Global Mental Health Databank will link youth to researchers

Department news | November 25, 2020


Young people around the world commonly experience anxiety and depression, but it can be hard to identify how each person can best manage their own mental health. The Global Mental Health Databank, a feasibility study launched this month, hopes to change that by enabling youth from the United Kingdom, South Africa and India to work directly with mental health researchers to better understand how young people can manage their mental health.

The project will work directly with youth and researchers to build the blueprint for a global mental health program that directly collects data and provides insights to youth around the world. It will test how youth wish to interact with and use this system to advance understanding of mental health.

The team from the University of Washington including Pamela Collins, MD, MPH, and Patricia Areán, PhD, will bring their deep experience in working with people coping with mental health challenges and how connected technologies can help assess mental health. Other collaborators include researchers from Oxford University, University of Cambridge, Walter Sisulu University, Higher Health, and the Centre for Mental Health Law & Policy at the Indian Law Society. The study is led by Sage Bionetworks and funded by the mental health area team at the Wellcome Trust.