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Deaf Wellness Center

URMC / Deaf Wellness Center / Research / Depression Awareness Ad Campaign

Depression Awareness Ad Campaign

Depression adIn May of 2009, the DWC launched a public service announcement (PSA) campaign to raise awareness in the Deaf community about depression. The campaign is built around three PSAs filmed only in American Sign Language (no sound track) featuring deaf professionals and actors, including the well known deaf actress, Linda Bove (from Sesame Street, Happy Days, Search for Tomorrow, and many stage productions). Each PSA can be viewed below. The 30 and 60-second PSAs are presented in ASL-only and in captioned (subtitled) formats. The 45-second PSA, which is a longer and re-edited version of the 30-second PSA, is intended for Internet distribution only and therefore is only in ASL (not captioned).

Please read our policies for posting DWC public service announcements on your website.

DWC 30-Second Depression PSA (ASL only)

DWC 30-Second Depression PSA (with English captions)

DWC 60-Second Depression PSA (ASL only)

DWC 60-Second Depression PSA (with English captions)

DWC 45-Second Depression PSA (ASL only)

The 30- and 60-second ads are being broadcast on local television in the Rochester, NY area for a number of months. Several outcome measures are being tracked to assess their impact. Newspaper advertisements also are being used to support the PSA campaign.

For further information about this project, contact DWC founder, Robert Pollard.

We encourage agencies providing mental health services to deaf individuals to add a link to these PSAs on their own websites. If you would like to copy and post any of these PSAs on your website, please contact us first because there are important copyright policies that will need to be followed.

These PSAs will hopefully help the local and national Deaf communities learn more about the warning signs of depression and the importance of seeking help early.

If you or someone you know needs help for depression, please refer to our clinical services page.

Support for this exciting project came from the American Psychiatric Foundation, the Causewave Community Partners (Formerly the Ad Council of Rochester), Roberts Communications, Inc., and Eastman Kodak Company.