NSPCC look at how they can better support emotional wellbeing and mental health for children in care.
A new report has been published by the NSPCC on the mental health of young people. The mental health of children in care is significantly more affected than children who are not in care. In fact, 45% of looked after children in England, 45% of looked after children in Scotland and 49% of looked after children in Wales have a mental disorder. In comparison, only 10% of children in private households suffer from a mental illness. It has been shown that good mental health is just as important as good physical health and so the NSPCC are exploring how they can better support children in care to improve their emotional wellbeing.
Video has increasingly become the most effective choice when communicating with an audience and has been shown to be over 5 times more effective at engaging consumers than text. Given the choice of reading a lengthy text or watching a video, the vast majority of consumers will choose to watch the video. This means that video is essentially the most effective way of reaching a diverse audience, keeping them engaged and providing them with the information they need in a way that is easy to understand. This is why the NSPCC chose to use an animation to communicate their research and recommendations for improving the mental health of children in care.
CreativeConnection have produced the animation for NSPCC using a combination of photographs and hand drawn imagery. This gives an emotional feel to the video and provides an effective and engaging way of communicating this important message. The weather is used to interpret the emotions of the children and uses stop motion to add another element, creating movement within the animation. It also uses both an adult and child voice over to build rapport with the audience and portray the emotional message effectively. The animation has been launched across the NSPCC social channels and website and will be supported by The Guardian Social Care Network.