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Ad of the Day: poignant Britain Get Talking film tackles growing mental health crisis

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By Amy Houston, Senior Reporter

July 26, 2022 | 4 min read

More than 400,000 young people in the UK are being treated for mental health problems – the highest number on record. To raise awareness, ITV’s mental health campaign Britain Get Talking and creative agency Uncommon have released a new ad that encourages adults to take the time to speak to the teens in their lives.

ITV1

ITV and Uncommon's latest mental health ad / Uncommon

‘The Break Through’ sees a young girl return home from school and sit down on the couch next to her dad in front of the TV. As he offers her a cup of tea and asks her about her day, subtitles appear on the screen. Downcast, she reassures him that it was ‘fine’ – but the words on the screen tell a different story.

Her father picks up on her body language and mixed signals, and continues to try and connect with her by awkwardly asking questions, seemingly getting nowhere. After numerous attempts, he finally gets through to his daughter and she begins to confide in him.

The overall message is that sometimes young people take some time to open up, but it’s important that adults don’t give up trying.

“Britain Get Talking has always been about connecting, which is one of the most powerful ways we can look after our mental health,” said Susie Braun, director of social purpose at ITV.

“With children and young people increasingly facing challenges to their mental wellbeing, this campaign encourages and celebrates taking the time and making space for conversation. We hope this campaign can be a reminder to anyone with a teenager in their lives to keep making time to break through.”

Britain Get Talking launched in 2019 and is supported by Mind and YoungMinds, as well as SAMH in Scotland. Previous campaigns have featured well-known faces including Ant and Dec, Susanna Reid, Maya Jama and Shirley Hancock.

“Exploring the gap between what we say and how we feel felt an important conversation to bring to bear, especially when it comes to the young people in our lives,” added Nils Leonard, co-founder at Uncommon.

“Since launching Britain Get Talking with ITV it has become the UK’s most recognized mental health campaign and started over 100 million conversations. We’re incredibly proud of the impact this initiative continues to have and [it] is exactly the type of work we wanted to make when we set up Uncommon.”

Making its debut on ITV’s Good Morning Britain earlier today, the campaign will continue to run across the TV channel over the summer months.

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ITV: The Break Through by Uncommon

By ITV

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