On Tuesday 26th September, a panel of experts met to discuss the work being done around the world to commemorate World Mental Health Day (WMHD). Panellists discussed their new campaigns and initiatives and outlined how organisations and individuals can get involved both nationally and globally.

Embark on a journey of self-discovery and resilience as Dumi Gatsha, Co-Chair of the Mental Health and UHC Working Group, shares their personal experience with depression, burnout, and an unexpected bipolar diagnosis. Dumi’s candid reflection takes us through the historic context of Botswana's new mental health bill, challenging colonial legacies and addressing evolving discussions around human rights and inclusivity.

In our August #MHForAll webinar, a panel of experts explored the challenges as well as the potential solutions for preventing suicide and discussed recent legislative changes that offer hope in reducing stigma and increasing access to life-saving interventions.

The Global Mental Health Action Network has launched a set of guiding principles for people who work with, or engage with young people living with mental health conditions.

In this webinar, our expert panellists explored the leadership strategies employed by youth-led organisations in Nigeria, Vietnam, the Caribbean, and Indonesia.

They discussed the intersectionality of mental health and the importance of amplifying youth voices in driving mental health change globally.

Written by Margianta Surahman Juhanda Dinata, Founder & Executive Director, Emancipate Indonesia on the impact being underpaid and overworked has on youth workers.

The Global Mental Health Action Network Annual Meeting 2023, bringing together delegates around the world to advance progress on mental health

This #MHForAll webinar shed light on the profound impact of environmental change on mental health.

With our panel of experts discussing the implications, region-specific challenges, assessment tools, and actionable priorities, the conversation aimed to create awareness and explore ways to address this pressing issue.

How have countries for WHOs Special Initiative for Mental Health been chosen?

There is no formula to selecting countries under the WHO’s Special Initiative for Mental Health. One non-negotiable requirement is a commitment from a country’s Ministry of Health to work with WHO for at least 5-years, towards transforming mental health systems and systems, to ultimately increase the availability of mental health services across the country (or identified geographical areas).

On Tuesday 28th March, the Global Mental Health Action Network brought together a panel of experts to explore how national mental health services can be transformed.

The panellists discussed the key achievements and successes of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Special Initiative for Mental Health (SIMH) and outlined some of the barriers to systems-level change that limited progress in the Special Initiative (SI) countries.

I hope this helps - a global mental health documentary

We believe this film can be a powerful resource to support the awareness and advocacy work of others. To this end, we are very keen to work with any organisations who share our purpose and can help shape the film, ensuring it supports mental health campaigners around the world.

The WHO Special Initiative for Mental Health, launched in 2019, advances policies, advocacy and human rights, to rapidly scale-up quality interventions and services for people with mental, neurological and substance use conditions.

Globally, nationally, and locally, there is a lack of mental health data. Access to good data is essential for global mental health advocacy, however issues with data collection and aggregation, access and visibility make this challenging.

Countdown for Global Mental Health 2030 is a partnership between Global Mental Health @Harvard, WHO, UNICEF, the Global Mental Health Peer Network and United for Global Mental Health.

Mental health has become a widely discussed issue in recent years but much remains to be done to ensure it is prioritised in the years ahead. On Tuesday 31st January, a panel of experts convened to share their perspectives on the actions that need to be taken to ensure mental health is made a priority in 2023.

GMHAN is creating a global network where every campaigner and professional working in mental health has somewhere to go to access the support they need to make the change they want to see. We are delighted to share our 2023 Action Plan with you all, which highlights our ambitions, targets and ways of working for the year ahead.

The UHC working group of the Global Mental Health Action Network have produced a brief detailing their 8 key asks on integrating mental health into UHC.

The theme of World Mental Health Day 2022 was ‘Make Mental Health and Well-being a Global Priority for All.’ To realise this aspiration, we first need to recognise children and young people are a unique group, with their own particular psychological make-up and mental health needs.

Against a decade-long pattern of deteriorating mental health conditions among youth, Covid 19 pandemic made the situation far more worse. As per the Youth-led Action Research on Covid-19 pandemic on Marginalised Youth study, youth were forced to face the fear of losing their loved ones, stress, and anxiety over their future uncertainty, financial hardships, lack of opportunities and social isolation made them more vulnerable.

In 2022, we saw the largest gathering of our network to date, with over 600 participants from 77 countries across six virtual sessions of the GMHAN Annual meeting. As we look ahead to the planning of our 2023 Annual Meeting, we have listened to your feedback through our annual survey and other forums/channels and realise there is a big demand for us to convene in person once again!

To help us plan we would love to ask you some questions and get a better understanding of where, when and IF we should host our annual meeting in person in 2023.