Hi, my name is Abdullah Al Harun from Bangladesh. I am working with ADD International as the Project Manager of the community-based mental health project for children and young people in marginalised communities. ADD International is a participatory grant-maker for disability justice. Our vision is for a world in which ableism no longer exists and in which persons with disabilities can access their whole rights and experience justice.

Hi, I'm Pradeep. I witnessed several events that affected mental health on a large scale during my childhood. I grew up in the middle of Sri Lanka's three-decade-long civil war. It was a period marked by profound grief and trauma that left no corner of our nation untouched.

Hi, my name is Ahmad Nisar. I am an activist from Afghanistan, but I am currently based in Melbourne, Australia. My mental health has always been a priority for me. Yet, it is not in a dynamic state all the time, and requires genuine efforts to be stabilised.

I was first exposed to mental health in school because of multiple factors. As I kept moving on in life, I realised the importance of good mental health for all functionality, quality of life and contentment.

Hi, everyone. My name is Apish Tshetsha co-founder of Waves for Change from Cape town, South Africa.

In South Africa only 4% of South Africa's health budget is committed to mental health. We have a massive treatment gap. In Khayelitsha, a large community with more than one million people, there's only one psychiatric hospital with five mental health nurses

Hello, everyone.My name is Beto. I'm 40 years old, since I was 23 I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. So this fact in my life actually drove my purpose to work within mental health. Nowadays, I'm working as an impact venture and ecosystem builder here in Brazil.

So being part of global Mental health Action Network has been an amazing experience and amazing opportunity to connect within other institutions throughout the world.

Hi, I'm Margianta, and I'm from Emancipate, Indonesia. What made me passionate about mental health is actually learning how intersectional it is and actually how it plays a part in social determinants in health in order to add to the wellbeing of young workers, which I'm fighting for in my foundation, Emancipate, Indonesia.

Hi, I'm Steph, head of Global Impact at Batyr. At Batyr, we run preventative mental health programs in schools, universities and communities for young people by young people.

In Australia, we train young people to learn how to share their lived experience stories in a really safe and impactful way to help others.

So in Australia, I'd say a lot of really good things are happening in the mental health space.

My name is Kyra Ballesteros, and I am the deputy for research and innovation with the volunteer-run, non-government, non-stock, and non-profit civil society organization, Mental Health PH, based in the Philippines.

The recently released Philippine Development Plan 2023-28 ensures that mental

health continues to be a priority area for investments, interventions, and for program and project-level funding across sectors.