mhGAP FORUM 2017
“Mental Health capacity building within countries”
Ninth Meeting of the mhGAP Forum
Hosted by WHO in Geneva on 9 and 10 October 2017
Summary Report

Context
The World Health Organization (WHO) is leading the effort for achieving the objectives of the Mental Health
Action Plan 2013-2020, adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2013. mhGAP Forum is a partnership
event organized by WHO every year in Geneva around World Mental Health Day (10 October) to exchange
information on the implementation of the Plan and to strenghten collaboration among partners.

The ninth meeting of the mhGAP Forum took place at the World Health Organization, Geneva, on 9 and 10
October 2017. The Forum was attended by about 225 participants. These included 72 participants from53 Member States including 11 Ambassadors, 7 participants from 6 other UN organizations, 15 participantsfrom 12 WHO Collaborating Centres, and around 140 participants from more than 100 civil society
organizations including those representing mental health service users.
The focus of this year’s Forum was “Mental Health capacity building within countries”. The Forum also
launched the mhGAP Intervention Guide 2.0 App. and the mhGAP Training Packages and Operations Manual.
A further focus was on “Mental Health in the workplace”, reflecting the theme of this year’s World Mental
Health Day.
Progress made in implementation of Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013 -2020 was reviewed.
The programme and list of participants are attached as Annex A.

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Session 1: Opening plenary
Welcome The Forum was opened by Shekhar Saxena on behalf of WHO with a welcome to all participants thanking
them for their presence and active support to WHO’s activities in the area of mental health. It wasemphasized that the Forum, in its ninth year now, has become stronger as the most significant global
partnership event not only in the number of partners attending but also on the variety of important
information, evidence and experience that are shared. Assistant Director General for Non-communicable
Diseases and Mental Health, Oleg Chestnov then welcomed the participants and emphasized theimportance of mental health in WHO’s activities. Director General’s office was represented by Peter
Singer, who then made comments on how mental health fits well within the priorities of WHO Director
General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and within the evolving General Programme of Work of WHO in
the next five years.
Launch of mhGAP IG 2.0 Mobile App
 Tarun Dua reviewed WHO’s work in mental health, highlighting the Mental health Action Plan, and its
cross cutting principles, such as universal health coverage, human rights and evidence based practice. In
addition, the scope of mhGAP coverage globally was outlined, noting its use in countries and developmentof additional tools within the mhGAP package, including training tools, psychological interventions and the
mhGAP Operations Manual. This was followed by an overview of the mhGAP IG 2.0 App (e-mhGAP),
describing the increase in access to online resources and global use of smartphones.
 The app was demonstrated by Ken Carswell, where he highlighted some key features of the app, such as
navigation, implementation of the mhGAP-IG 2.0 algorithms and the ability of the app to record answers.
Future developments for the app, such as an Android version (due in November 2017), potential
integration with electronic patients records and further field testing were also outlined.
 16 Member States (Afghanistan, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bangladesh, Czech Republic, Canada, Colombia,
France, Germany, Malaysia, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Sri Lanka, United States of America) madestatements in the session; the text of the available statements can be found at the following link:
http://www.who.int/mental_health/mhgap/2017_Annex_B_statements.pdf
Session 2: mhGAP implementation
Launch of mhGAP Training Packages and Operations Manual The session was opened by Tarun Dua who drew attention to WHO’s focus on mental health capacity
building within countries and the specific products developed to assist this – the mhGAP training packages
and the operations manual. She described the process of development of these tools including extensive
feedback from the field and inputs form a large group of experts and other stakeholders.
 Neerja Chowdhary then described some of the key features of the training packages particularly the use of
the cascade model of training and the emphasis on competency based training and assessments. She
provided an outline of the package contents i.e. the mhGAP Training of Trainers and Supervisors (ToTS)
training manual, the mhGAP Training of Health-care Providers (ToHP) training manual including theparticipant’s logbook and the mhGAP training material for the humanitarian intervention guide. The
website that hosts the training material was presented and the use of training videos demonstrated.
 Fahmy Hanna described the mhGAP operations manual and its role in providing practical guidance toimplement and scale up mhGAP at the district level through the 3 phases of Plan, Prepare and Provide. He
briefly described the material included for each phase i.e. addressing barriers and solutions, monitoring
indicators, field examples and resources and tools. The importance of continuing activities such as raisingawareness, coordination and monitoring and evaluations was highlighted.
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Tarun Dua then concluded the presentation with a description of the plans to finalize these mhGAP
products and support country implementation including community outreach.

Experiences of implementing mhGAP from regions and countries
 This part of the session discussed the progress made in implementation of mhGAP within regions andcountries based on initial brief presentations by Julian Eaton (on implementation within low and middle
income countries), Inka Weissbecker (on implementation within humanitarian settings, Devora Kestel(implementation within the American region), Crick Lund (on findings from research based on project
PRIME), Rabih El Chammay (on progress made in Lebanon) and Beverly Pringle (on global research using
mhGAP tools). Comments were made from the floor.
Session 3: small group discussions
3.1: Launch of WHO initiative on workforce development in psychological intervention delivery
 The aim of this session was to launch a new WHO initiative on workforce development in psychologicalintervention delivery--a partnership with USAID. This well-attended session was opened by Shekhar
Saxena, who commented on work in this area, highlighting the need for quality when scaling-up evidencebased psychological interventions under the mhGAP initiative. James Campbell, Director of the WHO
Health Workforce Department, outlined the broad work of WHO on workforce development, particularly
following the adoption of WHO’s Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030 by theWorld Health Assembly. Mark van Ommeren set the scene by outlining WHO’s recent work in the area of
scalable psychological interventions. Ann Willhoite of USAID explained why this initiative is essential for
scaling up psychological care in different contexts, and why publishing evidence-based manuals is just notenough.
 Ken Carswell provided a brief overview of the initiative emphasizing the cooperative and collaborative
approach WHO seeks with major stakeholders in this area. The initiative aims to develop and make freely
available an evidence-based and consensus-based psychological intervention workforce development
package comprising of a framework, tools, guidance and an online human resource development platformthat can be used to help ensure quality implementation of psychological interventions by non-specialists.
He explained that the initiative will engage and collaborate with stakeholders in the field of psychologicalinterventions, the wider mental health community and actors in relevant sectors (health, protection,
education) to develop an outline for the package. WHO will seek to collaborate with Governments,
academia, other UN agencies, NGOs, and global professional associations to meet the aim of the initiative.
Academic partners will be asked to provide technical support on testing the package.
 Brandon Kohrt of George Washington University then described work in developing the ENACT tool forassessing competency of non-specialist workers in applying a number of core common therapeutic factors,
such as warmth, empathy and active listening. The presentation showed one possible model of how corecompetencies can be identified and measured in support of quality. Samantha Chann of the World
Federation of Occupation Therapists described the experiences of developing standards for occupational
therapy globally. A key message was the importance of developing standards and working with service
providers, governments and educational establishments to implement these.
 During a lively 1-hour long discussion, attendees expressed strong support for the initiative with offers tocollaborate. Challenges were also highlighted, including implementation in health systems where workers
are already overburdened, the need to integrate with existing workforce projects, and the importance ofalso including specialists in the initiative. Other comments included the need for guidance for the type of
people to be selected for such work, and the need to incorporate the views of grassroots workers. The
first phase of this initiative - the conceptualization phase - is ready to start.
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3.2: WHO Action Plan on Public Health Response to Dementia
 The objective of this session was to present the Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to
Dementia1 and discuss the role and needs of stakeholders in order to identify synergies and a way
forward for the plan’s implementation.
 Tarun Dua presented the vision2, goal3, cross-cutting principles4 and seven action areas5 of the global
dementia action plan together with the respective global targets that Member States have pledged toachieve collectively by 2025. Formal presentations ended with a brief overview of ongoing WHO activities
to support Member States in implementing the global action plan. These activities include: a policy
development guide; a dementia-friendly initiatives toolkit; dementia risk reduction guidelines; the mhGAP
dementia packages; an online carer training tool called iSupport; the Global Dementia Observatory datacollection tool and knowledge exchange platform; and a dementia research prioritisation exercise.
 Group discussions were initiated by the statements of seven key partners including a person withdementia and representatives from Member States, civil society and WHO Collaborating Centres. Eachpartner was invited to describe their specific needs and visions for one of the seven action areas. This wasfollowed by the regional advisers of AFRO and WPRO sharing their regional perspectives and WHO
colleagues from other departments talking about overlap and linkages to other existing global plans (i.e.
ageing and disability).
 The statements and discussions highlighted the importance of raising awareness and decreasing stigma
related to dementia as a first but crucial step in making progress; emphasized the need for an integrated
care approach and collaboration of all partners in order to achieve the global targets (“No country, no
NGO, no WHO can do this alone”); and revealed that fulfilment of human rights represents an integral partof the global action plan on the public health response to dementia.
3.3: A human rights approach in mental health: QualityRights training and guidance tools
 The session was attended by government representatives, international agency actors, civil society
organizations and observers. An introduction to the session was given by Michelle Funk, who outlined thatthe major aim of the QualityRights (QR) initiative was to improve the quality of mental health services andto promote rights, recovery, dignity, empowerment and hope for people with psychosocial, cognitive andintellectual disabilities. Michelle Funk presented the objectives, areas of work and some related
publications and products including the WHO QualityRights assessment toolkit and QualityRights training
and guidance modules and the e-training platform. In addition Michelle Funk highlighted the new work
underway to identify and document best practice services and supports from around the world that
promote recovery and human rights.
 Dan Chisholm presented the findings from the Project on Adults with Mental Disabilities Living in
Institutions in the European Region which used the WHO QR Tool kit. 25 countries carried out quality andhuman rights assessments of preselected institutions within each country using the WHO QualityRights
assessment tool. The findings of the country assessments will be used as a basis for the next phase of work
to reform services and promote rights. Dévora Kestel described the experience of implementing the QR
initiative in Brazil, Chile and Jamaica. Carmen Valle detailed her successful experiences running QR
workshops throughout the Pacific Islands, Asia and Africa and in Guatemala, recounting the stark changes
in participant attitudes towards human rights in mental health following training and the interest in

1 Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia: http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA70/A70_28-en.pdf?ua=1

2 Vision: A world in which dementia is prevented and people with dementia and their carers live well and receive the care and support they need to fulfil their potential with

dignity, respect, autonomy and equality.
3 Goal: To improve the lives of people with dementia, their carers and families, while decreasing the impact of dementia on them as well as on communities and countries.
4 Cross-cutting principles: Human rights of people with dementia; Empowerment and engagement; Evidence-based practice; Multisectoral collaboration; Universal healthand social care coverage; Equity; Appropriate attention to dementia prevention, cure and care
5 Seven action areas: (1) Dementia as public health priority, (2) Dementia awareness & friendliness, (3) Dementia risk reduction, (4) Dementia diagnosis, treatment care &support, (5) Support for dementia carers, (6) Information systems for dementia, (7) Dementia research & innovation.

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incorporating human rights into universities and the education of healthcare providers. Julian Eaton
highlighted that QualityRights has emerged as an essential initiative towards promoting access to goodquality mental health service for all in global mental health. By raising the profile of quality and rights, theinitiative promotes recognition of human rights as a fundamental issue that must not be forgotten.
Services which people value most are those that respect dignity and that are responsive to their needs.
Importantly, QR has operationalised human rights in mental health and in doing so has de-mystified theseconcepts and made them applicable in the real world.
The overall feedback for the QR initiative during open discussion was positive with some importantquestions raised during discussion around the accessibility of the English-only training materials,
engagement of policy makers during training and the importance of including people with lived experience.
Michelle Funk reiterated the necessity for all countries (low, middle and high income countries) toevaluate and improve their mental health services as very few operate in line with the Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other international human rights instruments. It is the intention of
the QR team to make the training material more widely accessible by translating the materials and tools.
Carmen Valle highlighted that in the QR training sessions that she has facilitated the active participation ofpeople with lived experience together with policymakers from government and practitioners from healthservices led to a greater depth of discussion and improved learning outcomes for all participants. It was
acknowledged by all present that efforts should continue to be made to include people with lived
experience at all levels of the QR Initiative: to participate in the QR workshops; to receive training to leadthe workshops and to be empowered to advocate at the international level including at future mhGAP
Forums.

3.4: Community engagement in suicide prevention: experience from pilots
 The session was attended by around 35 participants.
 Following the publication of “Preventing suicide: a community engagement toolkit, pilot version 1.0” in
2016, the main objectives of this session were to discuss the experiences from the pilots and implicationsof the pilots for the final community engagement toolkit.
 Edward Mantler (Mental Health Commission of Canada) and Alexandra Fleischmann (WHO HQ) provided
an introduction to the community engagement toolkit and an overview of its history, with an update on
ongoing activities in Canada, including the #308conversations initiative, where in each of Canada’s 308
Members of Parliament were invited to engage communities through holding a conversation about suicide
prevention, and the national suicide prevention research demonstration project, which is a Canadianmodel for suicide prevention in communities.
 Merab Mulindi (Befrienders Kenya), Kedar Maharatta (WHO Country Office Nepal; in absence, but througha voice recorded slide presentation), and Robert Bossarte (West Virginia University Injury Control ResearchCenter, USA) shared experiences from the respective pilots with the group in their slide presentations. The
purpose of the pilots was to understand whether the step-by-step process of community engagement as
described in the toolkit was easy to grasp, feasible and acceptable.
 Claudina Cayetano (WHO AMRO/PAHO) provided comments about the relevance and importance of thecommunity engagement toolkit in the Region and about the pilot of the community engagement toolkit in
Trinidad. Maryke Van Zyl-Harrison (Palo Alto University, USA) provided comments about her project plans
with the Navajo tribe on implementing a suicide prevention programme and of potentially making use of
the community engagement toolkit and the mhGAP Intervention Guide.
 The following main feedback points resulted from the group discussion:• The community engagement toolkit is useful to start a conversation about suicide, to raiseawareness, and to empower;• Overarching common issues in all places were stigma, taboo, and myths associated with suicideand suicide attempts (even though everyone knows someone affected, it is not being discussed);
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Faith-based organizations like churches are an important partner and need to be brought on board;
Finding a champion (local advocate) to speak about suicide and its prevention helps mobilize thecommunity and creates ownership of the process;Narrowing the many ideas to an action plan and having funding available for implementation can
be challenges;
Tools need to be adapted to reflect different cultures (e.g. consider door to door contacts,
availability of tools online), and minority stress.

Session 4: Reception and networking
This session was held in an informal setting to facilitate networking. Three stations were organised to explain
specific products to interested participants.
Station A - iSupport for dementia caregivers
 This station was run by Anne Margriet Pot and two interns, Sophie D’Souza and Angel Pinto , at the
Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse. Millions of people provide care for people withdementia globally. Caregiving impacts are overwhelming: the deterioration of the carer’s physical andmental health, lost productivity as carers are forced to quit work, and staggering economic consequences,with informal care costs estimated at $252 billion worldwide in 2010. Therefore, mhGAP includes several
recommendations to support carers of people with dementia, for example by providing information on
dementia and skills training, such as how to deal with challenging behaviours. However, such support is
not widely available or accessible.
 iSupport is meant to make information and skills training convenient, affordable, and engaging while
minimizing utilization obstacles such as access and transportation issues and stigma related to seeking
support. The generic version of iSupport is available for countries to translate and adapt the programme.
For example, iSupport is adapted and being field-tested in India. Translations are ongoing in for example
China and the Netherlands and there are several organizations in other countries who showed an interestin adapting and implementing iSupport to the local context.
 This station offered a unique opportunity to view iSupport by the attendees of the mhGAP Forum. The
station was well-attended and involved active discussion with policy-makers, professionals, and carers. It
was encouraging to receive so much positive feedback. For any news on iSupport visit
http://www.who.int/mental_health/neurology/dementia/isupport/en/ or have a look at iSupport:
www.iSupportForDementia.org and ask for a 72-hours access code.
Station B - Parent Skills training package for children with developmental disorders This station was run by Chiara Servili and WHO Consultants: Laura Pacione and Erica Salomone.
 The WHO Parent Skills Training (PST) for developmental disorders or delays is a programme that engages
families in learning activities delivered through group sessions and home visits to help them support theirchildren’s communication and promote adaptive behaviours, while improving caregivers’ wellbeing andconfidence in their parenting role.
 The PST materials were developed following review of available evidence and in consultation with experts
and parents’ associations from all WHO regions and with support from Autism Speaks. The programme isdesigned to be delivered by a range of non-specialist providers, including peer caregivers.
 The package is currently being field tested in 30 countries and to date 280 professionals have been trainedand 2550 families have received the intervention. An overview of the programme and a range ofprogramme materials were available at the mhGAP forum and were well-received. A number ofparticipants expressed interest in pilot-testing the programme and signed up to receive access to the
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package of materials. For additional information on the PST for developmental disorders or delays or tolearn about pilot testing, please contact Chiara Servili at servilic@who.int.
Station C - Mental Health Innovation Network (MHIN) This station was run by Grace Ryan of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Fahmy
Hanna of WHO.
 The Mental Health Innovation Network ( MHIN) is an online community for mental health innovators andstakeholders to share information and resources to improve the quality and coverage of mental healthcare worldwide. MHIN’s core team is based at the Centre for Global Mental Health at the London Schoolof Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and World Health Organization’s Department for Mental Health andSubstance Abuse.
 MHIN has currently more than 3800 members, 232 organizations and hundreds of resources andcontributions from its members in the form of blogs, manuals, toolkits, webinars, podcasts, Q and A andresearches.
 During the session, participants of mhGAP forum are invited to login and become MHIN members. MHIN
can be access on http://www.mhinnovation.net/
Session 5: Mental health campaigns – where to go from here?
The purpose of this session was to reflect on WHO’s Depression: let’s talk campaign and related initiatives,with a particular focus on :• successes, and key factors for success;• what could be improved in future campaigns; and• how to build on the momentum created during recent months.
Presentation: Depression: let’s talk: a campaign for all

Presenters:• Shekhar Saxena, Director, Mental Health and Substance Abuse, WHO• Alison Brunier, Communications Officer, Department of Communications, WHO
The early release of strong core content with visuals reflecting geographic and cultural diversity led to very
high pick-up around the world, as reflected by web traffic, social media reports, images uploaded on the
campaign app and reports sent to WHO. The volume of social-media-friendly materials, including dynamic
content such as animated infographics, videos and Facebook Live events, enabled us to keep up
momentum throughout the year. Media interest, which was extremely high around World Health Day on 7
April, focused primarily on the disease burden associated with depression. The release of the WHO
booklet “Depression and other common mental disorders. Global health estimates” including national,
regional and global estimates, was a key factor in this. The pitching of stories of countries successes intreatment of depression did not generate much interest.
• 306 activities in 76 countries were registered on our campaign app.
• Influential personalities such as Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India; Justin Trudeau, thePrime Minister of Canada; and Ariana Huffington, co-founder of the Huffington Post, engaged in
the campaign, either issuing a statement or talking/posting about the campaign in the publicdomain. Some of our country offices were successful in engaging influencers. The WHO campaign
team found that personal contacts facilitated engagement.
• WHO campaign site: www.who.int/depression/en• WHO campaign app: http://apps.who.int/depression-campaign-2017/en
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Presentation: Mental Health Innovation Network celebrates World Health Day
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Presenters:• Julian Eaton, Mental Health Advisor, CBM and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine• Grace Ryan, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
The Mental Health Innovation Network is a community of 3 500 + mental health stakeholders sharing
knowledge, resources and ideas to promote mental health and improve the quality and coverage of care.
The team organized a blog series #WHD2017 on inspiring innovations from around the world, releasedsocial media postcards with quotes from mental health partners, organized a special edition podcast withmembers of the Center for Global Mental Health and organized a knowledge exchange table for World
Health Day at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The Centre for Global Mental Healthpresented a lunchtime seminar “Perspectives on depression”.
The Mental Health Innovation Network website http://www.mhinnovation.net/

Presentation: Campaigns and more – the Janmanswastha initiative in India
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Presenter:• Hamid Dabholkar, Psychiatrist/consultant, the Parivartan Trust, India
The campaigns in which the presenter is involved use posters, pamphlets, short films and documentaries,celebrity interviews and social media. They tend to be focused around awareness days such as World
Mental Health Day. Such campaigns enable mobilization of resources and increased community awareness,
as well as sharping of the global as well as the local narrative.
The work of the Parivartan trust on Jan Man Swasthya, which aims to develop community-based services
in rural areas of India, was presented.
The work of the Parivartan Trust: http://www.mhinnovation.net/organisations/parivartan-trust

Presentation: National mental health campaign, Lebanon
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Presenter:• Rabih El Chammay, Head of the National Mental Health Programme, Ministry of Public Health,
LebanonThe engagement of the Director-General of the Ministry of Public Health was a key success factor. The
slogan adopted was “Depression: let’s talk about it to get out of it”. Events were planned for two months:
once in April and again in September. The occasion of the high-level World Health Day event for the
Eastern Mediterranean Region in Beirut was used to launch the national campaign. TV, radio and social
media were used to transmit messages and engage with the public. TV spot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA3LmY-Zxbg. A telephone hotline for people to call for further
information was also available.
Campaign materials: https://www.moph.gov.lb/en/Pages/6/11831/national-mental-health-campaign-2017
National Mental Health Programme: http://www.moph.gov.lb/en/Pages/6/553/the-national-mentalhealth-program

Discussion
 What worked well
• Selection of a health issue of global importance, with core universal messages that left enoughroom for adaptation.
• Strong visuals that could be used by audiences around the world.
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The focus on several audiences e.g. teens, women who are pregnant or have recently had babies
and older people.
Flexibility for tie-in with other health issues e.g. blindness, emergency situations.
Local ownership of events.
Bringing together of networks.

Areas for consideration moving forward• Continuation of a mechanism for information-sharing with partners• Need to link campaign to ongoing work and access to treatment• Leveraging of strengths of individual organizations (e.g. some may be stronger in advocacy, others
in celebrity engagement, others in technical guidance)• Following up of commitments made during the Depression: let’s talk campaign• Evaluation and impact measurement

Session 6: Small group discussions
6.1: Self-help interventions (IT-assisted and otherwise; for general population and staff)
 The aim of this small group session was to provide a forum for knowledge exchange on self-help and how
such help may be applied to support people in the general population as well as staff. The session was
opened by Mark van Ommeren giving an overview of the evidence for self-help interventions and thepotential opportunities self-help offers in reaching more people in need of mental health care.
 Inka Weissbecker from International Medical Corps presented experiences with the as yet unpublished
WHO self-help intervention Self Help Plus (SH+) with Syrian refugees in Turkey and people living Ukraine.
Initial findings and feedback from both these settings were positive. SH+ is currently being evaluated in alarge scale cluster randomised controlled trial in northern Uganda with South Sudanese refugees. Melissa
Harper presented the digital self-help intervention - Step-by-Step - developed by WHO and adapted by the
Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) in Lebanon. This intervention is currently being piloted as a website, andan app version will be evaluated in an RCT in Lebanon in the coming years. Rabih El Chammay from MoPH
Lebanon spoke about the integration of Step-by-Step in the Lebanese health system. Katrin Seeher
presented the iSupport program developed for carers of people suffering from dementia, which iscurrently being piloted and evaluated in a number of countries.
 The session covered also the potential of self-help interventions in staff care. Capucine de Fouchiershowed the high rates of sexual harassment of women in humanitarian workplaces and organizations andthe limited support available for staff experiencing such problems, thereby indicating the need forprevention of harassment as well as staff care. Ken Carswell shared WHO’s plan to apply experiences with
self-help interventions to staff care. He outlined a proposed WHO project to develop and test digital – app
and web delivered – guided self-help for national and international humanitarian and development staff.
 During discussion, the group reflected on the benefits and risks of self-help interventions. The group
discussed the risk of self-help interventions possibly being used as an excuse to not address ecologicalcauses for mental health problems or to not invest more broadly in mental health care. Integration of selfhelp interventions in wider systems (e.g. healthcare systems) was recommended to ensure effectivenessand sustainability of self-help.
6.2: Helping adolescents thrive: promoting mental health and preventing mental health problems
and risk behaviours
 Chiara Servili opened the session by providing an overview of WHO adolescent mental health initiatives
and then briefly described the scope of the new Helping Adolescents Thrive project, a joint initiative of the
Department of Mental and Substance Abuse and the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child andPage 9 of 13

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Adolescent Health, which aims to develop a multicomponent package of evidence-based psychosocial
interventions to promote adolescent mental health and prevent mental disorders, risk behaviours andself-harm among adolescents. Preliminary findings of the scoping of evidence and the project theory ofchange were presented and discussed with participants.
Daniel Chisholm, WHO Regional Office for Europe, presented progress towards the development of
mental health profiles for adolescents in the European region and a policy implementation toolkit.
Beverly Pringle, US National Institute for MH, shared lessons learnt from implementation of a range ofinterventions targeting adolescents, such as the SHINE project to strengthen capacities to implement
school based mental health programmes in the Eastern Mediterranean region and interventions toimprove detection of suicide risk and reduce suicide in adolescents. Alexandra Fleischmann, WHO,intervened to discuss promising evidence-based school-based suicide prevention interventions including
Youth Aware of MH (YAM).
Mark Jordans, War Child Holland, detailed strategies for the delivery of programmes that combine mental
health promotion, prevention and treatment in war-affected populations. Janice Cooper of The Carter
Center commented on the increased focus on school mental health and adolescent mental health in the
African region and highlighted innovative strategies to reach adolescents, including smart phones, video
games, cartoons, stories and dramas.
Participants discussed opportunities for including adolescent mental health within adolescent healthprogramming and raised important questions about the requirements for training of a range ofcommunity-based workers, health and educational professionals.
In closing the session, David Ross emphasized how the Global Accelerated Action for the Health of
Adolescents (AA-HA!) provides guidance on addressing mental health as part of national efforts towards
the implementation the Global Strategy for Women, Children and Adolescent Health (2016-2030), andTarun Dua highlighted opportunities to capitalize on the increased international awareness to establish
global partnerships and make changes in the lives of adolescents and communities.

6.3: Helping people with severe mental disorders live longer and healthier lives
 Introductory presentations were made by Shekhar Saxena, Neerja Chowdhary and Khalid Saeed on WHO’s
work and experience of partners in the areas of advocacy, program implementation and research. The
Policy Brief on helping people with severe mental disorders live longer and healthier lives was released
that focuses on what different stakeholders can due to address the issue of excess mortality in people
with severe mental disorders.
 Comments were made by partners, including Jeffrey Aron of Fountain House, describing their experience
with integration of physical and mental health care.
 Other speakers at this session included: Abdullah al-Khatami (WONCA), Hamid Dabholkar (Parivartan),
Najma Siddiqi (York University), as well as Shamsuzzoha Syed and Taskeen Khan (WHO).
 The key messages that emerged during the discussion were:• People with SMDs die much earlier than others, suffer from a variety of risk factors, including
tobacco consumption and are neglected by the healthcare system• It is important to work towards provision of integrated care, involving patients and their families incare planning and shifting care from long stay in hospitals to community based care.
• Non-communicable disease management is highly relevant for people with SMD including the needto shift from a cure- to a care-based model.
• It is important to consider how the mental health agenda is placed within the wider context ofquality, addressing clinical effectiveness, safety and person-centeredness.
• People with SMD are invaluable resources and must be seen as active agents of change.
• It is important to address stigma and discrimination by health care providers
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The way forward: There is a greater need for collaborative approaches in low and middle income countries
to address the issue of excess mortality in people with SMD such as patient and public involvement, theuse of multidisciplinary teams, community advisory panels and trained peer-support workers. The WHO
guidelines on prevention and treatment of physical health conditions in people with SMD will provide
evidence-based recommendations to practitioners to recognize and appropriately manage co-morbid
illness.

6.4: mhGAP implementation
 The session focused on sharing experiences on achievements, challenges & solutions in mhGAP
implementation. Presenters include mhGAP implementers from a wide range of countries & regions. The
session began with an introduction on mhGAP implementation from Tarun Dua, WHO MSD, and then thediscussion was divided across 4 themes:• Theme 1: Training & supervision• Martin Vandendyck, WHO WPRO, presented approaches to identifying mental healthchampions during the training in Central African Republic. The champions received further
training of trainers and were able to provide supervision• Facilitator, Georgina Campbell, WHO MSD, reflected on key challenge of establishingsupervision structures and one solution offered was using social media as a complimentarystrategy to the face-to-face.
• Theme 2: Awareness-raising• Palmira Fortunato, MOH Mozambique, spoke about the epilepsy programme in
Mozambique which has been successful in awareness rising through community
engagement – with policy-makers, community leaders and service users.
• Facilitator, Meredith Fendt-Newlin, WHO MSD, reflected on the challenge of translating thedemand into provision of services, and how awareness raising aims to improve the numberof people who seek care as well as those that access care.
• Theme 3: Access to medications for mental, neurological and substance use disorders• Florence Baingana, WHO Sierra Leone, spoke about the challenges and solutions of getting
medicines to those who need them in Sierra Leone.
• Facilitator, Sebastiana Nkomo, WHO AFRO, reflected on a key challenge being the cost of
medicines, with a solution offered to look at different drivers to improve access using the
WHO publication: “Improving access and appropriate use of medicines for mental
disorders”.
• Theme 4: Humanitarian emergencies• Vitaly Klimchuk, MOH Ukraine, described innovative models of community mental healthcare in Ukraine, including mobile teams.
• Dan Chisholm, WHO EURO, presented Mental Health and Psychosocial Support work by
WHO with Syrian refugees in Turkey and humanitarian staff self-care initiative.
• Facilitator, Peter Ventevoghel, UNHCR Geneva, reflected on the key challenge that in
refugee settings people are coming from diverse backgrounds and that tools need to beadapted for such contexts. By training both health workers and community workers inrefugee settings using the mhGAP-HIG, this offers tools and resources to support
development of communities in refugee settings. He also highlighted the importance ofdeveloping a community version of mhGAP.
 The final discussion was offered by Fahmy Hanna who mentioned that the WHO tools for mhGAP
implementation are field-testing versions. WHO welcomes feedback from mhGAP implementers to
improve these manuals and look forward to hearing more experience from the field in the coming months.
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Session 7: Celebrating World Mental Health Day
Lunchtime seminar on “Mental health in the workplace”Panellists:• Sue Baker, Director, Time to Change• Adam Spreadbury, Co-Chair, Mental Health Network, Bank of England• Tine van Bortel, Senior Research Associate in Public Health, University of Cambridge• Shekhar Saxena, Director, Mental Health and Substance Abuse, WHO
Moderator: Alison Brunier, WHO
Panellists covered a number of issues relating to mental health in the workplace, including: why mental
health in the workplace is important; the importance of senior management buy-in; results of researchstudies; the legislative environment; and concrete actions that managers and employees can take.

Session 8: Closing Plenary The last plenary session began with presentation of summaries from the small group discussions,emphasising the conclusions from each of them and also the steps to be taken by each of the stakeholder
groups.
WHO regional advisors presented a summary of implementation of Mental Health Action Plan in theirregions. This was followed by an open discussion on all the themes covered in the Forum. A number ofparticipants made comments and offered suggestions. Some participants also shared experience ofongoing partnerships or new evolving ones.
Lastly, a live internet facilitated questionnaire was presented to all participants for feedback. A number ofsuggestions were received on enhancing the usefulness of mhGAP Forum.
The Forum concluded with a word of thanks to participants for their active engagement and to WHO staff
for their work in organising and hosting the Forum

Contact
Dr Shekhar Saxena
Director
Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse
World Health Organization+41.22.791.3625
saxenas@who.int

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Acknowledgments

mhGAP Forum was financially partially supported by Germany.
This summary report does not represent an official position of the World Health Organization. It is a tool to
explore the views of interested parties on the subject matter. References to international partners aresuggestions only and do not constitute or imply any endorsement whatsoever of this discussion paper.
The World Health Organization does not warrant that the information contained in this report is complete andcorrect and shall not be liable for any damages incurred as a result of its use.
The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this report do not imply the expression of
any opinion whatsoever on the part of the World Health Organization concerning the legal status of any
country, territory, city or area of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
Dotted lines on maps represent approximate border lines for which there may not yet be full agreement.
The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers' products does not imply that they areendorsed or recommended by the World Health Organization in preference to others of a similar nature thatare not mentioned. Errors and omissions excepted, the names of proprietary products are distinguished byinitial capital letters.
All reasonable precautions have been taken by the World Health Organization to verify the information
contained in this report. However, this report is being distributed without warranty of any kind, either
expressed or implied. The responsibility for the interpretation and use of the presentation lies with thereader. In no event shall the World Health Organization be liable for damages arising from its use.
© World Health Organization, 2017. All rights reserved.
The following copy right notice applies: www.who.int/about/copyright

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