FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CEO and Co-Founder of United for Global Mental Health to Step Down After Eight Years of Global Impact
LONDON, 11th May, 2026
United for Global Mental Health today announces that Co-Founder and CEO Sarah Kline will be stepping down later this year.
As Co-Founder and then CEO, Sarah has led the growth of United for Global Mental Health as the leading mental health advocacy organisation internationally. Sarah has recruited and led a global team that has successfully influenced international policy and secured recognition of mental health as a global priority. Through her role in helping to drive the strong development of the Global Mental Health Action Network, comprising over 10,000 mental health advocates in 176 countries, Sarah and the team have supported countless national mental health organisations in achieving significant policy change.
These efforts have included:
- Successfully generating over US$200 million for mental health and substance use care through work with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.
- Supporting efforts to secure the decriminalisation of suicide in Pakistan, Kenya and Ghana.
- Ensuring tens of international agreements include progressive language on mental health, including the first-ever UN General Assembly high-level meeting with a focus on mental health, the first time in COP history that mental health was recognised as a core element of climate adaptation, and the result of mental health’s recognition as an integral part of any effective health system now being a mainstay of global health agreements.
“It has been an honour to help build United for Global Mental Health and the Global Mental Health Action Network over the past 8 years,” said Kline. “I am very proud of all that the organisation and the wider community have achieved. With United for Global Mental Health in a strong position and developing its next four-year strategy, I have decided now is the right time for me to start my next chapter and focus on my passion for the natural world.”
Professor Sir Graham Thornicroft, Chair of the Board of United for Global Mental Health, adds, “United for Global Mental Health is a truly international team of extraordinarily talented and committed people who are working to make a real difference to people’s lives. The Board would like to thank Sarah for all the many outstanding contributions she has made to the development of the organisation and to the whole field of global mental health. At this exciting time, as we develop our next four-year strategy, the new CEO will have the opportunity to shape the direction of United for Global Mental Health for the future.”
The Board of Trustees at United for Global Mental Health will begin the search for a successor in the coming weeks.
Contact: Dave Gill, Communications Advisor – dave@unitedgmh.org
Notes to Editors: United for Global Mental Health is a UK-registered international NGO focused on creating a world where everyone, everywhere, has someone to turn to for their mental health. UnitedGMH specialises in high-level advocacy, and the integration of mental health into broader global health and development agendas, including HIV/AIDS and maternal health. The organisation also created and hosts the Global Mental Health Action Network, a community of over 10,000 mental health advocates from over 176 countries – working together to achieve national and international policy change.
For more information, visit www.unitedgmh.org