Princeton HealthCare System lends a helping hand during a dark time

When a tragedy happens, people want some sort of guidance.

After the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December 2012, Princeton HealthCare System offered some of that much-needed guidance in a 20-minute question-and-answer session on UStream hosted by Dr. Madhurani Khare, a psychiatrist who specializes in the mental health of children and adolescents.

Khare offered answers to questions about mental health, mental illness, and when families and friends should get help for their loved ones so that further tragedies could be avoided. She discussed behavioral changes that could be a sign of mental illness and pointed viewers to resources for help. Khare stressed how important it is for people who may be at risk for mental illness to seek help.

Discussions like the one Princeton HealthCare held are risky propositions. They can often come off as opportunistic. But Princeton HealthCare simply offered a helping hand. It promoted the session to 18,000 email subscribers and on Facebook, but not in a pushy way. For its sensitivity in the matter and its offering of a needed resource, Princeton HealthCare is the winner of the Best Live Chat category in PR Daily’s 2013 Social Media Awards.

Only 110 people participated in the chat, but for those people, it was almost certainly needed.

Find out about Ragan and PR Daily’s award programs here.