The Communication Initiative
Development action with informed and engaged societies
The Communication Initiative

After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. 

Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future. 

On the transfer, co-founder Victoria Martin expressed her pleasure to see this work continue under Wits' leadership, knowing that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction. 

As Wits, we honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades and look forward building from that strong base. This includes co-founders Warren Feek (1953-2024) and Victoria Martin as well as La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA), which continues independently at lainiciativadecomunicacion.com with links to The CI Global site. We are also eager to forge new partnerships and entertain new ideas as we consider how best to contribute to social and behaviour change in our rapidly evolving environment.

If you are joining the International Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) Summit in Panama, please join Wits and CILA on Monday, 22 June, to share your thoughts and suggestion for the relaunch of the Communication Initiative. We will be in Pacifica 5 from 12-1:25 for the Refuel, Reflect, and Renew Lunch Series: The Communication Initiative: celebrating a driving force for Communication for Social Change and the way forward. We will reflect on the legacy of Warren Feek and family in creating the Communication Initiative, consider the contributions of CI over the years and then turn our attention towards the future in this dynamic session. 

If you are unable to join us in Panama, we still want to hear from you. Please contribute your thoughts by following this link: https://redcap.link/CommunicationInitiative2026 or reaching out to ci_surveys@commint.com. 

You can also follow the QR Code:

 https://redcap.link/CommunicationInitiative2026

Time to read
2 minutes
Print
a- a+
Published 22 years ago
Last updated 1 year ago
Read so far

State of Mind: America 2004 - United States

0 comments
Produced by the USA-based Lichtenstein Creative Media (LCM), "State of Mind: America 2004" is a radio examination of the United States's mental health care system. Taped before a live audience in May 2004, the 1-hour public radio broadcast features discussions, musical performances, and expert commentary on research and developments in the treatment of manic-depressive illness.
Communication Strategies
This programme uses an entertaining medium to provide information and foster interaction around the topic of mental health. Recorded at New York's historic Radio City Music Hall before a live audience of 3,000 public radio listeners, the show featured a segment entitled "The Musical Mind on Broadway" that involved performances by cast members from highly popular broadway shows. Interviews were also a key aspect of the programme. Host Dr. Fred Goodwin talked with actress Carrie Fisher ("Star Wars," "When Harry Met Sally," "Hannah and her Sisters"), who read from and discussed her novel "The Best Awful" and reflected on her own struggle to acknowledge and find treatment for bipolar disorder.

"State of Mind" also featured leading mental health policymakers and scientists on new federal efforts to transform the nation's mental health care system (please see "Key Points", below) and research on bipolar disorder. Guests included A. Kathryn Power, Director of the U.S. Center for Mental Health Services; Robert Post, M.D., Director of the Biological Psychiatry Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health; Dominic Lam, Ph.D., of the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London; and Stephan Heckers, M.D., Director of the Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Program at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts.

Following the live taping and its nationwide broadcast, LCM has been drawing on the Internet to disseminate information and inspire discussion. A dedicated page on the LCM website provides relevant resources and ideas for how to use the broadcast to create local follow-up programming at the community level. A 5-page programme guide [PDF] and chat board are designed to help members of the public share their ideas and experiences with others.
Development Issues
Mental Health.
Key Points
Highlighted on "State of Mind" was the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health report, released in July 2003. The report aims to transform health care for those with mental illness through the implementation of 6 goals, one of which is explicitly communication-oriented: "Technology is used to access mental health care and information, allowing Internet technology to make mental information and care more widely available to all Americans."

"State of Mind" is a special presentation of The Infinite Mind, a national weekly public radio series exploring the art and science of the human mind. The Infinite Mind is heard weekly in more than 200 public radio markets across the USA, with more than one million listeners. For more information, click here.

Click here for details on how to order "State of Mind" as a CD or printed transcript.

After mental illness impeded his career in network news, LCM founder and president Bill Lichtenstein created his own media company to focus on issues of social justice, human rights, and mental health.
Partners

Funding provided by: the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Center for Mental Health Services, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., the National Society of Genetic Counselors, Inc., Distance Learning Network, M-3 Information.

Sources

Brown Alumni Magazine January/February 2004 and the LCM website.