SC Office of Mental Health
Your Brain is a Jerk
The Situation
Today, suicide claims more Gen Z lives than the previous generation at the same age. In the state of South Carolina in 2025, people ages 15-24 accounted for the largest share of self-harm calls to emergency medical services. Callers were mostly male, white, and rural. Our task was to reach more of them – and get them to call 988 in times of crisis.
The Insight
Digital natives, this younger generation has grown up staring into an impossible social mirror – with more unhealthy comparisons, more validation of perceived shortcomings, and more comments and critiques. To break them from this negative-thought pattern, we focused on “abrupt empathy,” speaking to them in a way that created a moment of disruption coupled with deep understanding.
The Solve
To snap the cycle and make those negative thoughts easier to understand, we developed an awareness and prevention campaign meant to acknowledge a shared reality: that our brains hold an odd duality. Capable of beautiful, productive, and creative things, it also has the potential to act as a self-saboteur that feeds hurtful untruths. The statewide campaign was made with the hope that if we can understand that we’re all built this way, that knowledge can short-circuit the kind of harmful thinking that leads to devastating action. An omni-channel effort, the campaign included targeted radio, digital, and out-of-home that encouraged people to learn more while providing immediate resources for those in crisis.
Radio
Your Brain is a Jerk :60
