Sharing stories of kindness

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are traumatic experiences occurring during childhood that can continue to affect people as adults, long after it has happened. For every 100 people in Wales, 50 have experienced one ACE and 14 have experienced 4 or more.

COVID-19 exacerbated the experience of children at risk of or experiencing ACEs in the home. The lack of access to school friends, teachers, social workers and the safe space and services that schools provide meant that more children were unable to disclose or access support/protective factors.

We were briefed in November 2020 to develop a campaign to encourage people across Wales to think about the difficulty young people experienced behind closed doors.

Kindness – no matter how big or small – is the most powerful human therapy. In fact, the healthier relationships a child has, the more likely they will be to recover from trauma and thrive.

We set out to target young people, parents (and children under 18) and previous supporters, to serve them with campaign messages and creatives to make them more ACE aware and carry out acts of kindness.

We adopted a ‘text message-style’ look and feel to fit with the current virtual climate.

Our TV ad was directed and shot virtually via Zoom to reflect the isolated world we have been living in across 2020/2021. It demonstrated a scenario where peers and an adult reached out to a young person experiencing ACEs at home.

Through digital activation, stakeholder communication and press, we asked people to share stories of kindness.

The campaign was evaluated by a research team from Bangor University.

• 6.4m total campaign
• 52% increase in website traffic
• 44,600 social engagements
• 16,400 link clicks from social
• 227,00 social video views
• 76 posts from stakeholders
• 15 people sharing stories
• 399 survey responses