As millions of young people across the world grapple with mental health challenges, the Child Mind Institute and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) have come together to inagurate the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute. An event this week on “The Global Crisis in Youth Mental Health: A Dialogue With World Mental Health Experts” brought global experts to discuss the barriers to progress in the field and collaborative solutions.
The SNF Global Center brings together the Child Mind Institute’s expertise as a leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health and SNF’s deep commitment to supporting collaborative projects to improve access to quality health care worldwide. The center will build partnerships to drive advances in under-researched areas of children’s and adolescents’ mental health and expand worldwide access to culturally appropriate trainings, resources, and treatment. SNF’s founding support is part of its ongoing Global Health Initiative (GHI).
The center marked its global efforts with an event that brought together a distinguished panel of speakers from the World Health Organization, UNICEF, United for Global Mental Health, the Child Mind Institute, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Shamiri Institute. The discussion highlighted the importance of global cooperation in addressing youth mental health challenges; strategies for improving access to mental health services for children and adolescents worldwide; the role of research, policy, and advocacy in promoting youth mental health; and the goals of the partnership between the Child Mind Institute and SNF for championing progress in this critical field.
“We’re very proud of the work we’ve done in Greece through the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Initiative, and prouder still that it has laid the groundwork for the expansion of our partnership and the global work that we’re discussing and celebrating here tonight: the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute,” said Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, Founding President and Medical Director of the Child Mind Institute, in his remarks. “The global need for mental health services has never been greater: Suicide is now the fourth leading cause of death for 15- to 19-year-olds worldwide. One in seven 10- to 19-year-olds has a mental health disorder.”
“For too long, our collective efforts on this front have been at best reactive and uneven,” said SNF Co-President Andreas Dracopoulos. “The SNF Global Center seeks to help turn the tide with an approach that is proactive, equitable, and collaborative.”
Read the full speech
The symposium, which took place at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL) in New York City, was hosted by Juju Chang, co-anchor of ABC’s Nightline, and featured experts offering insights from a wide range of perspectives, including:
Dévora Kestel, MSc, Director of Mental Health and Substance Use, World Health Organization
Sarah Kline, MA, CEO and Co-Founder, United for Global Mental Health
Tom Osborn, Co-Founder and CEO, Shamiri Institute
Eva Quintana, Statistics Specialist with Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, UNICEF
Shirley Reynolds, PhD, Director of Psychosocial Interventions, SNF Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute
Giovanni Salum, MD, PhD, Program Co-Director, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Initiative, SNF Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute
Shekhar Saxena, MD, Professor of Global Mental Health Practice, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
The SNF Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute builds on the longstanding partnership on youth mental health between SNF and the Child Mind Institute, and includes the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Institute (CAMHI) in Greece, as the first constituent program of the center. The CAMHI was established in 2021 under SNF’s GHI and has grown into a nationwide initiative with a strong institutional network working to enhance mental health care capacity and to strengthen the infrastructure for the prevention, assessment and treatment of mental health challenges faced by children and teenagers all across Greece.
The Child Mind Institute and SNF remain dedicated to forging a brighter, stigma-free future for the mental health of children and adolescents worldwide.
