Social connection protects mental health and overall well-being, yet there’s widespread feelings of loneliness and rising rates of deaths by suicide globally. Improving social connection is a public health issue, not just a personal one. To that end, students in BHLTH 435, Principles of Health Communication—a course developed and taught by SNHS Professor Jody Early—collaborated with staff from UW’s Forefront Suicide Prevention and students at South East Technological University in Ireland to create short-form videos (reels) as part of a social media campaign entitled The Power of Connection.
“The primary goals of the campaign are to raise public awareness about the importance of social connection and to engage youth ages 13-24 in this conversation,” Early explained. “Short-form video content has become the dominant communication preference among youth audiences, and an authentic campaign on this issue designed by and for young adults is lacking.”
To address this gap, BHLTH 435 students studied the issue and applied what they had learned during the quarter about “Principles of Stickiness” and storytelling to create authentic, compelling messages that would resonate with the intended audience—who they also represented.
The communications team at Forefront, Rebecca Vaux and Nick Klein, provided input along the way, and the culminating event was a video screening of UWB and Irish students’ reels. Students also voted for their favorite videos to receive the first-ever “Pubby” (short for “public health”) Award for best public health storytelling. First prize went to Kaden Louie and Alex Lin, and the duo of Kelsey Sugita and Nathan Pham were runners-up.
Reflecting on the experience and overall learning, students shared that they appreciated learning more about the role of health communication, the work that goes into creating campaigns, and the relationship between communication and health equity. “I think that in public health, some of the hardest parts of the work is creating communication that engages and also sticks with people,” Kaden said. “This class made me more sure about staying in public health. I still have a passion for informing the public and helping others learn about their health. Whether I end up doing that through research or teaching is something I’m looking forward to in the future.”
Students also shared how much they appreciated the community engagement aspect of the class. Salma Samhan wrote, “Knowing this video was more than just a class project, but was going to be shared, made me more motivated and further invested in it. I think the community project was a vital part of the learning process. I appreciated the Forefront team coming to class, reviewing our work, and giving us their feedback. That’s not something we often do in classes, and it was nice to make these connections.”
Soon, those connections will extend to the broader community. Look for the student videos and Forefront’s Power of Connection social media campaign to launch during National Mental Health Month in May 2026!
