The Global Mental Health Action Network is a free to access membership organisation established to connect people and resources to promote better mental health awareness and provision.
We are a community of advocates, focused on building the political and social will to make mental health services accessible globally. Our work is guided by the most pressing issues identified by our members.
Joining the network will connect you to others who share your commitment to mental health for all; and give you access to up to date resources, ideas, and perspectives from around the world.
It will also give you the chance to work together with other members on campaigns and projects. We refer to the WHO Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030 to guide our work.
Why join the network?
All members are free to pick and choose from the wealth of engagement opportunities within our network:
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Collaborate
There is power in partnerships. With the breadth of members in the network, you will find people to work with across sectors, topics and regions. Fresh ideas, different perspectives and new relationships with like-minded people from around the world.
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Coordinate
Learn what others are doing, as well as how and when they are doing it. You will discover new opportunities to join in and align with the work of other members, and to amplify and recruit more advocates to your own initiatives.
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Knowledge
Enjoy direct access to experts and expert resources from around the globe, to inform your own work. And take the chance to contribute your own expertise, working together with other members to build evidence to develop policy positions, recommendations and campaigns that will deliver lasting change.
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Reach and influence
As the largest global mental health network focused on advocacy, our members participate in working groups designed to accelerate political and financial support for global mental health through joint communications and advocacy projects.
Please note that network members who work for pharmaceutical companies will be asked to declare this, as well as to cite any conflicts of interest, when participating in any network forums. Further information on this and the principles that drive our network can be found in our Terms of Reference.
Our advisory board
Our advisory board provides the strategic direction for our network and, as a part-appointed and part-elected body, it represents. Appointments and elections to the advisory board take place on an annual basis. Appointed Board Members: 2021-2022
Devora Kestel Country Base: Switzerland
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Dévora Kestel is a senior mental health policy specialist with more than twenty five years of international experience in Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America, implementing and advising governments on national policies related to mental health systems. She is a strong advocate for the rights of people with mental health issues.
Ms Kestel obtained her MSc in Psychology from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, in Argentina and her MSc in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. After completing her university studies in Argentina she worked for 10 years in the development and supervision of community-based mental health services in Trieste, Italy. In 2000 she joined the World Health Organization (WHO) as a mental health officer first in Kosovo and then in Albania where she became the WHO Representative to Albania. In both countries, she worked closely with the Ministries of Health to help establish comprehensive community-based mental health systems.
In 2007 Ms Kestel joined the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) as the Sub-regional Mental Health Advisor for the English Speaking Caribbean Countries, based in Barbados. In 2011 Ms. Kestel was appointed to the position of the Regional Mental Health Advisor, at the headquarters in Washington DC, providing technical cooperation in the mental health field to the entire region. In 2015 she became the Unit Chief for Mental Health and Substance Use at PAHO/WHO. Over the years, Ms. Kestel has contributed to and co-authored publications in the area of mental health.
Since 2019 Ms Kestel is the WHO Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Use.
Ann Willhoite Country Base: South Africa
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Ann Willhoite is a Mental Health Advisor with more than 15 years of experience working with MHPSS in global development and humanitarian emergencies. She is currently MHPSS Expert with UNICEF, leading on the development of a Minimum Service Package for MHPSS, and supporting UNICEF’s MHPSS work globally.
Prior to joining UNICEF, Ann was Senior Mental Health Advisor to USAID, where she advised USAID’s mental health work across the globe, advised the US$12M Victims of Torture fund, and started the USAID MHPSS Working Group. Previously, she served as International Clinical Advisor for Mental Health with The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) where she oversaw mental health and psychosocial support services in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, provided clinical supervision for embedded psychologists, and worked on global mental health advocacy. Ms. Willhoite also worked as an advisor and trainer for The World Bank on an effort to integrate mental health into livelihoods and development programming, and as a consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) on the Psychological Interventions Implementation Manual.
Previously, Ms. Willhoite served as CVT’s mental health Clinician/Trainer for client care and training projects in Freetown, Sierra Leone and Dadaab, Kenya where she trained and supervised local and refugee psychosocial staff in providing mental health services to survivors of torture, war trauma, gender-based violence and trafficking in persons in emergency settings. Ms. Willhoite has also worked for Harvard University's Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human rights in Sierra Leone on the Youth Readiness Intervention, for Jesuit Refugee Services in Malawi developing a new humanitarian-focused counseling program for refugees from The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Eritrea, and as a Clinical Consultant for locally-based mental health organizations in Africa and Asia.
Sarah Kline Country Base: UK
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Sarah Kline is Co-Founder and CEO of United for Global Mental Health. In her role she is responsible for the overall running of the organisation and has a particular interest in, and oversight of, the policy, advocacy, financing and campaigns work. Over the course of her career she has developed and delivered successful national and international campaigns and initiatives aimed at governments, international institutions and political parties at the highest levels. From 2011 to 2017 she worked at the World Health Organisation in a variety of positions based in Switzerland, Nigeria, the Philippines and the US. Her focus at WHO was on polio, emergencies and disease outbreaks including as part of the Ebola response management team. Prior to working for WHO, Sarah worked for UK DFID, the UK FCO, the World Bank, Oxfam GB and a private lobbying company in Washington DC. She founded Malaria No More UK in 2008, an NGO dedicated to helping end malaria.
Elected Board members
Africa Region: Khira Geoffrey Omega
Country base: Kenya
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Khira is a Medical Psychologist and Clinical Researcher with extensive experience as a psychiatric practitioner, from community level to major referral hospitals in the country. He is currently working extensively across Kenyan Universities to improve the provision of mental health support services, and is very passionate about changing the mental health narrative globally.
Americas Region: Erin Pfeiffer
Country base: USA
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Erin is a Senior Technical Advisor in Global Health and Nutrition with 15 years experience designing and managing development and research initiatives worldwide. She spearheaded a Ugandan randomized controlled trial on maternal depression and actively led a global Knowledge Sharing Series on caregiver mental health and its connection to health, agriculture and nutrition outcomes.
South-East Asia Region: Raj Mariwala
Country base: India
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Raj is Director of Mariwala Health Initiative (MHI) - an organization that works toward a community-based, nation-wide mental health ecosystem. MHI works with civil society, funders, business and government to foreground mental health. With a background in feminist organising, experience of working in Mercy Corps International and in the for-profit field, Raj undertakes strategic thinking, communication and philanthropic outreach.
Europe Region: Robert van Voren
Country base: Lithuania
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Robert van Voren is Chief Executive of the international foundation - Human Rights in Mental Health-FGIP, and Professor at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania and Director of the Andrei Sakharov Research Center. He is an Honorary Fellow of the British Royal College of Psychiatrists and Honorary Member of the Ukrainian Psychiatric Association.
Western Pacific Region: Brian J. Hall
Country base: China
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Brian is a clinical psychologist, psychiatric epidemiologist, and Director of the Global and Community Mental Health Research Group, University of Macau, and Associate Faculty, Department of Health Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Inaugural APA-IUPsyS Global Mental Health Fellow of the World Health Organization. He has published over 160 journal articles
Lived Experience: Charlene Sunkel
Country base: South Africa
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Ms Sunkel is the Founder/ CEO of the Global Mental Health Peer Network. Her work in mental health, advocacy and human rights was inspired by her own lived experience with schizophrenia. She authored several papers from a lived experience perspective and provides technical assistance on several boards and committees.
Youth: Lian Zeitz
Country Base: USA
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Lian is a young mental health advocate with lived experience working to make sure all people are supported with dignity. As a young leader in the global mental health sector, he has served in an advisory role for a United Nations Special Envoy for Mental Health and serves on international committees hosted by the World Psychiatric Association and The Lancet Commission.
International agency: Stella Tan
Country base: Malaysia/Switzerland
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Stella is a public health and policy professional, with experience in research, policy advocacy, strategy and project management. She is passionate about global health issues specifically in mental health, public-private partnerships, health security and diplomacy. Stella is experienced in multi-stakeholder engagement with governments, foreign missions, academia, private sectors, and NGOs to implement UN standards in laws and policies concerning public health and gender equality. She holds a Master of Public Health and enjoys music, dance, traveling (put on hold for now) and trying new recipes during her free time. She’s excited about using innovative solutions to address gaps and achieve equitable access to mental health services in low-resource countries.
Eastern Mediterranean Representative: Brigitte Khoury
Country base: Lebanon
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Brigitte is associate professor and clinical psychologist at the American University of Beirut. She is also a consultant, working with the World Health Organization, other UN bodies and NGOs. She is the founding president of the Lebanese Psychological Association, and the vice president of the Arab Union of Psychology, the President of Division 52 (International), American Psychological Association. Brigitte is also an Executive board member at the International Union of Psychological Science.
International CSO: Damian Juma
Country base: Kenya
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Damian Juma is a medical psychologist and mental health advocate from Mombasa, Kenya. He has been involved in several global mental health initiatives, where he strives to elevate the voices of young people. Starting in 2019, he was a Kenyan Representative to My Mind Our Humanity. In this role, he worked with a team to organize events for hundreds of students that brought music, art, dance and story-telling together to tackle stigma and educate about mental health. In 2020, he served on two Advisory Boards, one that he continues to serve on (Healthy Brains Global Initiative). Damian strives to build spaces that are increasingly inclusive and accessible, taking into account the voices that aren't at the table and advocating tirelessly. He stays actively involved with The Lancet Commission and is currently the East Africa Program Director for the International Mental Health Association. In this role, Damian is working to engage young people across five coastal counties in Kenya in the design, implementation and evaluation of a youth-focused mental health capacity building program. Damian's ethics, insight and passion for this field would make him an excellent addition to our Advisory Board.
Our secretariat
United for Global Mental Health is the host organization for the network and manages the secretariat.
How we are funded
The Global Mental Health Action Network is supported by the generosity of corporate philanthropy and private foundations. We do not accept funding from pharmaceutical companies.
As a member of the Global Mental Health Action Network you will have access to our:
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Monthly #MHForAll webinar
Each month we host a public webinar, featuring panellists from around the world; including academics, advocates, policymakers, and people with lived experience - often drawn from the membership of our network. Each webinar offers dedicated time for Q&A. Note: webinars are available to non-members.Regular member meetings
We hold member meetings every two months with seminars and themes hosted by the advisory group and secretariat.Annual meeting
Our annual members’ meeting gives members a more in-depth exploration of relevant and timely themes and opportunities, through panel events and workshops.*Given the global nature of our network, we host our regular events online.*
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Timely updates
We make sure that the latest developments in mental health advocacy from around the world land directly in your inbox.Monthly e-newsletter
Through our monthly member e-newsletter we spotlight members of the network, and offer you campaign opportunities to get involved with. Members are invited to contribute to newsletter content.
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LinkedIn group
Our members-only LinkedIn group gives members the chance to connect with one another online.Coming soon! Our own online community platform
We will soon be offering members the chance to join our very own online community platform that will make networking, knowledge and resource sharing and collaboration even easier. Launching Summer 2022. -
Our working groups are set-up and chaired by network members as a way to work together with other members on shared priorities and projects, with support from the secretariat. Groups usually organise their work through regular virtual meetings and online exchange. As a member, you can join one or more of our working groups - or set up your own!
Our current working groups are:
Financing
Francophone
Suicide decriminalisation
Universal Health Coverage
With more than 1800 members from academia, governments, international organisations, NGOs and the private sector, from over 110 countries there are many reasons to be part of our growing network.
Mental health campaigners and advocates – including those with lived experience – come from an incredibly diverse range of backgrounds. Our membership reflects this, including representatives from the World Health Organization, UN agencies and other global policymakers; and a wide variety of civil society organisations, international non-profits and funders, and private companies.
We know that mental health is influenced by everything from socio-economic conditions, gender and ethnicity, to sexuality and the attitudes and beliefs of individual communities. We therefore endeavour to work with partners who reflect this diversity.
Through our work, we amplify voices of multiple perspectives – securing and promoting platforms for communities to represent themselves, while seeking to identify and support the mental health needs of those most often marginalised in their societies. Central to this approach are international norms and standards, most notably the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This calls for the full realisation of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all people with disabilities, without discrimination of any kind on the basis of disability.