Tipper Gore, advisor to President Bill Clinton on mental health, kicked off a national mental health awareness campaign last month aimed at reducing stigma and increasing access to treatment. The campaign was among the goals of last year’s White House Mental Health Conference.

"Too many children suffer in silence— they feel left out and isolated from family, friends, and their communities. They [don’t want] treatment because of stigma associated with mental illness," said Gore last month at a news briefing in the Old Executive Office Building.

She noted that suicide is the third-leading cause of death among youth.

"We have to replace fear with knowledge and information about mental illnesses. We have to replace stigma with compassion and understanding," she added.

The National Mental Health Awareness Campaign is designed to improve Americans’ understanding of mental health by distributing educational information through mass communication techniques, said Gore.

APA Medical Director Steven M. Mirin, M.D., told Psychiatric News, "In the case of mental illness, those who need help the most are often the least likely to seek and receive it. By focusing first on the nation’s youth, the campaign addresses a clinically important area for a grossly undeserved segment of our population."

Among the partners she announced were MTV and the Advertising Council. Al Guida, the campaign's executive director, described a public-private partnership involving several federal agencies including the National Institute of Mental Health and the Office of the Surgeon General, private nonprofit organizations, private corporations, and the media.

Guida said that the Ad Council will develop and produce ads aimed at youth and ads aimed at adult audiences to improve mental health awareness. The ads are scheduled to begin airing this fall on cable channels owned by Warner Brothers and television channels owned by ABC and the Savannah Entertainment/Fox Family. The television channels will air ads for youth during programs popular with young people, said Guida.

In addition, Warner Brothers Home Video, a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., will run the campaign's 77-second ad in DVD/VHS movies marketed to youth, said Guida.

"We hope our Internet service partners American Online Inc. and iVillage.com and our federal partners will make mental health information more available over the Internet," said Guida. iVillage.com is a comprehensive online network of sites tailored to the needs and interests of women aged 25 to 54, according to the company's corporate profile.

The other federal agency partners are the assistant secretary for planning and evaluation within the Department of Health and Human Services, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and the President's Task Force on Employment for People With Disabilities.