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Child and Youth
Mental health is at a crossroads when it comes to taking action to tackle the ongoing youth mental health crisis. With a large global mental health burden, involving young people and those with lived experience in advocating for programmes and services that best address their needs is vital.
Our challenge
One in seven adolescents live with a diagnosed mental health condition, and mental health conditions are a leading cause of disability in children and young people globally. Stigma and lack of access to support/treatment are some of the key issues leading to the neglect of the mental health of youth globally.
Young people are no longer waiting for change to happen but have become more vocal about their mental health needs and are self advocating for their mental health rights to be prioritised. Young people cannot achieve this on their own without the necessary support to advocate, influence, and secure involvement in programmatic changes. Addressing these issues requires increased financing, research, policy change, and long term sustainable programmes.
Our Approach
Our approach is to focus on connecting the global and national mental health ecosystems through engaging with a range of stakeholders and ensuring the voices of youth mental health advocates are heard
- Youth Ecosystem Change through Stakeholder Engagement: We focus on effective stakeholder engagement to enhance the prioritisation, visibility, and financing of adolescent mental health. Through the Being initiative and our work with stakeholders, we use resources and advocacy moments to impact the adolescent mental health ecosystem at both global and national levels.
- Youth Leadership for Advocacy: Using our unique position as a convenor in the sector, we improve access for youth with lived experience and youth from Low and Middle-Income Countries(LMICs) to lead, drive change, and influence policy. Hosting regional workshops to train and support national level advocacy through the Being initiative.
- Collective Action through the Child and Youth Working Group: United for Global Mental Health acting as the Secretariat of the Global Mental Health Action Network (GMHAN), will promote collective action to enhance advocacy and address loneliness among youth advocates through collaboration with the Child and Youth Working Group. We also support innovative and creative efforts to advance national advocacy for youth mental health.
What Has Been Done
We have worked to elevate youth mental health on the political agenda, increasing the visibility of youth mental health issues and promoting solutions with decision makers, led by youth with lived experience. Three key areas of our work were:
- Prioritising young people’s mental health on the global agenda: Through a range of partnerships within the global mental health sector, UN agencies and regional organisations, we work. This work includes the Being initiative, Global Mental Health Action Network’s Child (GMHAN), Youth Working Group, the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health(PMNCH), UNICEF, the WHO, the African Union, and the Africa Centre for Disease Control (Africa CDC).
- Youth and lived experience engagement: We have worked hard to promoe the meaningful engagement with youth and people with lived experience including in the 2023 creation and launch of the Guidelines for Effective Youth Engagement Practices working with GMHAN to improve the quality of youth engagement in the sector and led the People with Lived Experience (PWLE) Advisory Group for the Being initiative.
- Foster better social environments for young people: We supported the inclusion of youth mental health language into the UN Declaration on Future Generations, worked with the South African Presidency for the integration of mental health in the National Strategy to Accelerate Action for Children (NSAAC) and ensured the participation of youth advocates in global moments.
Resources
Read more on the youth mental health work with these resources from United for Global Mental, the Being initiative and partners:
- Mapping Youth Mental Health Landscapes: Local Insights from 13 Countries
- Empowering Futures: The Role of Youth Mental Health in Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals
- Meaningful youth engagement for a positive mental health ecosystem
- Adolescents in a changing world: the case for urgent investment
- African Union Youth Mental Health Toolkit
- State of the World’s Children, On My Mind Report 2021
Get involved…
Join the Child & Youth Working Group of the Global Mental Health Action Network here to connect with advocates, researchers, and policymakers interested in child & youth and mental health across the world.