The cross-European project aimed at enhancing mental health support for Ukrainian refugees by promoting the recognition of the iFightDepression tool, which has garnered significant attention, with over 21 clippings featured in tier-1 media outlets across four European countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece and Hungary.
For a deeper understanding of our project’s success, read our case study below.
Client: MESUR – Mental Health Support for Ukrainian Refugees, led by experts from six European countries, including Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary and Poland, offers Cognitive Behavioural Therapy-based symptoms self-management interventions. That is the common challenge refugees face – the struggle to find mental health support in foreign countries.
The 2022 Ukrainian war has forced millions to flee their homes, leading to increased psychological and social pressure on refugees. The limited accessibility of mental health services and treatment in European countries worsens the situation, putting this group of people at a higher risk of experiencing depression and other mental health issues.
Our primary objective was to build awareness of the iFightDepression Tool created by the MESUR project. This internet-based self-management program is designed for individuals experiencing milder forms of depression.
Provided free of charge, the iFightDepression Tool assists individuals in self-managing their depression symptoms and facilitating recovery. The tool is utilized with the guidance of trained health professionals, meaning it is employed with support from mental health professionals. In the case of refugee response institutions, also MHPSS professionals focused on migrant mental health and psychosocial support may become iFightDepression guides.
Task: The task involved distributing news about the iFightDepression in four European countries (Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece and Hungary):
- This included announcing the tool to interested parties, such as healthcare professionals keen on implementing it within their practice.
- Arranging and providing support for interviews and public appearances of local project members in the countries.
- Building general recognition of the iFightDepression tool as a helpful resource for Ukrainian refugees, aiding them in mitigating the effects of depression.
Timeline: 3 months
Main challenges: Occasionally, spreading positive news can be challenging. Various factors, such as timing, hesitancy among individuals to discuss intricate topics, mental health stigma in Europe and absence of broadly recognizable local figures associated with the project, contribute to this difficulty.
Prework
As a first step, we divided the tasks to be undertaken within the execution period into three phases: drafting the press release, press release dispatch and publication results. These stages were precisely described in a communications plan, detailing deadlines and assigning all tasks related to the press release.
We consolidated all communication-related documents and implemented a dedicated reporting document to collect feedback, clippings, and relevant information concerning the distribution process.
Drafting the press release
Based on partners’ initial draft, we initially prepared drafts of the press release in English, and upon approval from the work package leader, we tasked our partner agencies to translate it into their native languages and culturally adapt.
Despite providing the English version to our partners, they played a crucial role in enhancing the press release by incorporating local context and making it more appealing to readers. We included citations from key members of the MESUR project as well as persons from each specific country involved, including local users of iFightDepression in refugee response context. This procedure aimed for readers to better identify with the project and overcome the challenge of lacking local figures associated with it. We also needed to avoid top-down imagery, substituting it where possible with a bottom-up approach.
Press release dispatch
At the same time, our agencies created personalized media lists for distributing the news locally. When dispatching the news, they considered factors, such as national holidays and monitored the public debate to ensure relevance.
When collaborating with local PR teams, it is beneficial to engage with reliable partners like Enterie, which covers most of Europe and provides a unified press release distribution service. Partnering with a local team allows for consultation on activities, assignment of a dedicated consultant for each distribution, KPI assessment, localization, and translation of the press release. Ultimately, these teams distribute the news to local journalists with whom they have established strong relationships.
Publication results
During our cooperation, the iFightDepression tool was mentioned at least 21 times in media, including:
- Bulgaria: The news was prominently covered by tier-one media outlets like bTVNovinite, and it even made it to YouTube.
- Hungary: Outlets such as refresher.hu and egeszsegkalauz.hu provided targeted coverage, reaching audiences interested in lifestyle and health.
- Greece: Newsbomb.gr, a tier-one news portal, provided significant coverage. Additional engagement with epixeiro.gr, allabouthealth.gr, and Businessnews.gr further diversified our reach.
- Estonia: The news caught the attention of GoodNews, which focuses on positive news.
The total potential audience is estimated at around a million users.
The iFightDepression tool was mentioned on Bulgaria OnAir, the Bulgarian national television channel.
Client’s Testimonial
– We currently work within the framework of the European Commission’s EU4Health programme, processing the project of digital Mental Health Support for Ukrainian Refugees (MESUR) in six countries. We work from Bulgaria and Greece in the South of the EU, to North-East EU in Estonia, with a strong central presence (Germany, Hungary, Poland). We selected the Enterie offer from several other options after careful consideration that in four countries from our list we need a tailor-made approach to our non-standard digital mental health service. Our idea is to learn in six countries before we inspire the rest of the EU health and refugee response communities, always thinking in terms of UN agencies’ and EU approach to MHPSS, mental health and psychosocial support. Enterie succeeded in standardising key press messages and simultaneously keeping the local context of four priority countries, which allowed us to build positive atmosphere in European media. Firstly, the atmosphere around refugee potential mental health recovery support. And secondly, around Ukrainian mental health certified professionals’ social integration. In both aspects the key task was to include pan-European non-commercial digital self-management response to depression symptoms, which comes from long-term expert works of EU4Health and European Alliance Against Depression models such as EAAD-Best. Thank you for broadening MESUR international communication to all our Enterie network partners in Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece and Hungary, and to the Enterie management team in Poland. – says Dr. Piotr Toczyski, Communication and Dissemination Work Package Leader in EU4Health-funded MESUR
Distributing international press news? What to remember
- The best way to engage local journalists is by offering a localized press release. Professionally translated and tailored to each country, includes country-specific content like local context, explains the topic’s significance, and features quotes and pictures from local team members.
- Instead of distributing identical press releases to all countries, we suggest generating multiple versions. These should retain core information, such as in this case quotes from MESUR managers, while adjusting structure and formatting. This strategy boosts the chances of publication, though success isn’t guaranteed, as it relies on an organic, earned media model.
- Choose PR agencies that you are sure will diligently manage your dispatch, follow up with journalists, and promptly respond to inquiries. Often, timing is key.
- While newswire services can guarantee publications on some platforms, they are often ‘hidden’ and may not reach real users effectively despite being recognized by search engines, making it only beneficial for SEO.
- Always aim to provide visuals for the articles, as they enhance engagement and attract readers’ attention. In this case even logo and screenshots enhance the news uptake.
- It is advantageous to distribute information through websites tailored to the target group. In cases similar to ours, it would be recommended to disseminate information through websites dedicated to Ukrainian refugees in specific countries. But such websites are rare.
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