Bras\u00edlia \u2013 Young people are capable of driving profound change in their communities. When given the chance they can play an active role in debates about the issues that most affect their lives. That was the central message of discussions held August 12 in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies on International Youth Day, organized by Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute through a local initiative, Junto, in partnership with the Brazilian Congressional Caucus on the Promotion of Mental Health, the Secretary for Infancy, Adolescence, and Youth of the Chamber of Deputies, and the Institute for Health Policy Studies (IEPS).<\/p>\n
The first roundtable at the event in Brazil, \u201cThe National Youth Policy in Dialogue with Parliament,\u201d studied Brazil\u2019s current youth legislation and the intersection of mental health, inclusion, and environmental sustainability. The final session titled, \u201cYouth Mental Health in Perspective,\u201d featured youth advocates, health professionals, and grassroots leaders. It focused on youth-led initiatives in the mental health care space.<\/p>\n
\u201cYouth can and must have a seat at the decision-making table. And for our contribution to be meaningful, we must listen to those on the front lines; we must be bold enough to claim our space and humble enough to know that we, young people, can always learn more,\u201d said Ana Beatriz Goyanna of Junto\u2019s Youth Council, who moderated one of the roundtables on the role of mental well-being in national youth policy. In her remarks, she emphasized that despite challenges, young people continue to chart new paths for transformation.<\/p>\n
The SNF Global Center Junto Youth Council is a structured group of young Brazilian advocates representing all national regions focused on community action, dialogue, policy advocacy, and research to inspire government action and behavior change.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat drives me is the pursuit of how we can better protect the mental health of Brazil\u2019s children and young people. Our Youth Council brings public-school students from every region of Brazil into policy discussions, bringing the classroom into Congress and watching youth-led ideas inspire real change,\u201d said Ms. Goyanna.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cYoung people with mental health conditions should be treated with the same attention as those with cancer \u2014 mental health is not whining,\u201d said Deputy Tabata Amaral, who stressed the urgent need for more psychologists in schools and greater equity in access to care.<\/p>\n
Two major papers published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review Brasil, were also launched during the event. The first is produced by IEPS and the second is co-authored by experts from the SNF Global Center at the Child Mind Institute, offering new evidence-based insights into how children and adolescents\u2019 mental health can be better supported in schools. This expert team includes Giovanni Abrah\u00e3o Salum, MD, PhD (Senior Vice-President of Global Programs), Carolina Martins Costa, MS (Brazil Country Manager), Julia Sch\u00e4fer, PhD (Program Manager of Clinical and Psychosocial Interventions), and Caio Casella (Clinical Data Analyst).<\/p>\n
Eduardo Vasconcelos, Director of Youth Engagement at SNF Global Center, emphasized the \u201cboom in scientific production on mental health since 2010,\u201d but pointed out that the data is still not being generated with youth participation. He insisted: \u201cIt is necessary to incorporate young people\u2019s voices into the process of producing science on mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n
About the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute<\/h4>\n
The SNF Global Center brings together the Child Mind Institute\u2019s expertise as a leading independent nonprofit in children\u2019s mental health and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)\u2019s deep commitment to supporting collaborative projects to improve access to quality healthcare worldwide. The Global Center is building partnerships to drive advances in under-researched areas of children and adolescents\u2019 mental health, and expand access to culturally appropriate training, resources, and treatment in low and middle-income countries. This work is conducted by the Child Mind Institute with support from SNF through its Global Health Initiative (GHI).<\/p>\n
About the Institute for Health Policy Studies (IEPS)<\/h4>\n
The Institute for Health Policy Studies (IEPS) is a non-profit organization that aims to contribute to the improvement of public health policies in Brazil.<\/p>\n
About Junt\u00f4<\/h4>\n
Junt\u00f4 is dedicated to strengthening mental health systems for young people and improving outcomes through training, expanding access to care, and evidence-based solutions. The initiative leads and supports intercultural partnerships and promotes solutions driven by young people themselves. This initiative is supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) as part of its Global Health Initiative (GHI), in collaboration with the Child Mind Institute (CMI).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Young people are driving change in their communities around mental health","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/caleidosdev.com.br\/junto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/caleidosdev.com.br\/junto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/caleidosdev.com.br\/junto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caleidosdev.com.br\/junto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caleidosdev.com.br\/junto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/caleidosdev.com.br\/junto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212,"href":"https:\/\/caleidosdev.com.br\/junto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions\/212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caleidosdev.com.br\/junto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/caleidosdev.com.br\/junto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caleidosdev.com.br\/junto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caleidosdev.com.br\/junto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}