Salaam Halila Launches Her First Campaign in Campus to Raise Awareness on Mental Health

Salaam Halila, an LAU MEPI TL Student in Communication Arts, started implementing acquired communication and message conveying skills along with her colleagues within the campus by launching: “Bil Hawa Sawa” (we are all in the same boat), an awareness campaign with the objective to raise awareness about mental health among LAU students and to remind them about the counseling services that LAU offers.

Before starting crafting the campaign tactics, Halila along with the team members conducted a qualitative survey across students in campus to help them identify the key messages that they need to tackle in their campaign.

“Bil Hawa Sawa” Campaign lasted for two consecutive days (March 20 and 21, 2019) during the LAU yearly festival “NEXT” at LAU Beirut Campus.

Halila together with her colleagues planned, organized and executed the campaign that covered online, offline and in-campus activation media to ensure conveying the message to a wider audience. Planning the campaign on a low budget was not an obstacle, on the contrary, it has triggered Halila’s creativity to deliver the campaign’s messages at minimal cost; one of the ideas was to use “chalk advertising” were they wrote teasing messages about mental health on the campus’ floor and stairs as a way to attract the students’ attention. During the campaign, students were encouraged to share their suggestions about the counseling services at LAU by writing their ideas on a big black board, in addition to distributing stickers to passerby and hanging posters for bigger exposure.

The campaign gained wide acceptance and brought expected results: 158 followers on the Instagram page with 626 profile visits and 344 accounts reached, during the campaign ; 107 students responded to the online survey ; Almost 100 students visited the awareness booth and projected their input about mental health in general and LAU counseling services in particular.

At the end of the campaign, Halila and the team members gathered all students’ feedback and suggestions and submitted a detailed report to the counseling panel at LAU for their reference and consideration

The LAU MEPI TL Program enabled Halila pursue her education in Communication Arts and to be life-long learner, critical thinker and gain persuading and influencing skills.