07 September 2021
Dear readers,
Welcome to the September edition of Global Mental Health Unboxed and welcome to the new subscribers and readers! I hope you all had a relaxing break and remembered, even just for a moment, how to be joyful.
We are back to school and the world of global mental health is starting to pick up again. A busy season is ahead and I find myself wondering if I will need to write the newsletter more often to make sure I cover everything. Meanwhile take a look below to see what ‘everything’ is shaping up to be…
Any feedback and suggestions you want to send will reach me at manolova.gergana@gmail.com - I’m so glad that people email me already about materials, job ads, publications and contributions for me to consider including here, and remember you can always do the same too.
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Yours,
Gergana
News and Notes in Global Mental Health
Regular readers will notice this is a new feature of the newsletter. Here I share interesting pieces of information, announcements and news that have reached me in our field. I will rely on your contributions as well - please share your news or announcements with me.
Was it always your dream to publish in Nature?
…in which case, here is your chance, because Springer Nature, publisher of Nature, are launching a new journal - Nature Mental Health. They are looking for a chief editor to take up the management of the journal, which will start coming out in January 2023. I will put this also in the Jobs section - maybe someone will be willing to explain to the publishing group that their record-breaking open access fees are doing science no favours?
Grand Challenges Canada are the funders we need
Together with the UK government, the latest round of the GCC Global Mental Health programme is funding 18 innovators for community-based youth mental health care in 14 countries. Half are peer-to-peer models, an approach which has recently been highlighted by the World Health Organization as well in their guidance and technical packages on community mental health care. Check out also their open positions in the Jobs section below.
WHO Mental Health Atlas 2020 coming this month
The report with key indicators on countries’ mental health systems comes out every three years now. 2021 marks 20 years since the first report, and this issue is the 6th time point in the series. The uses of the Mental Health Atlas are endless - a source of data for researchers and analysts, a point of hope or despair for people with lived experience and practitioners, a reckoning for advocates, and a great reference for students in their assignments. For the link, watch out on WHO’s social media accounts on 16th September.
Invitation for collaborations
The Peter C. Alderman Program for Global Mental Health at HealthRight International focuses on treating common mental disorders, promoting rights of people with mental illness and addressing mental health stigma among pregnant women, children and adolescents, survivors of torture and sexual and gender-based violence and the marginalized populations such as refugees, IDPs, sex workers, people living with HIV/AIDs and the sexual minorities (LGBTQ+ populations).
HealthRight International emphasizes integration of mental health across Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH), HIV/AIDS and Violence. In partnership with WHO, New York University, John Hopkins University, University of Copenhagen and more, HealthRight International has been implementing mental health projects and research since 2006. Key achievements include integrating mental health into routine maternal and child health care system for pregnant and lactating mothers; piloting a self-help intervention for South Sudanese refugee women and developing an alcohol-focused component within WHO’s Problem Management Plus (PM+); providing integrated physical, surgical, and psychosocial rehabilitation services to people affected by armed conflict; and contributing to the development of competency-based training and supervision system for WHO’s Ensuring Quality in Psychosocial Support (EQUIP) program.
HealthRight is open for collaboration in joint grant writing, partnership in academic publication and conferences, internship opportunities for Master’s level students and partnership in the implementation of mental health and psychosocial support projects and research in Kenya, Uganda, Ukraine, Vietnam and the United States of America. For more information, please contact Dr. Nawaraj Upadhaya at nawaraj.upadhaya@healthright.org
Events in Global Mental Health
The event calendar for 2021 is updated and you can keep track of it at globallyminded.org. Most of the events this year are taking place online and there is a serious question mark hanging over those announced to be in person. The online events are announced on a very short timeline and I often put them on the events list only 2-3 days before they are due, so I would recommend you keep checking the list regularly to see what is coming up.
22-24 September 2021 - 17th Annual INEBRIA Conference organized by Sangath and partners will take place online and gather practitioners, academics, policy-makers and researchers interested in brief interventions for reducing harmful alcohol use. The rich scientific programme features speakers from the five continents, opportunities for networking, mentoring and taking in various levels and formats of presentation.
5-6 October 2021 - Global Mental Health Summit “Mind Our Rights, Now!” was scheduled for last year, but global unforeseen circumstances made it necessary to postpone. We still don’t know if there will be an online stream - if not, a great opportunity wasted - but we do know it’s going to have not only academics, people with lived experience, professionals and civil society, but that rarest of creatures, the policy-maker, out in the open and (hopefully) taking notes on the suggestions of the speakers and the audience how to make a fairer world, gentler on people and firmer on human rights.
Jobs in Global Mental Health
The jobs listed here might not be advertised as being in global mental health and the decision for including them is mine alone. Unless otherwise stated, I have found out about them through job sites, social media posts, other newsletters and so on, so I have no more information on them than publicly available and you should refer to those listed in the job ad.
No or minimum experience necessary
PhD in global mental health, Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS) - by 19 September
Research Worker, King’s College London, UK (Internal only) - by 30 September
Some experience (2-5 years) necessary
mhGAP trainer, Action contre la Faim, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Customer Success Associate, Grow Therapy, remote
Data Manager/Statistician Consultancy, George Washington University, remote - by 15 September (read here how to apply)
Qualitative Research Assistant Consultancy, George Washington University, remote - by 15 September (read here how to apply)
Program Associate, University Health Network (Grand Challenges Canada), Canada - by 20 September
Survey Statistician Consultancy, World Health Organization, remote - by 24 September
5+ years of experience necessary
MHPSS Coordinator, Action Contre La Faim, France (remote work)
Program Officer, University Health Network (Grand Challenges Canada), Canada - by 20 September
Assistant/Associate/Full Professor - Clinical Psychology, Miami University, US - rolling deadline
Resources in Global Mental Health
A section for various opportunities, databanks, information sources that may prove helpful.
The resources this month are a little different. In the next few months, the conversation about mental health will be taking place more publicly as usual - a string of events will be happening around World Suicide Prevention Day (10 September) and World Mental Health Day (10 October). Mental health has also been in focus more due to the extreme pressures of the ongoing pandemic. All of this means more coverage; an intersection of journalism and mental health where the two may struggle to understand each other, or perhaps collaborate for the greater benefit of the audience. Here are some resources from which both sides can benefit.
The Carter Center Journalism Resource Guide on Behavioral Health - with a lot of practical advice, facts and sources, the guide refers to journalistic and often sensationalized news stories. Send it as preparatory material to anyone who asks you to be the mental health expert guest on their podcast/talk show/magazine column, and request from them in return to commit to good journalistic standards in their coverage. If they want to take a step further, point them to the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism for professional development.
International Journalists’ Network Journalism and Mental Health Toolkit - a well-rounded approach to the topic, this page has tips for managing journalists’ own struggles with mental health and reviews how to report on mental health in the context of COVID-19, inequality and climate change. The podcast episodes feature journalists talking about their professional and personal experiences such as covering the Venezuelans’ migration into Columbia, protests against police brutality and burnout in investigative reporting.
Sanity by Tanmoy - you may be already familiar with the writings of Indian journalist Tanmoy Goswami, who dedicates his interest entirely to mental health. If not, now is a good chance to get subscribed to his newly-launched platform for independent mental health journalism, and his past history at The Correspondent and his Substack newsletter give plenty of reasons to expect exciting things.
Latest Publications in Global Mental Health
The selection of publications ultimately reflects my personal knowledge and preferences, but I have no intended bias. Feel free to send me publications you consider interesting or that you would like to be featured.
Advancing Health Equity in Digital Mental Health: Lessons From Medical Anthropology for Global Mental Health - this JMIR Mental Health article illustrates with examples how qualitative and ethnographic methods of investigation can inform the development of digital mental health interventions. I particularly liked the reminder that lack of such research may mean unsubstantiated assumptions can live on in digital mental health:
Automatic reminders from smart watches to “breathe” do little to create mindfulness habits if the barrier to care is belief (meditation will not help me) rather than memory (I keep forgetting to meditate).
Digital mental health support is also not a straightforward positive force and the authors outline some barriers for intervention participants, particularly those in poverty, precarious situations or with limited agency. I would have liked to see more practical suggestions on research directions, such as: modalities and acceptability, prioritisation of digital over other sources of support, barriers to use, unique benefits and so forth.
Global collective action in mental health financing: Allocation of development assistance for mental health in 142 countries, 2000–2015 - a valuable overview of the distribution of development assistance for mental health, there is a lot of food for thought in this article. The research by Valentina Iemmi analyses assistance received by various factors grouped in mental health needs (e.g. DALYs for mental health and GDP), donor countries’ interests and policy environment (government effectiveness and health expenditure) as well as conflicts, disasters and disease outbreaks. In a sense, this research documents the lion’s share of international funding for global mental health initiatives in LMIC between 2000 and 2015 (excluding humanitarian assistance). The trend for decreasing funding after 2014 is concerning if it proves in the future to be continuing past 2015; at the same time the DALYs grow steadily. Other trends show that government increase in health expenditure are matched by a greater assistance, and death from conflicts are followed by greater assistance than deaths from natural disasters. Overall, the author found that assistance funding is not aligned with the mental health needs of countries. Far from being surprising, the results also show that donors are more likely to grant funding to countries which have already been recipients.
Limitations of the study meant that funding to multiple countries was not included in the analysis, nor was funding from other LMIC (such as the BRIC group). But the research demonstrates important trends which hint at fragmentation in the funding scene, discrepancy between donors’ statements and actual priorities, and lack of recognition on the best approach for development.
Note: This article is not open access, so email me if you are interested in reading the whole of it.
*Social image for this newsletter courtesy of Pexels.
The Language Corner
This Language Corner relies on interactions with you, the readers, to build an entertaining little multi-way dictionary of global mental health terms. Needless to say, terms don’t always translate equally well and might evoke different emotions in the different languages.
To celebrate the beginning of the school year, here are some proverbs about learning, which apply to all of us throughout our lives. Add your favourite in the comments below!
Arabic: A pebble can support a barrel. [Al-’bahSa bi’tusnud ‘khaabia] - البحصة بتسند خابية
Chinese: 玉不琢,不成器。 [Yù bù zhuó, bù chéng qì.] One cannot become useful without being educated.
English: He who is afraid to ask is afraid of learning. (Originally Danish)
French: Mieux vaut prévenir que guérir. – It is better to prevent than to heal.
Russian: Век живи́ – век учи́сь. [Vek zh’ivi – vek uchis’.] Live for a century – learn for a century.
Spanish: Si te caes siete veces, levántate ocho. – If you fall seven times, get up eight.
Great job 👌