How AdventHealth created a multicultural mental health movement

What if one conversation can change, or even save, a life? That was the question AdventHealth sought to answer, as the health system launched a multicultural movement to get the Hispanic community in Central Florida talking about mental health.

Lidera ConscienteMENTE is a first-of-its-kind destigmatization campaign creating curated expert information designed specifically for a Hispanic audience to encourage open conversations about mental health.

Lidera ConscienteMENTE is an adaptation of AdventHealth for Children’s English-language Be a Mindleader initiative, which, since launching a year ago, has helped children and parents become more comfortable discussing mental health and connected hundreds of families to counseling services. Now, AdventHealth has teamed up with Heart of Florida United Way to transcreate the campaign into Spanish and bring this powerful message to more people and in turn reduce stigma, create hope and lead people to seek care.

By working together with world-class clinicians, community partners, social media influencers and families throughout Central Florida, this campaign has the potential to transform people’s lives.

Getting the message out

Hospitals are in a unique position to address the mental health crisis, and AdventHealth has seen firsthand the alarming number of people struggling with anxiety, depression and even self-harm and suicidal ideation.

The multicultural aspect of the campaign is also particularly important, as Heart of Florida United Way research has found that the negative stigma associated with mental health is more prevalent among Spanish-speaking communities. In fact, United Way found that one in every three Latinos says they struggle with mental health, yet only 5% are open to talking about it.

Inspired to make meaningful change in the Hispanic community and fueled by the belief that mental health is as important as physical health, AdventHealth kicked off the Lidera ConscienteMENTE movement in May 2024 with the launch of LideraConscienteMENTE.com, a one-stop shop for content on trending mental health topics, crisis resources and hotlines, and expert advice for starting conversations with loved ones. Content is also shared on AdventHealth’s dedicated Spanish-language social media channels on Instagram and Facebook.

Through AdventHealth’s mission to break down the stigma around mental health and empower people to speak up, the organization’s marketing and communications teams designed a grassroots campaign, relying on relationships with media partners to secure in-kind advertising on local TV and radio stations, in newspapers, parenting magazines and business journals, as well as through billboards, podcasts and Spanish-language news outlets.

Later this year, this important message will also be transcreated into Haitian Creole, the third-most spoken language in Central Florida after English and Spanish.

Signs of positive change

It’s only been a year since AdventHealth for Children launched its English-language destigmatization campaign and already the health system is seeing signs of positive change.

In a survey of nearly 200 English-speaking families across Central Florida, 77% of parents said they were more likely to discuss mental health with their kids, and there was an increase in the number of parents who said they felt more comfortable striking up conversations, identifying warning signs of mental health conditions, and finding relevant resources for their children after seeing the campaign.

In recognizing the essential role hospitals play in addressing the youth mental health crisis, AdventHealth for Children was also able to build on its reputation in the Central Florida community as champion of whole-person care where children’s emotional and mental wellbeing is just as important as their physical health.

Now, with the launch of Lidera ConscienteMENTE, AdventHealth is excited to see how this next phase of the campaign impacts the Hispanic communities in Central Florida.

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