This campaign is a personal project. It’s also a cause campaign. It’s a mighty effort for AMV BBDO senior creative and director, George Hackforth-Jones, for Duty to Care, a charity that provides mental health and wellbeing support to NHS workers. Hackforth-Jones wrote and directed the campaign film, which reminds the public that Even superheroes need saving. It hopes to raise awareness and drive donations so the charity can continue its work. The campaign is being supported by well-known figures such as Richard E Grant and Chuka Umunna.
It shows an NHS worker breaking down in her car following a night shift. Beneath this, her voice describes the trauma of what she sees in her day-to-day role. At the end you realise the voice is coming from her therapy session in a therapy session. The message is that help is available and there are people available for support.
Hackforth-Jones explained, “One of the things we wanted to address in the film was the idea surrounding NHS workers being superheroes. This is language that’s been around from the early days of the pandemic and while it comes from a good place, it can put unrealistic expectations on these people. To a certain extent it can also make the public think these carers are immune to the real emotional effects this work has. We wanted to show that while the job they do is superhuman, they are at the end of the day just ordinary people, having to cope with extraordinary circumstances.”
The director worked with real NHS staff and a DTC therapist to craft an authentic representation of a nurses’ experience over the last year. The film was created independently by a small team of volunteers. It was featured on the ITV London news following its launch on DTC social channels on March 26.
Duty To Care was set up last March by a doctor’s wife. It aims to provide immediate, free support to NHS workers struggling due to high pressure at work via online sessions with psychotherapists, CBT therapists, yoga, mindfulness, meditation, nutrition experts and personal trainers. The ambition is to help to eliminate any barriers to seeking support during a time of need and drive donations to the charity.
The work of the charity has been exceptionally well received, with over 1,500 NHS workers currently registered, and this number is rising each day. The busiest period to date has been the last six weeks, with an exponentially higher number of both sign-ups and sessions being booked across all areas; from therapy to breathwork to yoga sessions. Happily, this has coincided with an increase in donations from the public who seem to be more aware than ever of the challenges our NHS workers are facing mentally, coming forward and wanting to support them.
While the film features actor, Lucy Scott-Smith, it is based on real NHS workers’ experience and the voice over is made up entirely of anonymous verbatims taken from actual therapy sessions.
Founder of Duty to Care, Harriet Hunt, stated, “While many of us are rightly looking forward to life returning to normality in the next few weeks, the truth is a year on from the start of the pandemic life for many NHS workers is very challenging. With more than 50% of NHS workers saying their mental health has worsened since the first wave, now more than ever, they need our support.”
Nicky Perl, counselling psychotherapist, added, “The clients that I have worked with typically needed a lot of encouragement to seek help and to put themselves first for once. In a way, the feelings of helplessness and anxiety has almost become part of the culture during this time. As one client put it, it is hard to talk about your problems with colleagues when you know that they are going through exactly the same thing. We owe it to these NHS workers to restore their shattered mental health and wellbeing and Duty to Care is well placed to do this.”
Brenda Kelly, NHS Nurse, commented, “For me nursing is a second career. I chose to retrain after my husband died of cancer three years ago. Needless to say, I was not expecting to qualify in a pandemic. I actually managed to cope quite well during both peaks, using all the tools for self-care I’d built up during those first few years of grief. However, once the adrenaline disappeared, I realised I wasn’t OK and needed some extra support. Duty to Care were quick to respond and I started my first session of therapy within a week. The sessions were sensitive and helped me to recognise what helped me cope with my emotions and keep moving forward.”
Credits
Writer & Director: George Hackforth-Jones
Actor: Lucy Scott-Smith
DOP: Chris Clarke
Editor: Quin Williams
Music by Deborah Williams
Sound Recordist: Sam Mendelssohn
Sound Design: Jim Stewart
Colourist: Tom Mangham
Special thanks to Julian & Matt at TenThree, Jasmine Lewis-Humphrey & Alex Fitzgerald at The Mill and Rachel Hough at String and Tins.
