ITV2 today launches a new digital series on mental wellbeing directed by Dr Alex, encouraging 16-34 year olds to “do what helps them”.
How We Move, hosted by UK Youth Mental Health Ambassador Dr Alex George, explores the different ways people improve their mental wellbeing.
Through honest conversation with peers of influencers, actors, and broadcasters from diverse cultural backgrounds and communities, the new digital series encourages people to do whatever it takes to get them through tough times, no matter how quirky.
The first episode features Dr. Alex in conversation with Irish actress Evanna Lynch, who reveals that her method of getting through tough times involves handstands and finding moments of meditation in mundane Amazon product reviews. Irish youtuber Riyadh Khalaf also shares that singing show songs to his cat and seeing planes calms him down.
The title of the series produced by ITV’s Digital Content Innovation team originates from the slang term ‘we move’, which is often used to describe perseverance in a challenging situation. “How We Move” flips the term on its head by encouraging people to do what helps them get ahead instead of just pushing themselves forward.
The digital series launches as part of ITV2’s historic partnership with mental health charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), with the aim of helping drive 5 million actions to help 16-34 year olds to cope better with the ups and downs of life.
There will be monthly episodes of How We Move, available on the ITV2 YouTube channel.
ITV2’s core viewing audience is between the ages of 16 and 34, so its partnership with CALM aims to ensure that younger people feel empowered to do what gets them through the tough times. In addition, this is part of ITV’s commitment to promote 200 million actions in support of mental or physical health by 2023.
Dr. Alex George, Ambassador for Mental Health, said: “It is an absolute honor to be at the helm of this campaign, a collaboration between ITV2 and CALM. I think over the last few years we’ve all learned how important it is to take care of ourselves and our mental health. We often think of self-care as doing things like taking a bath or going for a walk, but in reality self-care is individual and unique to each person. Ultimately, it’s about doing what helps you. In each episode, we’ve talked to a wide variety of guests from different backgrounds with different ways of getting by. I hope viewers and listeners enjoy each episode and take away something to help them with their self-care. ”
Simon Gunning, executive director of the Campaign Against Living Miserably, said: “It’s been a rough couple of years, and the kids have had to deal with more than their fair share of challenges. That is why now more than ever we must continue to redefine the narrative surrounding mental health.
By working with ITV2 and its array of talent, we hope this series will give young people the tools to tackle whatever life throws at them. And, most importantly, emphasize that there are no right or wrong answers, and what might work for one person might not work for another. ”
Susie Braun, Director of Social Purpose at ITV said: “Our goal at ITV is to normalize care for your mental wellbeing, no matter what works to help you get through the tough times. How We Move helps challenge self-care stereotypes and encourages people to think about what works best for them. ”
Katherine Dove, manager of ITV’s digital video unit, said: We are very excited about the launch of this new digital series. This is not a typical way to approach conversations about mental wellness, we’re not offering people a bunch of self-help advice. Instead, we’re creating a safe space for authentic, vulnerable conversation — those unique things we all do to help each other are often so much fun, and we want to brag about it. “
Watch episode one here.
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Notes to editors
About ITV Social Purpose:
ITV entertains and connects with millions of people around the world, reflecting and shaping culture with brilliant content and creativity.
Reflecting and shaping the world we live in gives us a great opportunity to use our content to reach and inspire positive change in the rest of the world. This is ITV’s social purpose: to shape culture forever. We do this in four focus areas: Better mental and physical health,
Diversity and inclusion, climate action and retribution.
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