Global universities to shape the future of mental health research

Two universities have formed a new partnership in a bid to strengthen research around a topic that affects millions of people.

Last week, New York University, the NHS and the University of Strathclyde announced they had joined forces to better their research around mental health.

The three organisations created the Mental Health Futures Collaborative (MHFC) which aims to strengthen evidence for the prevention of mental health problems and advocate for policy change to address wider factors around the issue, as well as promoting and developing digital technology for use in mental health treatment.

According to research from Mind, a leading mental health charity, anxiety and depression currently affects eight in 100 people and generalised anxiety disorder affects six in 100.

Against this backdrop, figures from the Centres for Disease and Control and Prevention display that more than one in five US adults live with a mental illness and over one in five people aged between 13-18 have currently or at some point in their life suffered with one. These shocking statistics show the dire need to provide more mental health support, which, will hopefully stem from the new collaboration.

MHFC will be informed by the mental health experience of individuals and will feature professionals from the private and public sector, the NHS, social care, occupational health, and human resources, as well as student support services.

Dr Nicola Cogan, Senior Lecturer in Strathclyde’s Department of Psychological Sciences & Health, is the University’s lead in the venture. She said: MHFC is an exciting opportunity to bring together academics, practitioners and professional services staff working in mental health within Strathclyde, as well as external stakeholders and international collaborators, to strengthen our collaborative partnerships and leadership in mental health research and knowledge exchange moving forward.’

Following this, Professor Victoria Stanhope, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at New York University Silver School of Social Work, said: ‘We are delighted to be working with colleagues within Strathclyde to help us strengthen our collaborative research focused on mental health and vulnerable populations.

‘We can draw important insights between some of the mental health challenges within our urban environment here in New York and those evident within Glasgow; we want to understand better ways to reduce mental health inequities.’

Image: Matthew Ball