One such approach is Time to Change (TTC), which was formed in 2009 by mental health charities MIND and Rethink Mental Illness. This was set up with the soul aim to reduce mental health-related stigma and discrimination. Its Key aims are to: improve public attitudes and behaviour towards people with mental health problems. Reduce the amount of discrimination that people with mental health problems report in their personal relationships, their social lives and at work. To make sure even more people with mental health problems can take action to challenge stigma and discrimination in their communities, in workplaces, in schools and online. And finally, to create a sustainable campaign that will continue long into the future.
They work across a range of key areas …show more content…
The methodology behind their stigma reduction interventions drew heavily from the psychological intergroup contact approach.
In this paper, I will discuss how the intergroup contact approach has been applied by Time to Change, with the aim of reducing mental health stigma in the UK.
The intergroup contact approach was developed from Allports work on the psychological nature of prejudice, namely Intergroup Contact Theory. During the racial segregation in the U.S.A Gordon Allport (1954) proposed that contact between members of different groups would lay the foundations to reduce prejudice and intergroup conflict. Allport suggested prejudice is a product of unfamiliarity with an out-group, and initiating this contact an individual has the opportunity to gain personal and positive experiences, which can then be generalise to the group as a whole. He highlighted that the positive effects of intergroup contact occur in contact situations characterized by four key conditions: equal status, intergroup cooperation, common goals, and support by social and institutional
They work across a range of key areas …show more content…
The methodology behind their stigma reduction interventions drew heavily from the psychological intergroup contact approach.
In this paper, I will discuss how the intergroup contact approach has been applied by Time to Change, with the aim of reducing mental health stigma in the UK.
The intergroup contact approach was developed from Allports work on the psychological nature of prejudice, namely Intergroup Contact Theory. During the racial segregation in the U.S.A Gordon Allport (1954) proposed that contact between members of different groups would lay the foundations to reduce prejudice and intergroup conflict. Allport suggested prejudice is a product of unfamiliarity with an out-group, and initiating this contact an individual has the opportunity to gain personal and positive experiences, which can then be generalise to the group as a whole. He highlighted that the positive effects of intergroup contact occur in contact situations characterized by four key conditions: equal status, intergroup cooperation, common goals, and support by social and institutional