Why a Regional Funder is Backing a National Ad Campaign to Open Minds About Mental Health

Dragana Gordic/SHUTTERSTOCK

In 2019, members of the wealthy, Utah-based Huntsman family, long known for their philanthropic support of cancer research and other causes in the region, made a big move into another field of healthcare. Through their Huntsman Foundation, the family committed $150 million to the University of Utah to create the Huntsman Mental Health Institute (HMHI) with a mission to drive psychiatric treatment, education and cutting-edge research. The HMHI quickly became a major presence in the Intermountain West, comprising nearly 1,700 faculty and staff, with more than 20 locations across Utah and Idaho.

The creation of the HMHI was important, not just for the advances in mental healthcare and research it might enable, but also for the statement it makes about mental health — that it’s simply another facet of human health. It was a tacit but clear recognition that a well-funded mental health institute belonged at a major research university, just as much as a center for cancer or heart disease or any other area of health. It’s the kind of recognition that mental health professionals (and some of us at IP) have been advocating urgently in recent years, frustrated that even health-oriented funders underinvest in mental health. The point is, changing the perception of mental health from taboo topic to everyday health concern continues to be a necessary step in advancing action to treat and care for people with mental health concerns.

The Huntsman Foundation continues to work toward that end, now on a national scale, with a recent contribution of $15 million to launch a planned $65 million, seven-year advertising campaign by the Ad Council that will urge Americans to recognize, acknowledge and address mental health needs. To inform its research and messaging for the new campaign, the Ad Council will partner with the Huntsman Mental Health Institute.

The Ad Council has been producing public service announcements since 1942, working with the advertising industry to deploy the power of media and marketing for social causes. The nonprofit has run dozens of campaigns over the decades that have become part of the culture, including promoting savings bonds, warning about communism, protecting the environment, and promoting vaccines. (Smokey Bear? That’s an Ad Council creation. And no, Smokey’s middle name is not “the.”)

As the Ad Council cites, mental health in the U.S. is at crisis levels, with recent data showing half of Americans ages 16 to 65 saying they have a mental health condition. But of those reporting a condition, only half say they’re getting help or treatment. Equally important, more than 40% say they’re not comfortable talking to family or other people close to them about these kinds of issues. But as so many have noted, the stresses and disruptions of the COVID pandemic have both exacerbated and triggered mental health issues and overwhelmed the ability of mental health services to provide care. In fact, the Ad Council has been running vaccine-education campaigns throughout the COVID pandemic and is building its mental health campaign with similar partners and strategies that proved effective in its vaccine campaigns.

Ad Council’s vaccine education marketing program included stakeholders and companies like Verizon, Budweiser and MasterCard, said Heidi Arthur, chief campaign development officer for Ad Council. Also involved were public health organizations like the American Medical Association, the American Heart Association and the CDC, as well as community-based organizations. “A big game-changer for us was taking those messages out of the air exclusively, and bringing them into our ground game,” said Arthur. “You’re taking the same research-based messaging and insights and calls to action, and organizing community-based conversations around them with trusted voices and organizations from the communities.”

This won’t be the Ad Council’s first campaign on mental health. They have three currently running, addressing issues like suicide prevention, youth mental health, and veterans. Goals of the new campaign include targeted messaging and partnering with specific communities, particularly diverse and minority communities, said Arthur. Ultimately, the campaign’s strategists hope to accelerate broad cultural acceptance of mental health, whether within families, or even at the workplace, where currently, many people would be uncomfortable discussing such issues with managers and leaders.

Mental health is a broad group of concerns that includes addiction and drug use, along with conditions like depression and bipolar disorder. As a result, its study and treatment involves a wide array of health specialties and public policy concerns — like human biology, brain science, psychology, racial justice and more. Though progress has been made in recent years to address mental health issues, as in previous generations, many people remain uncomfortable discussing such problems openly.

Jon Huntsman Sr. and Karen Huntsman (their son, Jon Huntsman Jr., is the longtime diplomat and former Utah governor) established the family foundation in Salt Lake City in 1988, financed by the wealth generated by the Huntsman Corporation, a chemical and manufacturing company that Jon founded. Jon battled cancer, and that became one of his philanthropic focuses. Foundation President David Huntsman, along with his sister Christena Huntsman Durham, executive vice president of the family foundation, explained that the family’s awareness of mental health — and the code of silence that surrounds it — was similarly underscored by personal experience. Their sister Kathleen struggled with mental health, including drug use, until her death in 2010.

“We never recognized it or talked about it as mental health at the time,” David said. “As a family we grew up in a very religious community, and we were very hesitant, even among ourselves, to talk about her struggles because there was a shame, an embarrassment of acknowledging that somebody was struggling.” Even in private conversations, the family never talked about drug use, and ultimately, when Kathleen died of a drug overdose, the family said the cause was cardiac arrest.

Their own experience was part of what led the Huntsmans to back the Ad Council, said David and Christena. For too many, problems like addiction might be seen as a sign of weakness or poor character; parents are not merely concerned if their child has depression­ — they feel ashamed and guilty. The Ad Council’s campaign aims to erase the perceived stigma that still surrounds mental health and impedes the process of getting help.

“We do want people to know that it’s okay to talk about mental health, that this is an important matter, and our family is no different from any other family,” said Christena. “So, it’s very important for us to do something on a national level.”