A new West Coast Global Mental Health Consortium spearheaded by Pamela Collins, MD, MPH, director of Global Mental Health, is collaborating with researchers and advocates from West Coast institutions on global mental health research, practice and advocacy. Launched with ten organizations across British Columbia, Alaska, Washington and California, the Consortium is hoping to capitalize on the west coast’s abundance of global mental health activity, shared population demographics, unique history of Indigenous communities, and rich engagement with countries and institutions around the Pacific. Initial areas of focus include:

• Identifying where and how lessons from global mental health interventions can expand options for West Coast communities that experience mental health disparities
• Combatting criminalization of mental health locally and globally
• Bringing attention to mental health through a human-rights focus, engagement of people with lived experience, and human-rights centered activism

Please reach out to Tessa Concepcion, MSGH, at concetes@uw.edu to learn more.