Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families

CARE

The Scrapbook

Everyone has mental health, and our level of health can change. In the school setting no one is better placed to notice when these changes happen than staff! To raise awareness about this important subject, we created this whiteboard animation introducing the Schools In Mind network and explaining what staff can do.

The challenge

To share the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families’ message we had to create a whiteboard animation which empowered audience of education staff to be able to identify and help students experiencing mental health problems while also not creating pressure for them to do what they made them uncomfortable. Our approach needed to be creative yet sensitive, delivering important advice and a call to action for further involvement with the centre.

The film

Our approach when visualising the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families’ message stemmed from a sensitive and delicate mind set, ensuring we made tone and delivery suitable. This was reflected throughout the film, from our script and voiceover to our character design and illustration. Relatability was important to ensure the audience found the film engaging and relevant and to achieve this we used a range of characters and settings. Our whiteboard animation balanced the aspects of empowerment and reassurance by making important advice around the CARE acronym understandable and memorable while emphasising the network of staff working together to support student’s mental health. We played on the strengths of whiteboard animation to layer and expand on information, seen in areas such as the explanation of the CARE acronym, which used a combination of animation, voiceover, onscreen text and icons to explain each element fully. The whiteboard animation concluded in a welcoming and strong call to action, inviting viewers to find out more about supporting mental health and promoting further involvement with Schools in Mind.

About the client

For over 60 years the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families have been caring for young people’s mental health. Their aim is to reshape the UK’s mental health provision by improving the quality, accessibility and effectiveness of treatment, working in partnership with professionals.

The context

Read about the Schools In Mind network and the benefits it brings school staff and allied professionals who are involved in helping schools support student’s wellbeing and mental health. The accompanying guidance notes and poster are available to download. You can see our first whiteboard animation for the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families’ CASCADE framework here.