Have you been asked "How are you?" today? And was your answer honest?   

Slovaks are silent when they should speak out loud.

The mental health of Slovaks has gotten worse in recent years. The pandemic and political and economic instability contributed to this. This is also proven by the overcrowded psychiatrists and psychologists‘ clinics. Yet, only a fraction of people actually seek help. The problem is not only the lack of professional help, but also that

Admitting, at least in front of loved ones, that something is wrong is also unthinkable for many people. To the question How are you? we have learned to automatically answer "good", "quick", and "possible". And at the same time

talking honestly about mental discomfort is the first step to getting better.

UNIQA, as the first insurance company, realizes the importance of mental health and understands that the stigma that prevents people from speaking honestly must be stopped. That's why we came up with the campaign Talk honestly about mental discomfort, in which we spoke directly to Slovaks and Czechs.

But it is important that public figures that people listen to talk about it. Our well-known sports ambassadors helped us with this in online spots, directed by Dano Dekan and produced by Hitchhikers Films. 

The Slovak Olympic ski winner Petra Vlhová and Czech skier Martina Dubovská spoke honestly at the press conference

Other well-known people also helped us break down prejudices. Together with the League for Mental Health, we prepared discussions in which singers Celeste Buckingham and Zuzana Smatanová described their experience with mental discomfort.

And comedian Fero Joke's Instagram post, which was created in cooperation with UNIQA, also made it to the online magazine Nový Čas.

In a TV spot, we showed what our call to Speak honestly would look like in everyday life. It depicted an ordinary working person who confides in a colleague about his mental discomfort.

And we found out that people are willing to take the first step towards help

From all campaign outputs, we sent people to take the first step on our campaign website. Here they could test their mental health or learn how to communicate with people who suffer from mental discomfort. And they can find specific help in the life insurance offer too.  

People visited the campaign website up to 200,000 times. It turned out that Slovaks want to improve their mental health, they just need help to break the silence. 

It turned out that the topic of mental health resonates with Slovaks and Czechs, as proved by the results of the campaign:

• 229
  reached media outputs 
• 364 250 €
  obtained media value
• + 41 % 
  YoY top-of-mind