Principles and Practice of Social Marketing: Case study: the Act–Belong–Commit campaign promoting positive mental health
The Act–Belong–Commit community-based social marketing campaign targets individuals to engage in activities that enhance mental health. It simultaneously encourages community organisations offering such activities to promote their activities under the Act–Belong–Commit banner. The campaign provides a simple framework for mental health promotion professionals to communicate with, and gain the co-operation of, potential partners and stakeholders within and outside the health system. The campaign was developed as an upstream or primary prevention intervention. However, the campaign messages are also appropriate for at-risk individuals and groups (secondary prevention), and for people recovering from a mental illness (tertiary prevention). Hence, as it evolves the campaign is developing a number of programme components and partners for secondary and tertiary prevention. The campaign is conducted by Mentally Healthy WA, a group based within the Faculty of Health Sciences at Curtin University in Western Australia (WA). This chapter draws on a number of publications available from the website (e.g., Donovan, James and Jalleh 2007; Donovan et al . 2003a, 2006a; Jalleh et al . 2007).
Implementing Mental Health Promotion: The Act–Belong–Commit Mentally Healthy WA Campaign in Western Australia
Mental health promotion is attracting attention as health authorities become increasingly concerned with the rise in mental illnesses. However, there is little to guide health professionals in communicating to individuals and community groups what mental health promotion – in the sense of strengthening people's mental health and mental illness prevention – is about, or to guide population-wide interventions. The Act–Belong–Commit Mentally Healthy WA campaign provides a simple framework to assist mental health promotion professionals communicate with and gain the co-operation of potential partners and stakeholders for mental health promotion programs. The campaign is based on the results of focus group research on community members' perceptions of what mental health is, and concepts of positive mental health as described by psychologists and others in the literature. Two frameworks were developed: one for targeting individuals to be proactive about their own mental health, and one targeting people in authority to be mindful about the way they deal with those in their care. The frameworks are presented as ABCs to provide a simple mnemonic of relevant concepts. The Act–Belong–Commit component described here was developed to target individuals to be proactive about their own mental health and well-being.
Early Cretaceous Feathers from Victoria
Unusually well preserved fossil feathers from Lower Cretaceous (VaIanginian-Aptian) claystones at Koonwarra, Victoria, are the oldest (c. 110-125 million years) bird remains yet found in the southern hemisphere, They are among the oldest bird remains known in the world, being antedated only by the toothed Archaeopteryx from the late Jurassic of Bavaria, and being more or less the same age as Gallornis from the Lower Cretaceous of France. The Victorian fossil feathers are evidence for essentially worldwide distribution of birds soon after the beginning of the Cretaceous, if not before. The feathers could conceivably have come from toothed birds.