For 30 days, the color yellow seems to be everywhere. It appears on Instagram stories, university posters, company campaigns, television programs and profile pictures. There are ribbons, hashtags, inspirational phrases and reminders to talk about mental health. Every year, Yellow September returns with the same urgent message: we need to talk about suicide prevention.
We do talk about it. At least, for a month.
But somewhere between the yellow ribbons and carefully designed Instagram posts, an uncomfortable question remains: that movement actually change behavior? Knowing that mental health matters is one thing and knowing what to do when a friend is struggling is another. The thing is, sharing a yellow post is not necessarily the same as picking up the phone and asking someone: are you really okay?
THE YELLOW MONTH
In Brazil, Yellow September has become one of the country’s most recognizable mental-health awareness campaigns. The movement seeks to encourage conversations about suicide prevention, reduce stigma and make support and information more accessible. Organizations such as the Centro de Valorização da Vida (CVV), the Associação Brasileira de Psiquiatria (ABP) and the Conselho Federal de Medicina (CFM) have played important roles in the campaign’s development. The CVV, in particular, provides emotional support through telephone 188, available 24 hours a day.
The visibility matters. Suicide has historically been surrounded by silence, stigma, discomfort, and talking about it responsibly can help people recognize emotional suffering and understand that asking for help is possible. But there is a difference between awareness and action. The psychologist Juliana Martins, who graduated from PUC-SP, explains that visibility can help bring mental health into everyday conversations, but that a campaign cannot stop at information: “Awareness is the first step, but behavior change requires much more,” she says. “Someone may understand that mental health is important and still not know how to approach a friend who is suffering, where to seek help or what to say in a difficult moment.”
That gap may be one of the biggest challenges facing Setembro Amarelo. We know we should talk – but do we know how?
AWARENESS ≠ ACTION
Imagine this: you are scrolling through Instagram and come across a yellow post saying, “You are not alone.”
You like it. Maybe you share it. Maybe you even add it to your story. Then you close the app and continue with your day.
There is nothing inherently wrong with sharing a campaign message. In fact, visibility can help important information reach people who need it. The problem begins when awareness becomes the final destination rather than the starting point.
Juliana explains that, meaningful change can happen through ordinary actions: “Asking someone how they are and genuinely being available to listen, for example. It can also mean taking emotional suffering seriously instead of saying that someone is being dramatic or that they simply need to ‘think positively”. It sounds simple, but sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to do.
We are often uncomfortable with other people’s pain. We want to fix it, explain it or make it disappear. We reach for advice when what the other person may actually need is someone willing to stay. “Sometimes people don’t need an answer at that moment; they need to feel heard”, Juliana says. And maybe that’s where prevention becomes less about the perfect sentence and more about presence.
THE SOCIAL MEDIA PARADOX
For younger generations, mental-health conversations are increasingly taking place online. TikTok videos explain anxiety. Instagram carousels discuss burnout. Influencers talk about therapy. Memes turn emotional exhaustion into relatable content. The internet has made mental health easier to discuss, but it has also made it easier to simplify. A 30-second video cannot explain every experience. A motivational quote cannot replace professional care. And an aesthetic campaign cannot transform a complex public-health issue into a simple checklist.
According to Juliana, social media can contribute to prevention by making reliable information more accessible and helping people feel less alone in what they are experiencing. But there is a limit: “There is a difference between creating awareness and turning emotional suffering into content”, she says. That distinction becomes particularly important during Yellow September, when mental-health content floods social media. The question is no longer simply how much are we talking? It is how are we talking?
WHEN AWARENESS BECOMES PERFORMATIVE
There is a strange contradiction in the way we sometimes approach awareness campaigns. We want to be seen supporting the cause. We want the yellow ribbon in our stories. We want the right caption. But what happens when someone close to us actually needs support? Do we listen? Do we stay? Do we know what to do?
Juliana believes symbolic participation is not necessarily meaningless. Sharing information can help spread a message, but it should not be the end of the conversation. “The most meaningful awareness is the one that changes how we relate to other people”, she says. That might mean sending a message to a friend you have not heard from in a while. It might mean taking someone’s distress seriously instead of calling them dramatic. It might mean learning where to find professional support. It might simply mean sitting beside someone without immediately trying to make their feelings disappear. The yellow ribbon can start the conversation. It cannot have the conversation for us.
WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SAY?
Research on suicide-prevention campaigns offers a similarly complicated picture. Studies have found that media campaigns can improve knowledge, attitudes and, in some circumstances, intentions to seek help. However, evidence that campaigns alone reduce suicide deaths remains limited.
A 2024 Brazilian study examining suicide mortality trends before and after the implementation of yellow september found no significant change in the trajectory of suicide rates associated with the campaign. The researchers argued that communication initiatives need to be accompanied by broader prevention strategies, including professional training and stronger healthcare networks.
That finding does not mean that yellow september is useless. It means that suicide prevention is bigger than a campaign. A campaign can encourage someone to seek help, but that person still needs access to a professional. A friend can recognize that something is wrong, but that friend needs to know where to turn. A university can organize Yellow September event, but students still need mental-health support after the month ends.
Awareness can open the door. But there has to be somewhere to go once it opens.
THE PRESSURE TO “ASK FOR HELP”
There is another uncomfortable question hiding inside mental-health campaigns: how much responsibility should be placed on the person who is suffering?
Ask for help.Talk to someone. Seek therapy.
These are important messages, but they can become incomplete when they ignore the reality of access.
Not everyone has the same financial resources, support network or access to mental-health services. For some people, asking for help is not the end of the problem. It is the beginning of another one: finding someone who can actually help.
Juliana argues that prevention cannot be treated solely as an individual responsibility. “We shouldn’t place the entire responsibility on the individual. People need to have somewhere to go when they ask for help”, she claims. That means prevention also belongs to schools, universities, families, workplaces, healthcare systems and public policy.
Mental health is personal. But mental-health care is also collective.
AFTER SEPTEMBER
Maybe the real test of Yellow September begins on October 1st, when the yellow graphics disappear, the hashtags become less frequent and the campaign posters come down. Do we still ask our friends how they are? Do we still listen? Do we still take emotional suffering seriously? Do universities continue talking about mental health? Do companies keep their support initiatives running? Do we remember the resources we shared during September?
For Juliana, the answer should be simple: the conversation cannot be seasonal. “I would like to see mental health treated as an ongoing conversation rather than something that appears once a year”, she says. That might be the biggest shift Yellow September needs. Not necessarily more yellow. More continuity.
BEYOND THE RIBBON
There is something comforting about a symbol. It gives us something visible to hold onto. It transforms an invisible problem into something we can see. But suicide prevention cannot live inside a ribbon. It lives in conversations, in listening, in access to care, in education, in public policy and in relationships where people feel safe enough to say, “I’m not okay”.
And perhaps that is the real question behind Yellow September. Not whether Brazil can turn yellow every September, but whether we can become better at recognizing, listening to and supporting one another when nobody is watching.
Because awareness is important. But awareness without action is only the beginning.
And when September ends, the conversation shouldn’t.
NEED SOMEONE TO TALK TO?
In Brazil, the Centro de Valorização da Vida (CVV) offers free emotional support through 188, 24 hours a day. The organization also provides online support through its official website. If you or someone around you is in immediate danger, seek emergency medical assistance or go to the nearest emergency service.
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The article above was edited by Camilly Vieira.
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