We are excited to participate in the 7th International Association for Youth Mental Health (IAYMH) Conference in Vancouver from March 19 to March 21, 2025. This global event brings together leaders, researchers, organizations, policymakers, and young people to share the latest insights and best practices in youth mental health. Through virtual and in-person panels, poster sessions, and symposia, Grand Challenges Canada and Being partners will showcase innovative approaches to shifting power, engaging youth, and transforming national ecosystems to support youth mental health prevention and promotion initiatives.
The International Association for Youth Mental Health (IAYMH) is a membership-based organization that hosts an international conference every two years in a different city, planned and delivered with young people.
This year’s conference, Turning the Tide: Creating a Global Blueprint for Prevention and Integrated Care in Youth Mental Health, will bring together global leaders to exchange the latest research and best practices, explore strategies for better supporting prevention, and strengthen relationships between organizations working to improve youth mental health globally. The event will also highlight the expertise of youth, whose perspectives are often overlooked but are crucial in addressing mental health challenges. Check out the full conference program on their website!
Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), as host of the Being Initiative, is proud to be an IAYMH conference sponsor and bring GCC-supported innovators to Vancouver to showcase their work. Here’s what our GCC team, partners, and GCC-funded innovators will be up to next week:
1. Day 1: March 19, 2025 | 11:00 AM: “Shifting Power for Ecosystem Transformation: Being’s Approach to Addressing Youth Mental Health in Low and Middle-Income Countries.”
- Join us for this symposium, chaired by Sireesha Bobbili, Program Manager at Grand Challenges Canada, we will explore how young people are engaged in Being to challenge systemic inequities and shift power. Innovative approaches to power shifting will be highlighted, focusing on meaningfully involving young people in the research process to shape Being’s overall strategy. The goal is to transform national ecosystems to support youth mental health prevention and promotion initiatives.
- Panellists include Jimmy Martin, and María Alejandra Espinoza de los Monteros from Junta de Beneficencia de Guayaquil in Ecuador; Amirah Wahdi, and Prayoga Aditama from Universitas Gadjah Mada in Indonesia; Laura Ospina-Pinillos and Débora L. Shambo-Rodríguez from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia; and Erica Zissis, Program Associate at Grand Challenges Canada.
2. Youth Advisors’ poster sessions on day 1 and day 2!
Day 1: March 19, 2025 | 10:30 AM:
- Rising Temperatures, Rising Anxiety – Climate Change and Youth Mental Health in the Indian Subcontinent. Being Youth Advisor Muskan Lamba, will be sharing her poster presentation on with a focus on mental health challenges driven by climate anxiety and distress among youth 18-30 in India, emphasizing the urgent need to address these challenges and protect those most vulnerable and least responsible for climate change.
Day 2: March 20, 2025 | 10:30 AM:
- Mental health on university campuses: Findings from applications to a mental health changemaking training program. Being Youth Advisor Jaclyn Schess, will be sharing her poster presentation which will highlight youth mental health in university campuses and potential solutions identified by young people on the ground.
3. Don’t miss Being learning platform partner Orygen’s activities on day 1 and day 2!
Our partner Orygen, who leads Being’s Learning and Support Network will be participating at next week’s IAYMH conference. Here are two of their events to check out:
Day 1: March 19, 2025 | 10:30–11:00 AM
- Orygen’s Learning and Support Network lead Nataya Branjerdporn, will participate in the poster session Recommendations for youth-led advocacy within a global context . This poster session will share key recommendations on how to support youth-led advocacy in different contexts, based on learnings from the Orygen Global Youth Mental Health Advocacy Fellowship.
Day 2: March 20, 2025 | 4:00 PM
- Scaling up youth mental health services: how innovation can create sizable change across the globe. In this symposium, Orygen will share insights into the successes and challenges of scaling innovation in the global youth mental health landscape and an analysis on the types of support provided thus far, including successes, challenges and learnings that have been shaped through their partnership with Being’s Learning and Support Network.
4. Connect with youth mental health innovators throughout the conference!
Several innovators funded through Grand Challenges Canada’s Global Mental Health portfolio will be attending. Here’s where you can find them:
- Sangath, India: Don’t miss the symposium Co-design of “Baatcheet,” a peer-delivered web-based story sharing intervention for young people with mental health problems in New Delhi, India on Day 1, March 19, 2025, at 4:00 PM. In this symposium, Sangath will present an in-depth account of the co-design of their peer-supported intervention “Baatcheet” (meaning “conversation” in Hindi), that’s addressing depression, anxiety and social disability among 16-24 year olds in New Delhi, India through digital stories.
- Sense International India, India: The Sense International India will present their abstract Addressing the Unspoken: Mental Health Needs of Persons with Deafblindness on Day 2, March 20, 2025, at 11:00 AM. This session will present the outcomes, research data, and impact of their Mental Health Awareness and Support to Children and Young Adults with Deafblindness and their Families project.
- Waves for Change, South Africa: Join the Waves for Change (W4C) team on Day 3, Friday, March 21, 2025, at 11:00 AM for the session Scaling community-based mental health interventions to prevent depression and anxiety in youth: Rationale, approach, and methods of the ALIVE interdisciplinary research collaboration in Colombia, Nepal and South Africa to hear findings from their study on their ALIVE pilot project and their Take 5 model.
- StrongMinds, Uganda: Don’t miss the session Expanding access to depression treatment among out-of-school youth in Uganda on Day 3, Friday, March 21, 2025, at 11:00 AM to learn more about StrongMinds’ Group Interpersonal Therapy (IPT-G) model to treat depression among out-of-school youth, aged 16-24, in Uganda.
- Rwanda Youth Voice for Change, Rwanda: Check out their abstract presentation Maestro Mind Lab Project on Day 3, Friday, March 21, 2025, at 11:00 AM to learn how they’re addressing the critical need for culturally competent and accessible mental health services for LGBTQ+ youth through peer support, digital tools, and community-based interventions in in Kigali, Rwanda.
- Reinserta, Mexico: Learn how Reinserta supports the mental health and wellbeing of incarcerated youth in their session Voices of Change: Transforming mental health through Radio Programs and Workshops for juvenile offenders in Mexico on Day 1, March 19, 2025, at 11:00 AM.
Find more details about our activities and the full program on the IAYMH conference website!
