys and pre-test post-test campaign surveys with WSU students and staff to
analyze how we should cater to the need of the community with our event.
Stakeholder Interviews
We conducted initial interviews to gain an understanding of what programs were already in place on campus
and what current student groups were doing to help those in need.
We first interviewed Sara Stout, who is the Director of Student Services for Murrow College and the
administrative leader for the local chapter of “To Write Love On Her Arms.” We learned that there is a stigma
surrounding mental health. Students see it as a sign of weakness and don’t want to talk about it or share their
experiences with others. “Students think they are alone in feeling their issues with mental health and so they
don’t share it with others...amongst their peers so it remains quiet and increases problems,” said Stout
“Students think they are alone in feeling their issues with mental health and so they
don’t share it with others...amongst their peers so it remains quiet and increases
problems.”
We then met with Blaine Golden, the Veterans Coordinator, and Mike Solomon, Vet Corp Navigator, who
together manage the Office of Veterans Affairs at WSU. After meeting with these contacts we learned that
military veterans face similar stereotypes as the general student population. According to Golden and Solo-
mon, many veterans see mental health as a sign of strength or weakness and often times mental health is not
addressed or when it is there is a negative stigma.“When you are in the military, mental health
problems are seen as a weakness and can actually prevent job promotion. You are expected to
keep it inside and treat it like a stubbed toe,” said Solomon.
Our final interview was with Victoria Braun, the Health Promotion Specialist and Suicide Prevention Coor-
dinator for the Division of Student Affairs Health and Wellness Services on the WSU campus. She reaffirmed
our understanding that on campus students are somewhat reluctant to talk about mental health and speak out
about the issue. We learned that Health and Wellness offers counseling services by appointment as well as
mental health workshops. “We want people to be able to self identify and make sure we are providing
good resources...looking upstream not just at the students who are suicidal, but the process it took
to get there,” said Braun.

6. 4
Audiences & Key Messages
Primary Audiences
Underrepresented Student Groups
Based on recommendations from two of our main stakeholders, Blaine Golden and Victoria Braun, we
determined that our target audience would be what they referred to as “underrepresented students on
campus.” These include ROTC students, minorities, student veterans, international students, and graduate
students. Our stakeholders identified these groups as vulnerable to mental illness and had made efforts in the
past to reach out and share resources about mental health. Since our stakeholders identified a need to target
these groups specifically, because the are seen as being underserved relative to other groups on campus.
The campus organizations we identified who are currently engaged with these underrepresented groups are:
Health and Wellness Services, To Write Love on Her Arms, Mujeres Unidas, and the Student Veterans
Committee.
Greek Students
Additionally, we invited students from the Greek committee to participate in our campaign. One reason for
this was some students in our greek community have dealt with issues related to mental health, including
sexual assault, substance abuse, and suicide. Because of the prevalence of those issues, the Interfraternity
Council and Panhellenic council imposed a moratorium on social events in the community for a good portion
of fall semester. One effect of the moratorium was that the leaders of the greek community were actively
involved in changing the culture of the greek community on campus, and Health and Wellness Services
(our main partner) were reaching out to aid their efforts by educating the students on topics related to mental
health. The campus organizations we identified who represent the Greek systems are Interfraternity Life and
Panhellenic Council.
Secondary Audiences
WSU Undergraduate Students
To promote the idea that mental health affects everyone, we decided that all other WSU students would be our
secondary audience.
The decision to target WSU students and not people in the Pullman Community was because of
accessibility. Every team member is actively involved in other groups on campus, so we were able to
effectively reach them, whereas our campaign would have not have been as effective trying to reach
multiple age demographics.
Imagery
Because the hand was already a strong image, we knew we wanted to use a hand in our messaging, but with
our own creative twist. We thought the hand could incorporate the five signs if we put the five signs in
the hand. What we ended with was a typographic hand with the words of the five signs repeated in
it, and each finger was a sign.
-You are not alone in dealing with mental illness. -Through education we can eliminate
-There are resources to help you cope with your suffering . the stigma surrounding mental health.
-The five signs of emotional suffering are vital to recognizing -We all have a hand in developing
potential mental illness in yourself, loved ones, and colleagues . resilience.
Key Messages

7. 5
Challenges and Opportunities
Challenge: Stigma: The Campaign to Change Direction wants people to open up and talk about their
mental health. This is a challenge because of the stigma surrounding mental health because it has been
deemed socially inappropriate for so long. It is a hard thing for people to admit that they have a problem
because they think that no one is in the same situation.
Opportunity: Educate: Educating people on the five signs will allow friends and peers of people struggling
with emotional pain to identify these signs. This will give them the ability to talk through their hard time or
suggest seeking professional help.
Challenge: Efforts going on: The topic of mental health is a topic of interest for many people, but it can
be a difficult one to discuss. There were many efforts going on at WSU including a mental health awareness
week where some of our stakeholders, To Write Love on Her Arms and Health and Wellness,
participated. The Veterans Center was also looking to host a guest speaker this semester.
Opportunity: Combine and partner: Instead of creating another message that people would hear on
campus and potentially ignore, we decided to combine these efforts into one big effort. We saw the
opportunity to bring together underrepresented groups such as the Student Veterans Committee, To Write
Love on Her Arms, etc. By including large groups such as the greek community, we made this topic of mental
health a campus wide campaign that united all of the groups and was different than last semester’s event.
Challenge: Need for dialogue: The WSU campus was in need of a place to open up the
conversation about mental health, while feeling safe and included. Many of the services on campus that
students seek out have waiting period that could last for weeks. While our services on campus are very
helpful and professional, they are over capacity.
Opportunity: Create a space: The WSU Bateman team saw an opportunity to create that space for the
students. We were also compelled to open up this discussion because our professional advisor is a part of
WSU’s SAMHSA grant.
Objectives
Raise Awareness
There are multiple organizations and groups on campus dedicated to serving students with mental health
needs. The survey results showed that none of our participants were familiar with the Campaign. We realized
that the initial objective of our campaign is to raise awareness of the Campaign to Change Direction and the
Five Signs.
Educate on the Five Signs
The Five Signs are a distinguishing part of the Campaign and is what makes it memorable for students. We
wanted to educate the WSU community on the signs so that in the future they would be able to recognize
them in a family member or friend. We wanted as many people as we could to recognize the hand when they
saw it around campus.
Inspire Conversation and Participation
Through our event, “A Day to Lend a Hand”, our objective was to start a conversation with students. We
wanted to talk freely about the widespread problem that is emotional suffering and provide the resources
necessary to deal with the illness. By sharing the other groups on campus that provide information, counsel-
ing, and support we were able to get students talking about the Campaign and engaged in learning the Five
Signs.
Encourage Commitment
Ultimately, at the end of our tent event and speaker presentation we wanted students to pledge to know
the Five Signs. They did so by tracing their hand on our banner, a visual pledge.
Challenges, Opportunities, and Objectives
ConversationEducation CommitmentAwareness

8. 6
Objectives,Strategies and Tactics
Objective: Make 150 more students aware of the Campaign to Change Direction.
Rationale: To familiarize students with the Campaign and the symbol of the hand we needed an effective way
to reach a large population on campus and engage them in our Campaign to pledge to know the Five Signs.
Strategy 1: Use campus resources to create base of stakeholders to participate in our event.
• Tactic 1: Meet with campus groups- Veterans, Health and Wellness representatives, etc. to correlate their
core values with purpose of the Campaign and how to create mutually beneficially event.
• Tactic 2: Speak at Campus Mental Health Collaborative to educate and engage potential participants.
• Tactic 3: Engage with other student groups on campus to compile campus resources to then educate
students.
Strategy 2: Use earned media to educate students of our cause and the logistics of our event.
• Tactic 1: Distribute a press release to multiple media outlets on campus in order to raise awareness of
our event to readers/viewers.
• Tactic 2: Incorporate a social media platform, chosen to be Facebook, to connect with potential partici-
pants and layout the schedule of our “Day to Lend a Hand.”
Strategy 3: Use promotional tactics to get students to attend both our big tent event as well as our speaker.
• Tactic 1: Printed posters that included our hand graphic, as well as information on the logistics of our
event in order to make students aware of the event itself.
• Tactic 2: Table in our main union building where there will be a high visibility of our signage and we can
pass out literature explaining our event and encouraging students to participate.
Objective: Educate at least 200 students about mental health issue and resources
Rationale: To include the WSU student community in our mission, the WSU Bateman team needed to
educate students on the Campaign itself and what it meant to know and pledge to the Five Signs.
Strategy 1: Use a big tent in a highly visible location to create a space for students to open up dialogue
• Tactic 1: Use a tent for a physical display of the resources on campus and to promote knowing the Five
Signs.
• Tactic 2: Distribute flyers listing the Five Signs to raise awareness of our cause and purpose.
• Tactic 3: Utilize other groups and material to promote the Campaign and the importance of knowing the
Five Signs and seeking help when needed.
Strategy 2: Use a speaker to present the topic as a peer
• Tactic 1: Have a presentation that incorporates personal anecdote and the Five Signs and core messaging
of the Campaign to connect to students. (Speaker presented for an hour)
• Tactic 2: Host a discussion after the talk where students can ask questions and gain more insight into
emotional suffering and how to seek help. (Discussion continued for 30 minutes after the presentation)
Objective: Secure over 200 student pledges to learn and share the Five Signs.
Rationale: After learning the Five Signs students pledge to recognize the signs in their daily lives and reach
out to those who show them.
Strategy 1: Pledge to know the signs and incorporate them into their lives.
Tactic 1: Trace their hands on the banner to physically pledge to know the signs.
Tactic 2: Promote use of social media to interact with the Campaign and learn more using the hashtag
#ChangeMentalHealth.
Strategy 2: Use a suicide prevention training to further educate students and get them invested in
acknowledging emotional suffering.
Tactic 1: Host a workshop to educate students on suicide awareness and prevention tactics
Tactic 2: Award a certification after the training to acknowledge their new skills and ability to recognize
someone in distress.
Tactic 3: Promote the importance of “giving an hour” and encourage students to work with other
groups after our “Day to Lend a Hand.”

9. 7
Evaluations and Outcomes
Evaluation & Outcomes
• 41 people said they attended our event via Facebook and six were interested.
• We handed out over 50 flyers during our tabling promotion.
• Over 150 people came to our event. They signed the banner and learned more about the Campaign and
the Five Signs. This surpassed our hope for engagement, especially because it was snowing the whole
time.
• Over 200 people attended our speaker presentation. This exceeded our expectations for event
attendance.
• After our “Day to Lend a Hand” there were over 200 hands traced on our banner pledging to know the
Five Signs. Again, this surpassed our hope for physical engagement with our event.
• 25 people signed up for the suicide prevention training , which was the maximum enrollment . This
• exceeded our attendance goal.
We exceeded all of participation/ attendance goals in all of our events and our banner was more filled with
hands than we could have hoped for.
After Allie’s presentation we passed out a short questionnaire to attendees. Our responses showed that the
Campaign was not widely known prior to our campaign. Not only did our “Day to Lend a Hand”
promote education of the Five Signs but most students felt more confidant in knowing they could recognize
them in others.
We used our poster as a way to measure engagement and determine success from our event. At the tent it was
snowing and many students did not want to be outside. However, a large majority of students took a minute
to get cake or coffee and ended up tracing their hand and pledging to know the five signs of mental suffering.
This helped add up to the 200+ hands we have on our banner.
Our suicide prevention training was another measure of success. The workshop was filled in a few hours
which tells us that our messaging was effective and people were interested in learning more about mental
health and ways to identify signs and help those in need. “People really responded to this event and to
Allie especially. [A Day to Lend a Hand] was all about planting a seed, and the message will grow.
It was a great venue for people from different groups to say messages in unison,” said Victoria
Braun.
Conclusion
Despite a few setbacks, such as heavy snow during the tent event, “a Day to Lend a Hand” was successful.
We counteracted the cold environment with coffee, heaters, and hand warmers, which people responded well
to. The success of the tent was due to the intimate and upbeat setting. While this is only three percent of the
student body on the Pullman campus, we know that our message resonated with people.
Our post survey revealed that people were receptive to the event and able to recall the Five Signs. In the talk,
people were also actively engaged and asking questions. This proved to us that despite the small scope of our
campaign, the message was interesting to people. Our fully attended suicide training the next day was another
positive measure for our event because it showed people were eager to learn more
200
People attended Allie’s talk and pledged to know the five signs
through our banner
500 Students were engaged over a four day period
and be able to recognize distress signs in people. Because of all of this, we consider our campaign a
success.
100 People visited our tent

10. 8
Conclusion
100People visited our tent
The “Day to Lend a Hand” established a dialogue and purposeful connections with mental health
organizations and resources on campus through their shared participation in the the Campaign. Our tent
event, evening program, and suicide awareness training reached hundreds of students who may not have even
known about the Campaign to begin with.
While attendance and engagement were significant and measurable indications of our success, one of the
most rewarding aspects of our campaign was talking to those who have been or know people affected by
mental illness. On multiple occasions were we approached by members of the WSU community, thanking us
for bringing this topic to light and recognizing from a personal perspective how important knowing those five
signs are.
Allie was an amazing speaker and her message really resonated with those in attendance. The retelling of her
personal struggle was powerful, but she kept it positive by sharing her journey and how far she has come.
The five signs of the Campaign and importance of emotional as well as physical health were weaved into her
conversation, as she shared the vitality of recognizing those signs and ability to use them to save a life.
Our Campaign had a significant reach across our campus with students and faculty. We were able to not only
share the objectives and purpose of the Campaign to Change Direction, but used it as a channel to bring
together multiple groups on campus. By sharing the resources readily available to those at WSU, we are able
to make an impactful difference in those suffering, or have friends who are suffering, in finding the help that
they need.
Through months of planning, coordinating, and a successful execution, our team was able to put together an
event to bring awareness to a sensitive topic across an entire campus. We are proud of being able to unite
different campus resources around our cause and get them talking about the Campaign as well as what they
offer to the student body. We look forward to seeing how our event has impacts the WSU community and how
our resources on campus will hopefully be utilized in conjunction with the five signs in order to benefit those
in emotional distress.
“YOU ARE NOT ALONE, you don’t have to hide it anymore.
You’re not fighting this fight alone,”
(Allie Pennington).