StigmaWatch headquarters is based in South Melbourne, Victoria. The project covers all Australian media outlets.

StigmaWatch enlists the services of volunteers known as ‘StigmaWatchers’ who report what they believe to be inaccurate or irresponsible media representations. Each report is investigated and (if it fulfils StigmaWatch criteria) acted upon.

As of November 2009 there are around 900 Stigma Watchers. Once registered each StigmaWatcher receives quarterly updates, electronic alerts and media releases, the StigmaWatch Annual Report, stories of interest and (upon request) the SANE Guide to Reducing Stigma.
 
Regular StigmaWatchers include people with mental illness, family, friends, health workers and others who care about how mental illness and suicide are represented in the Australian media. Anybody can sign up as a StigmaWatcher (including people who live outside Australia) but the project only covers Australian media outlets.

In 2009 the number of StigmaWatchers increased 25% from 2008. To become a StigmaWatcher visit this page.

StigmaWatch falls under two of the eight domains in the LIFE continuum of suicide prevention activities. For more information consult the LIFE Framework.

They are:

1. Universal interventions, which aim to engage the whole of a population or populations to reduce access to means of suicide, reduce inappropriate media coverage of suicide, and to create stronger and more supportive families, schools and communities; and 
2. Selective interventions, which entail working with groups and communities who are identified as at risk to build resilience, strength and capacity and an environment that promotes self-help and support.

‘We work really hard to promote help seeking behaviour in the community,’ says Orr. ‘We try to make sure all relevant media reports contain appropriate help lines and sources for more information etcetera so community groups have access and knowledge of those ways to help each other and come together.’

Future plans for StigmaWatch include:

• Expanding a pro-active approach. Says Orr: ‘if we anticipate for example a lot of articles about someone who has died by suicide then we proactively make contact with media outlets to remind them of the guidelines and our program.’
• Making more contact with people outside the media such as politicians and sports personalities who are frequently quoted in the media. Says Orr: ‘lots of people, such as media advisors to politicians, don’t know about the guidelines so it is just a case of us getting out there and educating them before we have to wag our finger at them and say “don’t do it.”’

Challenges
Ongoing challenges StigmaWatch encounters include:

• Dealing with fluctuating levels in the quality and accuracy of media representations. Orr calls this ‘a case of two steps forward and one step back…one week you might get three good news stories and you think “great, they’re finally getting it” and then you get this really appalling stigmatising story and you think “ok, we’re not quite there yet.”’
• Dealing with re-offenders and problematic organisations. Says Orr: ‘If there are continual re-offenders or a particular newspaper or program that’s constantly offending, and they’re just not getting it, then there are avenues we can take that are more officially sanctioned. These include regulatory bodies and industry bodies that we go through when we’re not achieving the results we want. The Mindframe team also undertake hands on work with media outlets to provide training about the guidelines and appropriate media representations.’

The 2008-2009 StigmaWatch Annual Report indicated a drop in stigmatising reports (in comparison to previous years) across sectors in the media, particularly online outlets. It also revealed a dramatic increase (around 40 percent) in positive news stories, which, says Orr, ‘reflects the fact that we are really promoting that side of the program now. It didn’t always exist and has come to fruition in the last couple of years.’

StigmaWatch believes the media are more regularly running positively themed stories because there is now a perceived newsworthiness about people (especially celebrities) recovering from mental illness.

Short term positive outcomes can be easily judged via traffic to the SANE Helpline. Often an influx of calls occur when a news story includes a mention of the SANE Helpline phone number.