Making the Public’s Health a National Priority Means Meeting People Where They Are

Last week in Washington, D.C., I stood in a room full of public health leaders at the American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting & Expo and made a simple argument: if we want real behavior change, we have to earn real trust, one community, one creator, and one conversation at a time. The Walter E. Washington Convention Center buzzed with thousands of people comparing notes on preparedness, data, and how to rebuild credibility. Sessions spilled into the Marriott Marquis and even out onto the National Mall, where a rally made the urgency of the moment impossible to ignore.

Together with Nikki Jarvis, SVP and Rinck’s behavior change expert, Rinck Advertising has made a clear promise: work at the intersection of behavioral science and creative strategy to move people toward healthier choices. We make this commitment and do this work as an independent, woman-owned agency that is all-in on public health.

 

“Making health a national priority starts locally, in the micro publics where belief is formed and behavior actually changes.” —Laura Rinck

 

Across meetings and hallway conversations, two truths kept resurfacing. 

• Americans are navigating fragmented information environments where attention is scarce and misinformation is everywhere. 
• Rebuilding trust requires messages that feel human, local, and safe, and they must be delivered by people communities already trust. 

 

The moment we are in 

APHA’s theme this year was not aspirational language. It was a call to build durable systems grounded in human-centered practice. The program centered policy, preparedness, and community. It reminded us that prevention is more cost effective, and more humane, than treating what we could have prevented. Health security and workforce resilience took center stage, as did regional coordination in everything from supply chains to surveillance. 

But if we shrink “national priority” down to federal line items, we miss the point. Making health a national priority means showing up in the places where social norms form quickly, and often quietly: 

• TikTok comment threads and creator livestreams 
• Veterans’ Facebook groups and parenting subreddits 
• WhatsApp communities, Discord servers, and church listservs 

Connection lives inside fragmented digital cultures, each with its own norms and algorithms. We can lament that reality, or we can design for it. 

 

What I shared at APHA 

Session: Driving Behavior Change Through Influencer Marketing in Public Health 

First, a redefinition. When I say “influencer,” I am not talking about celebrities or the loudest voices online. I am talking about trusted messengers with lived experience. Neighbors. Parents. Veterans. Harm reduction advocates. People who can create psychologically safe spaces where honesty is possible, especially around fear, stigma, relapse, or uncertainty.

 

How we cast: 

• Relatability 
• Lived experience 
• Psychological safety 

When those align, we do more than raise awareness. We lower stigma and activate help seeking. 

Traditional PSAs tell people what to do. Trusted creators show what it feels like to take the next step. They name the fear, model coping, and normalize questions. That emotional safety moves people from “I should” to “I can.” 

 

Our method: Brand Touch®, three roles with one outcome 

• Advisors: Empathetic educators who reduce stigma and build understanding. 
• Amplifiers: Credible creators and community leaders who extend reach authentically. 
• Affiliates: Platforms and partners that make action simple, such as 988, 211, and campaign sites. 

Together, they turn connection into measurable behavior change. 

 

Our guardrails: T.R.U.S.T. 

• Target micro cultures 
• Relatability first 
• Use guardrails such as trigger warnings and platform-specific wording 
• Story-first creative 
• Track behaviors rather than vanity metrics 

 

Ethics is a design constraint 

One of the most important conversations of the week focused on the line between innovation and impersonation. A recent campaign used the AI persona Lil Miquela to “announce” a fictional leukemia diagnosis. As a cancer survivor, I said what many felt. AI can simulate accuracy, but it cannot simulate empathy. Our job is to amplify real human voices, not manufacture them. 

We are not anti-technology. We are pro-integrity. We co-create briefs rather than scripts so creators can speak in their own voice. We include trigger warnings and platform specific wording. Every post links to 988, 211, or campaign resources. With suicide or substance use content, safety is not an afterthought. It is the architecture. 

 

“Tech should augment human care, not counterfeit it.” —Laura Rinck

 

Proof: three campaigns that moved people 

Rinck is based in Maine, a rural, aging, beautiful, and sometimes isolated place where distance and stigma can delay seeking help. We build for that reality. Rural but digital. Close knit, but often lonely. 

 

1) The Sipping Point (Alcohol Misuse Prevention) 

Challenge: Post-COVID alcohol misuse among women in a state with a high number of breweries per capita.
Approach: Seven creators. Advisors demonstrated standard pours. Amplifiers shared honest and sometimes funny stories about moderation. Affiliates linked to 211 Maine.
Outcome: About 8 million impressions and 1 million video views, plus a surge in clicks to resources providing help. 

 

2) Filter Out the Noise (Youth Suicide Prevention) 

Challenge: For Mainers aged 15 to 44, suicide is the second leading cause of death. Nearly one in five high schoolers has considered it.
Approach: Creators delivered the message “It is okay not to feel okay.” Advisors shared lived journeys. Content ran across TikTok, Snapchat, and Twitch. Crisis links connected to 988 and peer text lines.
Outcome: About 22 million impressions and 9.6 million views. Comments formed into peer support threads that turned digital spaces into community care. 

 

3) Here to Help ME (Adult Suicide Prevention) 

Challenge: Among adults, especially men over 40, suicide is the leading cause of violent death in Maine.
Approach: Real Mainers modeling everyday coping strategies for anger, anxiety, and hopelessness. Advisors used plain language. Amplifiers extended reach across TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Clear pathways led to HereToHelpMaine.com and 988.
Outcome: In four months, about 11 million impressions, 1 million views, and more than 4,000 crisis line interactions. The message landed: seeking help equals strength. 

Bottom line: In public health, “reach” is not the finish line. Activation is. More first-time calls to 988. More peer line chats. More pageviews of coping strategies. More text exchanges that de-escalate a crisis. If our work does not move someone closer to help and closer to hope, we are not done. 

 

Why this works: the human science 

• Parasocial bonds lower stigma by creating a sense of “I know this person.” 
• Narrative persuasion bypasses resistance more effectively than lectures. 
• Similarity cues drive action by showing “they are like me.” 
• Short form video and creator communities function as micro public spheres where norms form quickly. With thoughtful moderation, a post can become a peer support space. 

These spaces are not only for youth. Veterans, parents, and caregivers are here every day. That is why messages must live natively in these communities. They must be credible, safe, and designed for conversation. 

 

APHA’s broader arc and what comes next 

The week in D.C. was not just PowerPoints and posters. It brought public health back into the public square. The National Mall rally made that literal, drawing clinicians, advocates, and policymakers to connect system level debates to human level stakes. The program underscored a both/and reality vs. an either/or approach. 

Macro: health security, funding, data systems, and policy
Micro: human connection, creator credibility, and behavior change 

PAHO reminded us that “national priority” cannot be separated from regional solidarity. Threats do not respect borders. Solutions should not either. The future will be shaped by teams that combine policy with people, and dashboards with dignity. 

 

Twenty years of behavior change and the road ahead 

When we started Rinck more than twenty-five years ago, our guiding belief was simple. Real behavior change starts with real connection. That has never changed. We are social learners. We copy people we trust. We move when we can see ourselves in the story. Our responsibility is to craft those stories with care, surround them with guardrails, and guide them toward real help. 

 

Five commitments for the field coming out of APHA 

• Redefine scale.
  Optimize for behaviors such as calls, chats, referrals, and appointments, and track the micro conversions that lead to care and change. 
• Fund trust like infrastructure.
  Invest in long term creator relationships inside micro cultures such as tribal nations, immigrant communities, parents of teens, veterans, and recovery groups so trusted guidance is already present when crises hit. 
• Bake ethics into design.
  Start with safety. Co-create briefs. Resource moderation. Train for trauma-informed responses. Never impersonate illness. 
• Treat creators as partners, not placements.
  Collaborate on strategic content. Cast for relatability and credibility. Pay fairly. Provide mental health and moderation support. Protective design helps audiences and creators. 
• Align policy and practice.
  Pair investments in data and preparedness with investments in community, credible storytelling, and clear help-seeking pathways. 

 

A final word from D.C. 

On Sunday morning, as sessions kicked off across the convention center and hotel ballrooms, I wrote a reminder to myself. Public health works best when it feels personal. Not paternalistic. Not performative. It is the message that reaches you at 11:47 p.m. when you are spiraling. Not to scold you, but to show someone like you taking the smallest next step and making that step feel possible. 

That has been Rinck’s lane for more than two decades, from The Sipping Point, to Filter Out the Noise, to Here to Help ME. It is where we will stay. Community credible messengers. Safety first design. And measurement that values real behaviors more than performative metrics. 

Make the public’s health a national priority by making it personal, one authentic voice at a time.