A quick guide to celebrating an awareness day (week, or month) or a cultural or faith event
We are keen to mark and celebrate awareness day(s) connected to our services or professions, and are also mindful of diverse holidays, events and celebrations.
We know by sharing opportunities for inclusion, together we can help to create workplaces and environments where our staff, patients and service users feel included, and their needs and/ or our working practices are changed as appropriate. For example, changing appoitments during Ramadan, Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur.
To help our staff, we are sharing an equality, diversity and inclusion calendar that highlights important equality, diversity and inclusion dates throughout the year, including holy days, religious festivals, health and wellbeing awareness days.
This is a free calendar (credit to National Association Headteachers’ Union)
While these calendars highlight many days and events, our communications team works from an agreed calendar, supporting days and events that have information we can use that will raise awareness and can help our staff and services to be more culturally competent.
The team also focuses on major awareness days such as International Nurse’s Day, Allied Health Professions Day, World Mental Health Day and relies on your collective support to mark, raise awareness and celebrate days appropriately.
Do your research
- The best engagement is generated if there is a clear plan for the messages you want to share
- There is no point just pointing to the service page on the website as very few people engage in that – but new content or videos are proven to be more successful
- Look online to see if the host organisation has materials or a key message they are asking everyone to share
- Ask the communications team well in advance of the event for advice on how to put together an effective campaign.
What sort of content?
Our aim when supporting an awareness day should be to:
- Share news relevant to your team or service – has there been an innovation, changes to the way we operate?
- Share some advice or information that would help patients/service users e.g. ways to improve your mental health
- If we are promoting a service or team, can we answer questions about it if we are approached by the media? For instance, if we’re promoting a service for an awareness day with long waiting times, are we prepared to answer questions about it?
Where does it matter most?
- Who is your event important to? Think about who you are trying to talk to, and what key messages you want to get across
- Whatever you want to share it should be relevant and interesting to the people involved in it, so if you want to celebrate physiotherapists, make sure they are involved in the videos, photos etc.
Is it interesting?
- Think about the content and is it interesting to someone who might read or watch what has been developed – does it tell some facts they might not know, share tips or signpost to useful services?
- Celebrate achievements – is there something your team or service has done which might be interesting or innovative. Why not tell people and link it to the relevant awareness day
- Case studies – real people, whether it is staff or patients/service users, are always more thought provoking if they can talk about their experiences.
Communications can help
- If you need advice ahead of a key milestone or awareness day you wish to celebrate, please contact the communications team for advice
- We have a guide to how to produce a video using your mobile phone on the Extranet but they are always better if they are planned out in advance.