Mental Health Campaign Associate Director for Communications

About the Mental Health Campaign

Children First is undertaking the audacious goal of reforming Pennsylvania’s mental health system for children. The vision is to ensure that every child has access to a robust continuum of high-quality prevention, early intervention, and intensive mental health services that reduce the risk of suicide, decrease the use of inpatient psychiatric or crisis care, and support mental health and wellbeing so that all children can thrive. The Mental Health Campaign will work across the state to build coalitions, raise awareness, and advocate for policy reform in both the administration and the legislature.  Please read more about our five essential strategies for mental health reform here. 

Position Summary

We are seeking a talented communications professional with experience in creating and deploying strategies that penetrate social and traditional media outlets, effecting change via public narrative, writing persuasively and incisively, conceptualizing graphic images of data and messaging, and a burning passion for advocacy to improve the lives of children. Our work is dynamic and requires a communications professional who understands the need to be responsive to external events and effectively juggle communications projects and tasks in ways that boost impact and build support.

Key Duties:

• Create a 24-month communications plan and identify research/publications and events needed to support the plan that will successfully ensure the key messages reach communities and constituencies associated with legislative leaders and other key state lawmakers, and the secondary audiences that will build buy-in from those lawmakers.
• Orchestrate the plan working with team members to produce assets and events that push out the key messages that reach the key primary and secondary audiences.
• Build and maintain relationships with journalists, including reporters, digital platform managers, producers, columnists, and on-air talent, who are assigned to mental health, health care, and children’s beats and stay abreast of current news across the state to connect our work with emerging or breaking news at the county or state level.
• Translate research on children’s mental health policy and practice into digestible, simple public messaging.
• Write effective media advisories, pitch messages, and press releases that attract media coverage of our events.
• Write and disseminate all media relations documents including press advisories, press releases, press pitches, commentaries and letters to the editor.
• Engage regularly with key reporters, digital platform managers, producers, columnists and on-air talent and development stories/appearances that increase the visibility of the key messages in the target communities/audiences.
• Provide direction in the development of briefs, publications, fact sheets developed to support the key messages and engage constructively in the editing process to ensure quality final products.

Qualifications, Education, and Experience

• Experience understanding state/local media landscape.
• Understanding of how to use a media strategy to build support among public officials for policy change.
• Expert written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to write, speak, and generate content for a broad range of audiences, including state lawmakers, mental health professionals, educators, advocates, children, and families.

Important Skills

• Strong persuasive writing skills and effective oral communication skills for pitching stories and sharing key advocacy points.
• Detail oriented with to ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects and meet deadlines.
• Ability to work independently and with others.
• Self-starter that works proficiently and collaboratively.
• Proficiency with Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Social Media Platforms, Canva, Zoom, and other design platforms.
• Capacity to take photographs and videos to generate content.
• Demonstrated ability to create compelling stories using visual and written content.
• Willingness to travel to communities across the region, access to a car and valid driver’s license.

Location: 

Candidates should be local to Pennsylvania or willing to relocate. This position could be a remote position with extensive travel in Pennsylvania required.  Mondays at the office are ideal.