What happens when you’ve raised the profile of your health issue to the point where some people stop seeing it as a charitable cause?

Or when your mission has become so ‘mainstream’ that the struggles faced by certain groups are at risk of being overlooked?

Thanks to years of work by mental health champions, including our client Mind, acceptance and awareness of mental health are higher than at any other time. Many of us now feel able to talk about our mental health, support others and support ourselves. That’s brilliant.

But it also presents a challenge. Our public audience research for Mind has shown that mental health’s mainstream profile mean it’s no longer automatically viewed through the lens of charity. Even some people who rate the issue as highly important to them may only rarely think of supporting a mental health charity.

This isn’t just worrying for Mind’s fundraising. It also means that the needs and barriers facing particular groups, like younger people, people in poverty, those with less understood mental health problems, and racialised communities, can feel at greater risk of being minimised or overlooked.

The challenge for Mind in engaging public audiences, including these groups, is to help more people move beyond superficial and individualist discussions of mental health, into conversations that are activating and connecting. Bringing people closer together and closer to services. A community effort grounded in compassion and support.

With our help, the whole charity – from campaigns to fundraising – is now focusing on a set of six audiences, representing 14 million people across England and Wales who care about mental health, including many of the one in four experiencing their own mental health problems right now.

Reaching further into these audiences means Mind will also be reaching more younger people, people in poverty and those who represent racialised communities. It will also be activating new supporters and reaching more people with its mental health support.

In implementing this strategy, Mind is reminding all of us that, despite all the progress on mental health, the need for charitable support remains. It’s restoring the idea of mental health as a cause – an issue where progress for everyone can only be made through collective action.

“We’ve enjoyed working with the Eden Stanley team to create our data-driven audience segmentation. They’ve been generous in sharing their wealth of experience, helping us to bring colleagues on board from across the charity. We’ve also appreciated their flexibility as we worked together to understand the insight in relation to our strategy.”

Lara Cerroni, Communications planning and strategy lead, Mind