A Philly design agency wants people to help spread awareness about the 988 mental health crisis line

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Do you have any ideas to help spread awareness for the new, three-digit national mental health and suicide crisis support number, 988? If so, now is the time to get creative.

The Jeme Agency in Philadelphia is making it easier for organizations, advocates and experts to spread the word about the crisis lifeline. The agency, which creates designs, branding and communication for companies and social impact campaigns, recently launched an online do-it-yourself design program for anyone to use to make 988 more visible in schools, homes, public spaces and on social media.

“It is a tool that anyone who has access to it, if they wanted to make their own T-shirts, create a flyer, a poster, they absolutely could,” said Meegan Denenberg, Jeme Agency founder.

The short and simple three-digit crisis number, 988, launched t​​wo years ago, replacing the original national lifeline.

National behavioral health experts and local public health workers in Philadelphia who oversee the region’s lifeline crisis response centers hoped that a shorter number would make it easier for people to remember during an emergency.

Data show that calls and texts to the 24/7 crisis line have increased nationally and in many states since the rebranding, but experts say too many people still don’t know that 988 is an option.

This is why the Jeme Agency is stepping in with this DIY awareness campaign.

“The one thing that I remembered about 911 when I was a kid was that almost every refrigerator had a magnet that said ‘911.’ Every babysitter was given a note that said, ‘Call 911,’” Denenberg said.

“I was like, how can we create something [for 988] that instead of just saying, ‘You should trust us,’ We integrate it into where you work, you play, you pray, where life happens so that it starts becoming something that is very standardized,” she said.

The agency’s free 988 Philly awareness and design catalog includes thousands of logo, image, background, color and copy writing combinations that people can download and use to make digital posters, flyers, magnets, tote bags, T-shirts and other everyday items.

Denenberg said her team was doing awareness work in collaboration with city agencies, but they soon realized that local mental health organizations and activists already had captive audiences in the communities they serve.

“I realized if we could put the tools in the hands of the people who know their community the best, people who’ve spent years understanding the language and the environment and the narrative, that was going to best compel people to feel like they were part of it,” she said. “At the end of the day, that to me was a solution.”

It took about a year for Miguel Hernandez, art director at Jeme Agency, to curate all the designs and images for the online catalog. Now, people can pick from themes like nature, hobbies, physical well-being, community and iconic Philly images like the Liberty Bell and Rocky’s boxing gloves from the movie with the same name.

Hernandez said many of the designs feature things that can benefit or contribute to mental health.

“So, this nature-themed background is speaking to the benefits of green spaces toward the mind,” he said as he pointed to a green background with drawings of leaves and plants. “An iconic rowhome illustration is about the community around you and the people around you.”

The online awareness program can be used by people who already have some design experience and those who don’t have any at all, Hernandez said. And if people aren’t interested in creating designs of their own, but want to increase awareness about 988, they can instead download ready-to-use, pre-made designs for whatever materials they plan to distribute.

Denenberg said she hopes the 988 mental health and suicide crisis lifeline becomes more recognizable as people continuously hear it and see it across their everyday lives.

“I think that everyone has been touched by either having issues of mental health or knowing someone who has,” she said. “And knowing that there’s a safe recourse for that is really important.”

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If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. The hotline is staffed 24/7 by trained counselors who can offer free, confidential support.

If you are a veteran trying to reach the Veterans Crisis Line, call 988 and press 1. Spanish speakers can call 1-888-628-9454. People who are deaf or hard of hearing can call 1-800-799-4889.