Workers in emergency service organisations make for a complex audience when it comes to mental health. The very nature of their jobs including long hours and stressful work environments means a disproportionate number of employees and volunteers in the profession struggle with their mental health. In the UK, data shows that 9 out of 10 workers within the 999 services experience stress, depression, or low mood at some point in their career. Yet, despite high levels of suffering, many don't feel comfortable discussing mental health with their line manager.

Although challenged by incredibly stressful jobs, only 16% of emergency responders sought help for their mental health last year. Through extensive research, Mind, the UK's largest mental health charity, identified numerous barriers to accessing support, from not wanting to be viewed as weak, to a fear of losing their job or jeopardising their career.

The pandemic and recent increase in media attention has only compounded the problem, with many emergency responders citing the expectation to be a "hero" as another reason to hide their struggles with mental health.

Mind, in partnership with The Royal Foundation, wanted to destigmatise mental health within this audience by raising awareness of their Blue Light Program of mental health support for emergency responders, and drive traffic to bluelighttogether.org.uk a website where they could get the support they need.

During the pandemic, the media hailed emergency responders as "heroes" and though this word was intended as a badge of honour, it had the unintended consequence of pressuring many to hide their mental health struggles. To break through the clutter and speak directly to emergency responders, we flipped the script on the hero narrative, revealing what it really feels like to be on the other end of it. We created an emotional film featuring real emergency responders who had struggled with their mental health and portrayed them not as "heroes" but rather as ordinary people with extraordinary jobs.

In a survey of almost 4000 staff and volunteers across the emergency services, Mind found that seven in ten emergency responders reported worsening mental health over the past year. Despite this, two in five indicated that they wouldn’t feel confident discussing mental health with their line manager.

By their nature, emergency responders are great problem-solvers: they have the ability and training to quickly assess risky situations and then swiftly act to help others but they don't always exhibit the same ability to identify and act when they themselves are in trouble.

We needed to shift the emergency responder mindset from helping others to helping themselves. We did it through a thought-provoking insight unique to our target audience and the emergency services: When the world expects you to be a hero, it can be hard to ask for help.

The "Heroes" film was launched on 20 November 2021, just days before Prince William and the Royal Foundation hosted the Emergency Responder Mental Health Symposium bringing together the UK's Health Minister and 200 leaders from across the emergency services to discuss mental health within the industry. The film ran for three months on ITV Hub, one of the UK's most popular online video and on demand services which allowed us to target viewers based on user profile data and viewing habits. The film continues to run online and across Mind's social media channels.

The film was widely shared among emergency responders online and sparked numerous conversations on social media. The Blue Light Together website received more than 10,000 unique visits in just two months, far exceeding expectations and becoming one of Mind's most successful campaigns to-date.

The film also raised awareness across the UK and added to a groundswell of public support leading up to the Emergency Services Mental Health Symposium hosted by Prince William and the Royal Foundation. The symposium, which brought together the UK health minister and 200 leaders from across fire, ambulance, police, and search & rescue culminated in a historic agreement wherein new standards were agreed to in order to better support the mental health of all 999 staff and volunteers.