Inside “The Maze”: New Campaign for CAMH Highlights Barriers in Accessing Mental Health Care
With creative by Mekanism Canada, the campaign turns the maze of mental health care into a personal narrative, calling on donors to open clearer pathways to support.
Seeking mental health support shouldn’t feel like navigating a maze. Yet for too many people, that’s the experience they face— long waitlists, endless voicemails, confusing referrals, or being told you don’t meet the eligibility criteria. Instead of finding care, people are met with dead ends.
This difficult reality is the foundation for “The Maze,” a new campaign from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) that calls attention to barriers in care and mobilizes donor support. The campaign builds on the success of CAMH’s record-breaking $600 million fundraising platform No One Left Behind.
With creative and media led by Mekanism Canada, the hero film depicts a young person trapped in a maze, a visceral metaphor for the disorienting experience of seeking mental health care in Canada. The message is clear: when you’re looking for mental health support, asking for help shouldn’t feel like navigating a maze. The campaign calls on donors to help CAMH forge clearer, more accessible pathways to care.
“Accessing mental health support shouldn’t feel like hitting dead ends, yet that’s the reality for too many,” said Sarah Chamberlin, Chief Marketing Officer at CAMH Foundation. “This campaign acknowledges that struggle but also shows there’s a way forward and that donors play a critical role in opening the path to change.”
In today’s climate of donor fatigue and news avoidance, nonprofits face the same challenge as brands: breaking through the noise when audiences are tuning out. Increasingly, leading organizations are adopting cutting-edge creative strategies with integrated media buys, creator partnerships, and urgency-driven messaging that is honest and direct to stand apart and convey why support is needed now, not later.
“We wanted the audience to be on this journey alongside the character. Every creative decision, from lighting to sound design, was made to evoke the isolation and confusion that comes with not knowing where to turn,” said Ashley Babcock, Associate Creative Director at Mekanism. “We let the experience of the maze speak for itself, turning a systemic problem into a deeply personal, empathetic story people could see themselves in.”
Launched on September 8, ahead of World Suicide Prevention Day, the campaign is running in cinema, on TV, digital video/CTV, social, OOH, display, and digital audio platforms, including podcast host reads. All channels drive audiences to CAMH’s Mental Health Toolkit, a practical guide designed to reduce barriers and help people take the next step toward care. Further media bursts will be launched around key mental health moments and donation periods.
Mekanism Canada (formerly Camp Jefferson) has been CAMH Foundation’s agency of record for creative and media since 2019.
Learn more at www.camh.ca/en/no-one-left-behind
About CAMH
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada’s largest mental health teaching hospital and one of the world’s leading research centres in its field. CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre.
Credits:
Title: The Maze
Brand Platform: No One Left Behind
Client: CAMH Foundation
Chief Marketing Officer, VP, Community Giving & Engagement: Sarah Chamberlin
Director, Brand & Donor Engagement: Meghan Kelly
Senior Manager, Brand Marketing: Robb Eng
Marketing and Communications Intern: Merryl Dsouza
Creative Agency: Mekanism Canada
Executive Creative Director: Julie Nikolic
SVP, General Manager: Edith Rosa
Associate Creative Director: Robyn Crummey
Associate Creative Director: Ashley Babcock
Design Director: Leah Renihan
SVP, Head of Strategy: Ian Barr
Group Account Director: Heather Mirynech
Account Supervisor: Kristina Figueira
Junior Producer: Sydney Fitzgerald
Integrated Production Director: Lily Tran
Freelance Creative: Patrick Scissons
Media Agency: Mekanism Canada
VP of Planning: Derek Laurendeau
Planning Director: Nicole LeClair
Media Planner: Claudia Boucher
Performance Supervisor: Sydney McCutcheon
Performance Coordinator: Divyang Kaushik
VP of Buying: Krystal Seymour
Media Buying Supervisor: Evann Kremer
Media Buying Supervisor: Sarah Conforzi
Production House: Animals TV
Director: Christopher Brown
Executive Producer: Chris Hutsul
Head of Production: Liam Benstead
Producer: Yona Strauss
Director of Photography: Kris Bonnell
Editing House: Outsider Editorial
Editor: Chris Murphy
Executive Producer: Kayan Choi
Assistant Editor: Erin Cayer
VFX/Online: Tantrum Studio
Creative Director: Dominik Bochenski
Executive Producer: Victoria Holt
Compositors: Davide Di Santo, Bala D, Piers Larchet
Matte Painters: Chet Diwakar, Seema Scheere
3D Artists: Dominik Wojtarowicz, Rogerio Miyagi, Steve Choptiany
Audio House: Rajakovic Electric
Partner & Creative Director: Mark Rajakovic
Partner & Executive Producer: Nicole Rajakovic
Audio Engineer: Aaron McCourt
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