By Nathan Makuck, JONAH Intern
One of the main goals of JONAH’s Mental Health Task Force is to connect people with resources they may need when struggling with mental health. One of their longstanding projects, the Green Bandana Project, does exactly that. This initiative lets people wear a green bandana after taking a vow to be a friendly face people can turn to in a mental health emergency. The bright green bandana people wear signals approachability and visibility. As the intern for JONAH this semester, I was immediately drawn to this program. I wanted to see the effect it already had as well as maximize the impact it could have in the future.
Through a miniature evaluation of the Green Bandana Project, I focused particularly on the distribution data that has been collected. It is obvious that the impact of the Green Bandana Project has been far-reaching. The data I examined contained 1,313 unique names, which is only a fraction of the true number of over 4,000 bandanas distributed! Since the 1300+ names we have recorded are only a portion of the total names, it means the real impact is even greater. Another way to look at the data and how it shows the reach of GBP is through locations. Eight different states now have green bandanas in them, reaching as far as Arizona and California. In Wisconsin alone, 21 separate counties have someone wearing a green bandana in them. Again, this shows how people everywhere connect and feel the issues the Green Bandana Project is attempting to address.
One of the areas of improvement for the Green Bandana Project is continued communication with members/participants and data tracking. While this is not always the most fun or easy aspect of a project, it is crucial for a project’s growth and improvement. Based on the data and strong interest in it, Green Bandana is something people connect with and a project that could be even more than what it already is. In the coming weeks, I am going to continue to investigate ways to improve data collection and participation to improve on an amazing and impactful project. The hopes of this work are to bring visibility and increase connections that will highlight the incredible work already done by anyone who has contributed to this project in the past. Finally, you, our readers, can help with this project by making sure people know what the green bandana is and what it means – talk about it and spread the word!