Problem statement

Mental Health is a topic that is widely stigmatized or uncomfortable for some to talk about. As much as we try to avoid it, it is there, and it will continue to stay there. According to the WHO, there is one death by suicide every 40 seconds and each year more than 800,000 people end their own lives. One of the leading causes of suicide is mental health disorders. Globally, one in four live with some sort of mental health disorder – around 450 million people.

However, those numbers are prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. According to the research by Qualtrics, there has been an increase of stress by 65.9% since the outbreak. The reason varies from COVID-19 anxiety to the current financial crisis. These numbers are worrying because we do not have enough mental health workers to support a mental health crisis. Right now we have 9 mental health workers per 100,000 people and because mental health was never really an issue we discussed, the global median for mental health expenditure was only $2.5 per capita compared to $141 per capital for general domestic health.

With a foreseeable higher need for mental health workers, we realized that mental health treatment is both costly and accessible only in certain parts of the world. 

About Shapers for Mental Health

Shapers for Mental Health was established as Shapers understood the need for more investment and education on mental health. Since 2018, Shapers who are professionals, advocates, activists, including Shapers with Lived Experience have been involved in developing this project. A collectively realized theme by Shapers for Mental Health has been the need for more empathetic listeners within our communities to provide peer support. Having an empathetic listener can help reduce the pressure and stress on someone who is going through an overwhelming stress reaction, and also act as a buffer for the already fragile mental health care system.

Shapers for Mental Health’s main goal is to provide mental health support for people around the world who would otherwise not have access to it. The primary means to achieve this objective is to train volunteers to give psychological first aid to members of their community who need support.

Shapers for Mental Health and the Basic Psychological First Aid course

One of the primary activities of Shapers for Mental Health focuses on upskilling Shapers in empathetic listening through the Basic Psychological First Aid course developed specifically for this project. The goal is to establish a train-the-trainer system where Shapers in each hub take the Basic Psychological First Aid course, adapt it to fit their local narrative, and then share the training with others in their communities to expand the number of trained supporters.

The course is based on the WHO Psychological First Aid principles. The training is carried out through an online self-paced course on a humanitarian platform called Kaya. The training is available for free and aims to promote tools and skills to provide effective immediately psychological support, based on best practices globally, that can be tailored to one’s lifestyle, family, friends and communities.  

The training on the Basic Psychological First Aid on the Kaya platform has been curetted using WHO tools by Psychiatrist Dr Naeem Dalal supported by the Shapers for Mental Health team with the leadership of the Equity & Inclusion Steering Committee and Amornthep Schamuneewongse, Global Lead for Mental Health Project. The course is evidence-based and supported by First Aid Africa. On completion of the course, learners understand how to use psychosocial skills to: look after oneself and help others feel supported through their interactions as a helper.

The Basic Psychological First Aid course is made up of 8 modules split across 3 weeks. Each week will focus on a distinct element of the 'LOOK, LISTEN AND LINK' principles of psychological first aid. The modules are comprised of videos, role-plays and discussion boards. The module content has been structured so that participants complete the previous activity before they can access the next one. At the end of each week there is a short quiz to check participants' understanding of the content. 

How to get involved

Shapers for Mental Health is an official Global Shapers Community cross-hub collaboration. To make the project more impactful, the project team is constantly looking for more hubs to develop and work on a mental health project. Shapers for Mental Health is a great place to start and to gain more knowledge and understanding in mental health.

For hub to be a part of this cross-hub collaboration, here is what you will need to do:

• Have at least 3 Shapers in the hub to participate in the project


• Fill in the project planning template to decide how your hub will promote, encourage and/or provide mental health support in your community, for example, by using Basic Psychological First Aid.


• Submit your project on TopLink using the guidelines from the Upload your project to TopLink guide.

The Shapers for Mental Health team is positive that this will allow us to generate more empathy and understanding of mental health care within our communities locally and globally. 

Shapers for Mental Health global collaborations

In 2020, Shapers for Mental Health was chosen to join the Accenture Accelerator. During this 3-day session, the Accenture team worked with Shapers for Mental Health project members to provide insight on how the project can build and scale