What We Do

Our Work

At United for Global Mental Health, we’re concerned with lessening mental health suffering worldwide through the prevention, care and treatment of mental ill health and substance-use disorders. We primarily work on mental health but we also find opportunities to support those working on ‘brain health’ including neurological conditions such as dementia or epilepsy.

Mental health services have traditionally focused on addressing mental health disorders, but we believe it’s equally important to uphold the right of every individual to access mental health and psychosocial support – this is particularly true during emergencies and in large conflict settings.

Mental health campaigners and advocates – including those with lived experience – come from an incredibly diverse range of backgrounds. 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.