2.1. Forming the Alliance and Ongoingly Reflecting Its Growth on the Website
First, the grass-roots website (hosted for free on a popular Web service) was created with an invitation to form together a local alliance against depression (
https://sites.google.com/view/aliansprzeciwdepresji, accessed on 15 February 2023) with later added the .org suffix (
https://www.aliansprzeciwdepresji.org, accessed on 15 February 2023) and it was sent out to local stakeholders in the Warsaw’s City Center (The invitation text was as follows: “If you like, join the Warsaw City Center Alliance Against Depression. In the years 2021–2024, we are conducting research in action in the Warsaw City Center to sensitize residents and institutions to the situation of people at risk of depression. For this purpose, we are creating an alliance against depression in the Warsaw downtown area to also help prevent suicidal behavior. The formal and informal allies in this alliance are all people, institutions, and media interested in Warsaw City Center who want to promote three ideas: depression can affect anyone; depression is a real disease; depression can be treated. The alliance has no legal status, and the allies act at their own pace, at their own discretion, and do not make any legally binding commitments to each other or to other parties. The list of allies will appear in the first year of the initiative and will be constantly updated. You can also support the alliance without appearing on the list. We invite all interested participants to contact me and get involved! Piotr Toczyski, M.Psych., Ph.D. (bio), Head of Media and Communication Department at M. Grzegorzewska University in Warsaw. E-mail:
[email protected]. Please watch the 1-minute film about our method (courtesy of the Alliance Against Depression (AAD) Coordination Centre established at the Western Australia Primary Health Alliance in Perth, whose role is to support interested Western Australian communities in building their own local alliances against depression and share what they learn with the European alliance against depression and its global network partners):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOtTHl4-bgM&ab_channel=WAPrimaryHealthAlliance” (the above link accessed on 15 February 2023). Around twenty local institutions responded to the call and actively engaged in the creation of the alliance emerging in the City Center. Some of them are already mentioning their affiliation with the Alliance on their websites and social media, becoming early ambassadors of this initiative on a local and national scale (See, for example (1) “Zobacz…. JESTEM’’ Foundation website:
http://zobaczjestem.pl/srodmiejskiego-aliansu-na-rzecz-przeciwdzialania-depresji-zapraszamy-do-dyskusji (accessed on 15 February 2023); (2) eFKropka Foundation Facebook fanpage:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=4385034501562575&id=399188573480541 (accessed on 15 February 2023); (3) Mr. Paweł Kwiecień (EFPA EuroPsy-certified psychologist) website:
https://www.pawelkwiecien.pl/artykuly/srodmiejski-alians-przeciw-depresji (accessed on 15 February 2023). The Warsaw City Center Alliance Against Depression was also mentioned during some events, such as (4) Transition Group’s online conference on “Employee’s psychological well-being as an essential asset to your organization” (in the closing remarks by the conference moderator Ms. Anna Pfejfer-Buczek)).
2.2. Launching the Alliance
While Warsaw’s City Center is often chosen as a venue for public events, they are not always targeted at the local community. Due to this specificity of Downtown Warsaw and with the purpose of reaching the local stakeholders in mind, we decided to replace a single kick-off meeting and opening ceremony with several simultaneous methods to launch the Warsaw Alliance’s activities more proactively. As a result, five public events were planned to mark a two-month awareness-raising period built around World Suicide Prevention Day (10 September 2021), European Depression Day (3 October 2021), and World Mental Health Day (10 October 2021)—occasions that gave rise to public discourse about depression and announced the creation of the alliance. The idea of the Warsaw City Center Alliance Against Depression was introduced to the general public and local stakeholders on four dates (28 August 2021, 8 September 2021, 24 September 2021, and 12 October 2021), with one more event planned for 26 October 2021, but at that time moved to another location because of the partial lockdown regulations. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and ever-changing regulations on public gatherings in this period, it was decided to offer mostly media, online, and hybrid events to the local community of Warsaw.
2.2.1. Beginning of Metropolitan Media Presence
A total of 10 days before the first official launching event, the idea of an “alliance against depression” was presented, and the creation of Warsaw’s City Center Alliance was announced in the media, namely by the top metropolitan radio station Tok FM. Almost an hour-long live discussion was broadcasted at 9 p.m. on 28 August 2021, and then archived as a podcast entitled “Alliance against depression. How can a project from Warsaw’s City Center inspire other communities in Poland?” with the lead highlighting that “Everyone can fight depression or support their loved ones: neighbors, students, teachers, employers, librarians, pub and cinema owners. How?” (available at
https://audycje.tokfm.pl/podcast/110757,Alians-przeciw-depresji-Jak-projekt-ze-Srodmiescia-moze-inspirowac-inne-spolecznosci-w-Polsce (accessed on 15 February 2023)).
Three local experts, suicidologist Ms. Marta Wrona, psychiatrist Wiktor Buczek M.D., and public health campaigner Mr. Mateusz Biernat, joined Ms. Małgorzata Wołczyńska (Radio Tok FM host and editor of broadcast programs focused on health and social issues (See:
https://audycje.tokfm.pl/prowadzacy/152,Malgorzata-Wolczynska (accessed on 15 February 2023)) and Dr. Piotr Toczyski (Maria Grzegorzewska University and EAAD-Best) to discuss local alliances against depression as a method worth spreading throughout Poland. We received positive feedback from the local stakeholders, proving that this media teaser has contributed to raising the profile of the alliance as a method both locally and nationally and has attracted the attention of other communities in Poland.
2.2.2. Remote Public Kick-Off & Mapping Event
The week starting on 6 September 2021 (Monday) and ending on 12 September 2021 (Sunday) was the awareness-raising week around the issues of well-being and suicidality in Poland. We used this opportunity to host the first 90 min opening meeting of the Warsaw City Center Alliance Against Depression. It took place on 8 September 2021 at noon, and due to COVID-related restrictions, which would restrain representatives of some of the interested parties from participating in an in-person meeting, it was held online on Zoom. Thanks to its remote form, the meeting was open to all interested persons and institutions (if registered prior to the event) and involved the active participation of different local groups, organizations, and other entities’ representatives, who discussed why depression was so difficult to be talked about locally and what could be performed to enable more vivid and destigmatizing public communication on depression at the local level.
The invited speaker—Mr. Maciej Sopyło from the civil society Digital Challenges Group headquartered in Warsaw’s City Center—briefly presented the results of a recent (2020/2021) research [
16] on the dynamics of internal communication between local stakeholders and influencers within local communities in Poland (Other speakers, who discussed challenges as well as ideas for communicating depression locally, included the following: Ms. Katarzyna Chotkowska (psychologist from eFKropka Foundation registered in Warsaw’s City Center and co-organizing the Mental Health Congress), Ms. Jolanta Palma (suicidologist from the Social Welfare Center, co-manager of district mayor’s telephone helpline for residents of Warsaw’s City Centre), Ms. Agnieszka Pawłowska-Fryckowska (from the OPTA Association which has been active in Warsaw’s City Center for 25 years and has ran psychological support programs co-financed by the City of Warsaw), Ms. Małgorzata Libman-Sokołowska (psychotherapist working with youth, families and adults, school psychologist from School Complex no 22 in Warsaw), Ms. Martyna Florczak (president of the Independent Students’ Association at the University of Warsaw—the biggest students’ union in Warsaw’s City Center), Ms. Anna Hasterok (psychotherapist associated with the nationwide initiative Psychologists and Psychotherapists for Society), and Ms. Maryanne Chodkowski (director of the prestigious Bednarska Elementary School) accompanied by Ms. Anna Plisiecka (psychologist from the same school located in Warsaw’s City Center). The debate was moderated by Ms. Marta Smagowicz (for many years associated with Warsaw-based NGOs, co-founder of the local alliance against depression), Mr. Marcin Grudzień (psychotherapist from Honeycomb Center for Psychotherapy and Support for Families in Warsaw’s City Center), and Dr. Piotr Toczyski (Maria Grzegorzewska University, EAAD-Best)). To briefly share the main takeaways from the meeting, the invited speakers concluded that although depression seemed to be destigmatized in the national public discourse, locally, it was still a very difficult topic to address. Alliance members agreed on the idea of supplementing this public kick-off meeting with a summary of the discussion and sharing it widely with the media. As a result, a five-page memo summarizing the meeting was prepared (in Polish) and then proofread and authorized by the speakers (to build a culture of trust). It was made available on our local website and on one of our LinkedIn profiles (
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6853029636104867840—viewed ca. 1000 times, accessed on 15 February 2023) tagged with #AllianceAgainstDepression #Warsaw #WarsawCityCenter #MentalHealthDay2021 and #WorldMentalHealthDay in English and Polish language versions. It was also sent out to all locally involved stakeholders.
2.2.3. Live Radio Discussion with Metropolitan Radio Listeners
Soon after the kick-off meeting, on 14 September 2021 at 8 p.m., Warsaw City Center Alliance Against Depression went live on air again on the top Warsaw radio station. It was an 80 min live discussion within the evening “Radio Tok FM Microphone” format, which involved participation and interventions from listeners who shared their lived experience of depression and engaged in empathetic discussions with the radio host, Ms. Małgorzata Wołczyńska. Ms. Maryanne Chodkowski, the principal of Bednarska Primary School in Warsaw, was invited as a dial-in guest on the radio program, because the model of psychological aid and counseling offered in the school managed by Ms. Chodkowski was also discussed. The live broadcast was supported by EFPA EuroPsy certified psychologist Dr. Piotr Toczyski (Maria Grzegorzewska University and EAAD-Best), who was present in the studio throughout the program to debrief the audience and deliver expert insights on destigmatizing depression.
2.2.4. Local Experts’ Debate in the Factual Culture House
On Tuesday, 12 October 2021 at 5 p.m., the public event mapping local activities and programs addressing depression in Warsaw, entitled “Addressing depression among youth-what forms of support are effective?”, was chaired by Ms. Marta Smagowicz. Our guests were Ms. Aldona Żejmo-Kudelska from the Drama Way Foundation, involved in drama-based mental health education programs for schools, Ms. Matylda Przepiórkowska from the center for prevention and therapy of children and youth “Perspektywa”, Ms. Renata Chronowska from “Zobacz…. JESTEM” Foundation, who specializes in depression and suicide prevention, and Ms. Małgorzata Libman-Sokołowska, a psychologist and psychotherapist who works with adolescents and families in high school and at a community care center. The meeting was addressed mainly to teachers, parents, and professionals working with youth, but also to the general public. Both the local Warsaw City Center Alliance Against Depression and the European organization EAAD were mentioned in the invitation.
The City of Warsaw co-funds the Factual Culture House and its activities for the local community as well as some of the activities by organizations and institutions represented by our guest speakers, which are targeted at local youth, parents, and health professionals. Thus the official logo of the capital city of Warsaw—the Warsaw Mermaid—was visible in the background for the whole duration of the live event, helping to build the local attachment of the alliance.
The event was met with great interest from the audience. Through live streaming (via Facebook Live (
https://www.facebook.com/events/977498686140574, accessed on 15 February 2023), the broadcast attracted over 500 visitors within the first three hours after the 1 h meeting.
Ms. Renata Chronowska brought leaflets about depression and suicide prevention co-funded by the City of Warsaw and distributed them among participants. Additionally, public health expert Ms. Magdalena Dąbkowska introduced the topic of possible gender differences in addressing depression in youth.
2.2.5. Theater Performance on Depression
Before and during the debate in Factual Culture House, the next event to take place in the same space was teased by one of the panelists. What was still planned as the finale of the opening series of events was a theater performance about depression, which would be an artistic, drama-based activity engaging the audience.
This closing, artistic part of the multi-piece launch of the Warsaw City Center Alliance Against Depression had to be postponed until the rules of the participatory audience involvement during the pandemic (e.g., regarding social distancing, wearing masks) got clarified, and some of the internal institutional bans were lifted. The theater performance was about to take place on 26 October 2021 at 10 a.m. in the Factual Culture House in the City Center district of Warsaw, but it had to be moved to another location: one of the Warsaw schools, where school psychologists gathered with their pupils and students and other interested persons (ca. 100 attendees).
Our artistic part of the Warsaw City Center Alliance Against Depression opening series of events is based on applied theater as an intervention in well-being, the approach worked out at the University of Exeter, combining drama and performing arts with medical and health sciences, public health and health services (
https://impact.ref.ac.uk/casestudies/CaseStudy.aspx?Id=39125, accessed on 15 February 2023). It is described as art having a proven impact on the improvement in community understanding of mental health, professional development for medics and teachers, as well as for training in applied and community theater. It is also said to effectively engage audiences and communities, professional or geographical, in narratives of illness, disease, disorder and stress. The story of a boy experiencing depression is derived from previous work entitled ‘On the Edge’, which is said to provide ‘a workable, reproducible and adaptable educational programme, supported by materials, evidence and experience’ [
17].
2.2.6. Other Activities
The alliance against depression was mentioned in Press (November–December 2021), a prestigious magazine for journalists and media makers, within the context of a working meeting of the alliance in Warsaw Bookstore Korekty in a central location of the city. The aim was to destigmatize depression among media gatekeepers and raise their awareness of the alliance as a way of working locally. Two media managers from top Warsaw-based media were present at the meeting: Ms. Maria Czarkowska (Gazeta Wyborcza daily) and Dr. Anna Gumkowska (TVN Discovery television and online group), discussing alliance and #iFightDepression tool with Dr. Piotr Toczyski (EAAD-Best), all photographed by Mr. Maksymilian Rigamonti, internationally awarded artist.
Simultaneously some dissemination activities were undertaken in order to build awareness of the method in Poland. Within the panel “Problems of psychological and psychiatric care in Poland and potential solutions”, Dr. Piotr Toczyski presented a paper, “Is there already a place in Poland for local alliances and online tools against depression?” (23 October 2021), and discussed with other panelists on the “Access to psychological and psychiatric care in Poland. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological well-being” (24 October 2021). It was in real-time noted publicly especially by the national union of students (NZS) and the national union of doctoral students (KRD) on their Twitter accounts and disseminated.