Kokoro

🚨🗞️ Pretty big news coming out of Australia... "Australian Senate approves social media on ban on under-16s." Australia has just passed a world-first law banning under-16s from social media. The new law was passed in response to what Prime Minister Albanese says is a "clear, causal link between the rise of social media and the harm to the mental health of young Australians." However, many academics, politicians and advocacy groups have warned that this ban could massively backfire. What are people's thoughts? Is banning the answer? Should other governments follow suit? Or what is another course of action that can help address the negative effects of social media whilst optimising for the positive effects? 🤔🤔🤔 https://lnkd.in/eeZMSSwn

For anyone focused on Maternal Mental Health, this is a great roundup of a recent roundtable hosted by the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance (MMHLA) 👇 https://lnkd.in/eHNxpcRw

On Monday, our CEO Jules Chappell OBE joined EMpower—The Emerging Markets Foundation for an important discussion around Mental Health in Youth in Emerging Markets. It was great to see so many friends and meet some new faces who are passionate about unlocking brighter futures for young people.

Day 1 of the Global Gathering was full of inspiration and connection. 💡 We're sharing our key highlights here! 👇 🎤 A keynote panel with Yasmine Smires, UNICEF Maroc, Marielle Sander, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Maroc, Melani O'Leary, Grand Challenges Canada and Friendship Bench Zimbabwe's Providence J. explored valuable insights on mental health support for young people, including in crisis settings and shifting narratives by including young people directly in leading and designing programs. Providence Jongwedzvuku (Friendship Bench) also shared 4 key ingredients to scale mental health innovation: 1. Engaging community leaders to shape locally relevant, inclusive innovations. 2. Research and evidence to inform programs. 3. Innovation and amplifying innovative approaches. 4. Scaling strong partnerships to accelerate impact and secure funding sources. 🖼️ Innovators showcased their projects in interactive presentations and shared best practices and lessons learned with their peers in a collaborative format. Participants walked away with stronger connections. "Today we come to know that we can learn from each other," said one participant. With so many outstanding innovators in attendance from Grand Challenges Canada's Global Mental Health portfolio it’s hard to spotlight only a few, but here are some memorable moments from the presentations: 💬 "When you open wounds, you close them again." Rand Baba of the Tamer Institute for Community Education describes how their youth-led mental health ERs and community libraries across Gaza and the West Bank create immediate support networks in crisis settings. Rand emphasized how storytelling and safe learning spaces empower youth to express themselves, helping to combat trauma and the ongoing mental health crisis in Palestine. 💬"[We’re] strengthening, not building resilience, because people are already resilient."  Wanjiku W. from Green String Network, leading the Ustawi program in Kenya, offered an important reminder of the need to respect communities' inherent strengths and build on their existing capacities. 💬  "Youth mental health is not a monolith. When reaching out to vulnerable groups; approaches must be tailored." Mason Viet Trinh from Lighthouse Social Enterprise (Doanh Nghiệp Xã hội Hải Đăng) Vietnam, a peer-led mental health initiative for LGBTQI+ youth in Vietnam, emphasized that youth face unique challenges requiring solutions rooted in their experiences and contexts. 💬 "When you think about youth populations, do not disregard young persons with disabilities." A powerful reminder from Uttam Kumar of Sense International India, who works with children and youth with deaf-blindness in India. 💬  “With the combination of innovation and empathy, we can change the lives of young people.” Reinserta shared the powerful stories and lessons from their work with young people whose lives have been marked by violence in Mexico. #BeingConnected Orygen

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Footage Foundation, led by the incredible Kristen Ali Eglinton, PhD, has been at the forefront of a lot of this work and their latest campaign "What Would You Say To Her?" invites us to tap into our human resources of compassion and connection to end gender-based violence. Find out more below👇

Transition to Scale funding opportunities are still open under the Being Initiative! The next intake period closes on January 15th, 2025. 📢 We're looking to fund tested #mentalhealth prevention and promotion approaches targeting young people aged 10-24 with positive results and significant potential to achieve high impact. Transition to Scale funding is available for #innovations addressing the context-specific drivers of young people’s mental health and wellbeing in the following countries: 🌎 #Colombia - we seek bold ideas that strengthen family functioning among young people and their parents/caregivers. 🌎 #Ecuador - we seek bold ideas to improve the physical and emotional safety of young people by developing safe community, school, and family environments. 🌍 #Ghana - we seek bold ideas to prevent bullying in schools. 🌏 #India - we seek bold ideas to strengthen family functioning. 🌏 #Indonesia - we seek bold ideas to prevent adverse childhood experiences of violence among young people. 🌍 #Morocco - we seek bold ideas that create positive school environments. 🌏 #Pakistan - we seek bold ideas to strengthen family functioning. 🌍 #Romania -  we seek bold ideas to prevent bullying, including cyberbullying. 🌍 #SierraLeone - we seek bold ideas to reduce and prevent substance use among young people. 🌍 #Tanzania - we seek bold ideas to reduce stigma related to mental health. 🌏 #Vietnam -  we seek bold ideas to strengthen family functioning. TTS funding between $300,000 CAD and $1,500,000 CAD over 12-48 months will be awarded to support organizations that align with these country priorities along their scaling journey to help catalyze their sustainability and impact.  Full application details and eligibility criteria are available in the RFP: https://lnkd.in/gG4QkJp9 I manage the #SubSaharanAfrica cluster for the Being Initiative. Feel free to get in touch with me to discuss Transition to Scale funding opportunities in Ghana, Tanzania and Sierra Leone. Contact my colleague Sahil Chopra if you have an innovative solution in Morocco, Pakistan, India or Romania. Contact Sireesha J. Bobbili for Vietnam, Indonesia, Colombia & Ecuador.

Upcoming event hosted by International Alliance of Mental Health Research Funders (IAMHRF) focused on transforming mental health implementation research. Sign up here --> https://lnkd.in/ej-t8Wwq

🌎 Mental health is finally making its way into high-level climate policy discussions, but there’s still much work to be done. At #COP28, we saw progress with the first-ever Health Day and the integration of mental health into the Climate and Health Declaration adopted by 151 countries. In light of the #COP29 Health Day , this new paper takes stock of how mental health is represented at COP and identifies key gaps in its inclusion. The paper calls for mental health to be equally prioritised alongside physical health across all relevant UN Climate Change negotiation streams including adaptation, mitigation and loss and damage discussions. It also emphasises the need for countries to integrate mental and psychosocial well-being an often overlooked aspect of the climate crisis into the new round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by 2025 ✅ This is a critical moment to advocate for a holistic health approach that centres both physical and mental health across all climate negotiation streams. 👉 Read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/dbV8KN3B Nienke Meinsma Alessandro Massazza Arthur Wyns Ana Gabriela Mejía Silva Kim van Daalen, PhD Emma Lawrance #MentalHealth #ClimateHealth #COP29 #ClimateAction

Today is International Men's Day and we are so excited to see the launch of Talk Squad by our friends at Harry's Inc., in partnership with Shout UK, Guild Gaming and The Or!! Talk Squad is an initiative that aims to raise awareness of mental health within the gaming industry and the wider community. It provides gamers with free, confidential mental support from Shout‘s trained professionals in addition to one-to-one sessions where they can talk to professionals while playing a range of games. Talk Squad will run from November 28th-December 18th and aims to offer sessions ‘in environments where men feel at ease’ in order to ‘break down barriers’ and provide the right support to those seeking it. Once the Talk Squad initiative has ended, findings will be analysed to see if there is the potential for gaming-focused mental health sessions to take place more frequently alongside ensuring such initiatives are accessible to those looking for digital solutions. So, stay tuned!! 👀

Highlighting two recent reports exploring the state of mental health across the UK: 1️⃣ Mapping the Mental Health of the UK's Young People. The numbers of children and young people experiencing mental health difficulties in the UK have risen at alarming rates over the past decade. This mapping tool, produced by the Centre for Mental Health in collaboration with Kooth Digital Health (United Kingdom), and accompanying briefing show the prevalence of mental health difficulties across the UK. Link here: https://lnkd.in/ey5EtHCJ 2️⃣ The Big Mental Health Report 2024 Mind's annual report that brings together data about mental health problems, stigma and discrimination, alongside real people’s experiences across England and Wales Link here: https://lnkd.in/eF-5Kq3s