In today’s world, where mental health awareness seems greater than ever, animation is emerging as a transformative means to communicate mental health issues especially to children and young adults. Through social media and smartphones, animation provides an accessible route to education and insight. This is particularly beneficial for the 20% of people experiencing neurodiversity and the 15% with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), who may encounter additional challenges with traditional forms of communication. Language need not be a barrier to understanding mental health; wit ..read more

As a passionate advocate for dental hygiene, I’ve always explored innovative ways to spread awareness and educate people about the importance of oral health. On World Oral Health Day 2024, Synima used the remarkable effectiveness of stop motion animation to convey vital messages about dental care.  This creative medium has the unique ability to captivate audiences of all ages, making complex concepts both understandable and memorable. Through the meticulous art of stop motion, we can illustrate the progression of tooth decay, the correct techniques of brushing and flossing, and the imp ..read more

It was announced (Feb 7th 2024) that the number of children referred to emergency mental healthcare in England has soared by more than 50% in three years, according to data laying bare the impact of lengthy waiting lists for regular treatment. There were 32,521 emergency and urgent referrals to CAMHS 2022-23, analysis of official data by the Royal College of Psychiatrists revealed. In 2019-20, the year before the Covid pandemic, the figure was 21,242. The increase means more than 600 mentally ill children a week are deteriorating to such a state that they have reached crisis point. Many of th ..read more

This month I’d like to re publish in full an article written by Dr Piers Henriques Director of Communications at Nacoa. The article describes a timeline of the governments disruptive financial approach to Nacoa and lack of ‘personal’ commitment … basically its heart. Personally I’m ‘recovering out loud’ from alcohol. My company is doing what it can to support Nacoa, by producing animation and video of public service announcements for its patrons and ambassadors. Children are completely innocent collateral damage to the scourge of addiction. “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s s ..read more

Mrs D: How long have you been in recovery? Quint: Nine Years. Mrs D: What can you tell us about the last months/years of your drinking before you gave up? Quint: It was such a cliche. The carousel of crap I was on. Bargaining with myself, honest resolve to DO something about booze, promises to others all broken. Increased early morning drinking, drink driving, drinking at work. Mrs D: What was the final straw that led you to get sober? Quint: There were a few ‘rock bottoms’ and I bounced in and out of several therapists and AA. Because I thought I knew best. It was a Spring walk in Richmond ..read more

Animation is a wonderful way of explaining ideas which are too big, too small or too complex for people to understand. Taking the example of the history of the human species this animation represents the amount of time we’ve been on this planet and what the significant achievements have been for our species. “Social media platforms are designed to manipulate our behaviour, keeping us hooked and constantly seeking validation. We need to reclaim our attention and use it mindfully.” Tristan Harris 2023 Imagine human history were written in a big 1,000-page book. Every page would cover 250 years ..read more

A personal perspective So I thought I’d write this for (myself) you to tick off what the common reasons for why the consumption of alcohol is a ‘progressive illness’. It’s a belief I very much share, statistically it seems to be true, clinically it’s been my experience as a shrink treating addicts. But personally I thought it’d be an idea to get away from the theory and share biographically how it ‘got’ me. How the tail started to wag this dog. (Woof) With ‘alcoholics’ there’s always seems to be this question: ‘why me?’ When was the ‘tipping point’ the threshold I crossed that ‘made me’ an al ..read more

Worsened by the isolation and uncertainty felt during the pandemic, the number of children in need of support for mental health problems has surged. With CAHMS struggling to handle the backlog, a raised threshold was implemented in 2021-22, which effectively cut off access to 60% of children who had been stuck on waiting lists. Now, the requirement for treatment has been raised to such a level that children need to be in a severe condition before they are considered “ill enough”, allowing more children to get to critical points that could’ve otherwise been prevented if help was offered soone ..read more

Perhaps because we all regularly experience anger, we feel it’s simple to understand. After all, anger plays a part in our lives from childhood. We see it in the discipline meted out to us by parents and other adults. “Often [during the pandemic], a child was on its own the whole day with a very angry, stressed and anxious adult. Children are utterly dependent on their parents’ sense of well-being and stability for their own sense of well-being and stability. It is like their weather system. The child doesn’t have the resilience to cope on its own. Some families became war zones, and you are ..read more

How we utilised video to convey emotion and bring Nacoa to the forefront of social media Whether championing an initiative or inspiring change, a Public Service Announcement (PSA) needs to be clear and emotive. Video and animation are perfect for displaying information in a comprehensive manner with that irreplicable emotional touch. This sentiment couldn’t be reflected better by our collaboration with the National Association for Children of Alcoholics (Nacoa). Founded in 1990 to address the needs of children affected by a parent’s drinking, Nacoa have been key in the alcohol awareness space ..read more