So what is the Global Alliance doing on the international stage?

The Global Alliance’s unique action-oriented focus at the intersection of behavioral health, social justice, and human rights is critical to our ongoing work championing mental health and well-being. But how does that play out on the international stage? As the world recognizes Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day, a day that mobilizes stakeholders to call for strong, equitable health systems that leave no one behind, we wanted to share what we have been working on in 2021.

Speaking Up & Speaking Out: Using Our Voices for Meaningful Change

In my experience as a Ph.D. student in clinical health psychology, it is common knowledge in the field that homosexuality was “dropped” from the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1973. It’s a decision that, in 2021, sounds like a no-brainer. It seems almost inconceivable today that a respected scientific organization would consider homosexuality to be a mental illness and treat it as such. Yet nearly 50 years later, the sociopolitical context and key players involved in this decision are rarely discussed and therefore, not widely known.

Supporting Mental Health for All: The Importance of Community Engagement

What does supporting mental health for all really mean? A difficult and complex question that I have reflected on, and while there is not one simple answer, at its core it involves a commitment to person-centeredness. Our World Mental Health Day discussion focused on the development, implementation, evaluation, and implications of How Right Now – a national, research-based communications campaign aimed to promote and strengthen the emotional well-being and resiliency of high-risk populations adversely affected by COVID-19 - related stress, grief, and loss.

Moving from Crisis to Continuum: Nurturing Veteran Well-being

As a graduate student researcher and practitioner in clinical psychology, discussions about how to meet the unique mental health needs of veterans and service members arise frequently. However, these conversations often center on responding to crisis situations, rather than envisioning how we might prevent them. I believe that by understanding what veteran mental health looks like across a continuum, we can better understand how to support veteran well-being.

During Mental Health Month, the Global Alliance co-sponsored Youth Well-Being in a Digital World: The Roles of Schools and Communities along with:

It’s that time of year where longer days and warmer weather means summer is here. Have you been spending time outdoors?

When COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, disastrous consequences were feared for refugees residing in overcrowded camps. These living quarters make social distancing impossible, in addition to low or non-availability of basic items to maintain sanitization and personal protection. However, agencies acted quickly and redirected their emergency programming to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Owing to the dedicated service of frontline workers, medical teams, volunteers, and refugees themselves, hundreds of thousands of lives were saved.

New leadership plays a highly influential role in mapping the future of the Pride Movement and fight for LGBTQ+ rights. Meet 5 young, up-and-coming activists to follow as they lead the next generation of Pride.

As adults who identify as LGBTQ+ age, they face several unique and challenging issues related to older adulthood, leading to social, economic, and health disparities. A recent national study found that aging adults in the LGBTQ+ community face greater levels of depression, loneliness, disability and social isolation, putting this population at increased risk for mental and physical health conditions. These findings are consistent with a growing number of studies demonstrating the health impact of the systemic oppression of the LGBTQ+ community as individuals reach older age. The “shifting contexts” of aging adults identifying as LGBTQ+ leave many older individuals vulnerable to a variety of health and social issues. As the circumstances of daily living, social life, and healthcare change throughout older age, adults in the LGBTQ+ community face fewer opportunities to maintain their health and greater barriers to achieving well-being.