Instead of interrupting with ads, McCANN Canada alongside Kids Help Phone (KHP) has just launched a newly engineered a platform to help young people viewing self-harm content to find the words to reach out for help, at their moment of need.
Self-harm among youth is rising across Canada. In the span of 6 years, the rate of self-harm leading to emergency visits increased by 975% and over 1.3 million online searches related to self-harm were made in Canada last year. Yet Kids Help Phone—Canada’s only 24/7, free, confidential, and multilingual e-mental health solution—wasn’t seeing a corresponding increase in outreach about self-harm. The gap revealed something crucial: sometimes the hardest part of asking for help is finding the words. Self-harm is often tied to shame, guilt, and fear, making it hard for young people to talk about.
The barrier wasn’t access to services. It was knowing what to say. So, McCann Canada, in partnership with Kids Help Phone, built Feelings To Text – a digital platform that helps youth find the words to express how they’re feeling, making it easier to start a conversation with KHP. Through a media strategy that reverse engineers media safety algorithms, the campaign identifies high-risk, self-harm-related content young people are already engaging with and intercepts them at their moment of greatest need—redirecting them to Feelings to Text.
Once on the site, FeelingsToText.ca, young people watch videos featuring first-hand recollections of experiences with self-harm. As the content plays, interactive subtitles allow them to select feelings and experiences they relate to. These selections are then used to generate a personalized text message that can be sent directly to crisis responders at KHP.
Rebecca Stutley, EVP of Brand, Storytelling and Communications at Kids Help Phone, puts it plainly: “Feelings to Text works because it reaches young people exactly where they are: in the very spaces they’re least likely to find support. This was driven by the insight that in many cases, young people are thinking about and engaging in self-harm on their own rather than talking about it. Kids Help Phone wants to reach young people in their worlds and connect them with stories of hope and help to put their feelings into words, including the ones they are most likely to hide.”
The genius is in the simplicity: it removes the paralysis of a blank screen. Young people don’t have to find the words. The platform helps them discover and articulate the ones they haven’t been able to communicate.
