Hands-on for Mental Health
Context
Hands-on for Mental Health sets the foundation for a broader advocacy effort in the field of youth mental health, placing adolescents at the centre of the process.
The project creates a context in which young people are not just recipients of programmes designed by adults, but active contributors who bring their own perspectives and experiences into analysing the system and shaping solutions.
Through their involvement, the first steps of a wider movement begin to take shape – one that aims to bring adolescent mental health higher on the public agenda.
The need for such an initiative is clear. Mental health support services remain limited and unevenly distributed, school counsellors are often responsible for hundreds of students, and stigma continues to prevent many adolescents from seeking help.
At the same time, existing public policies rarely reflect the perspectives of those they are meant to serve. There are few meaningful mechanisms for young people to be consulted or directly involved in decision-making processes.
Through Hands-on for Mental Health, adolescents are supported to make their voices heard, critically assess how the system works, and develop clear, grounded recommendations.
The project goes beyond these activities, laying the groundwork for a wider advocacy campaign that aims to bring young people’s experiences and proposals into public decision-making and contribute to real change in schools and communities.
Objectives
The aim of the Hands-on for Mental Health project is to actively involve adolescents in shaping better mental health solutions, through a participatory process that lays the foundation for a national advocacy campaign.
The project seeks to build the early stages of a movement where young people’s voices become a natural part of conversations around public policies and services that affect them.
Main objectives
- Building a core group of engaged young people – at least 30 high school and university students are selected and trained through an intensive programme. They gain knowledge on mental health and how public systems work, alongside practical skills in public speaking, argumentation, and advocacy. This group becomes the driving force of the project, further sharing their experiences and perspectives with a wider audience.
- Creating spaces for dialogue between young people and decision-makers – adolescents are brought into direct conversations with institutional representatives, professionals, and other relevant stakeholders. These interactions highlight the value of lived experience and reinforce the importance of including young people in shaping mental health solutions.
- Running a campaign for awareness and dialogue – through activities in schools, communities, and online, the project reaches over 40,000 adolescents. The campaign increases visibility around mental health and contributes to reducing stigma, which still prevents many young people from seeking support.
- Developing a set of recommendations – participating young people work together to formulate public policy recommendations. These are presented to authorities and professionals, serving as a starting point for structural change. The process itself is just as important as the outcome, helping adolescents understand how solutions are built and how they can be supported in public discourse.
The overall goal is for adolescents to build the confidence and capacity to take part in civic processes and to be recognised as legitimate partners in mental health reform.
In the long term, the project aims to contribute to a generation of young people who are more resilient and better equipped to advocate for their rights, as well as to a system that is more open to their perspectives and experiences.
Activities
Over the course of two years, young people will go through a series of stages designed to gradually build their knowledge, confidence, and ability to engage in civic processes.
The first phase of the project focuses on recruiting and engaging a diverse group of young people (aged 16–24) interested in mental health. This includes conducting a needs assessment and mapping the challenges they face, while also forming a core group of at least 30 high school and university students from different communities.
They take part in an intensive training programme, where – together with trainers and specialists – they explore topics related to mental health, how public systems and policies function, and how to communicate, debate, and advocate effectively.
Following this stage, adolescents participate in meetings and roundtables with professionals and decision-makers. These become spaces for dialogue, where young people’s lived experiences are brought into conversation with institutional perspectives, leading to a more nuanced understanding of both the challenges and possible solutions.
In parallel, a large-scale information and dialogue campaign reaches over 40,000 adolescents, both online and offline.
Online, the campaign shares content such as articles, messages, and video materials that encourage open conversations around mental health and help reduce stigma.
In schools and local communities, interactive sessions and debates engage at least 500 young people directly with the project’s themes and with the trained youth team.
A key step in the project is the development of concrete recommendations.
The youth task force gathers insights from the campaign and consultation processes and translates them into a set of proposals addressed to decision-makers. This process also serves as a practical advocacy exercise, helping participants understand how policies are shaped and how they can be supported in the public space.
The project culminates in a national event bringing together over 200 participants, including adolescents, teachers, professionals, and decision-makers.During this forum, the recommendations developed by young people are presented, and next steps for scaling the advocacy effort are discussed.
Results
By the end of the project, the impact is visible both in numbers and in the changes it brings to communities.
A core group of 30 high school and university students is formed and supported to develop skills in critical thinking, advocacy, and public communication. They become a resource for their peers and a starting point for future initiatives.
Over the two years, the campaign reaches more than 40,000 adolescents online and at least 1,000 young people through direct interactions.
For many of them, this is the first time they openly discuss mental health, contributing to reduced stigma and the creation of safer spaces for dialogue in schools and communities.
The recommendations developed by young people are presented during a national forum attended by over 200 participants, including adolescents, teachers, professionals, and decision-makers.
The resulting document goes beyond a collection of ideas – it becomes a starting point for a broader advocacy effort, where young people’s voices gain visibility and relevance in the public space.
In the long term, the project contributes to a generation of young people who are more resilient and better prepared to take part in civic life.
Adolescents involved gain the confidence that they can influence decisions that affect them directly, while institutions have the opportunity to engage more meaningfully with young people in shaping mental health policies and services.
