Project 460745

According to WHO, 1 in 5 of the world's children and adolescents live with various mental health (MH) conditions, with anxiety and depression as the most frequently experienced condition, and suicide as the second leading cause of death for those between 15 and 29 years of age. Despite this, many children and youth do not receive mental health treatment for various reasons including low knowledge about mental health and lack of adequate and accessible mental health supports and services. This is particularly true in low- and middle-income countries, such as the Philippines. A promising approach that can help address the mental health needs of children and youth is the use of peer-based supports and services, which can be less expensive and more accessible than those offered by mental health specialists. In this project, we propose to engage with and build collaboration among key stakeholders in the Philippines to identify the characteristics and features of a feasible and acceptable peer-based mental health supports for children and youth. The knowledge and information that will be generated by our proposed activities (e.g. stakeholder consultations, environmental scan) will inform the preparation of grant applications that will support the future development of a pilot peer-based program, and its evaluation and scale-up.