All of us are living in a time where mental health and well-being are challenged in unprecedented ways: be it from global economic crises, war, high youth unemployment to the rising tide of cyber bullying and the pressure to succeed in a world where the only constant is unpredictability and change.
In our global work--with youth organizations, companies, parents and school networks-- we see a developing pattern where more and more young people are identifying challenges to their mental health and well-being. These issues continue to impact their educational development, security and health.
If peer to peer well-being practices are not promoted, and if they are not promoted from adults to young people, there is no safe landscape for changemaking to thrive. For those young persons grappling with mental health disorders, some keep their questions to themselves and go undiagnosed due to a fear of public shaming or peer backlash. Consequently, their security and ability to learn and grow remain at risk.
This is not a small issue that just affects a certain segment of the population. According to the World Health Organization for instance, “Worldwide 10-20% of children and adolescents experience mental disorders.” Promoting mental health and well-being are also integral parts of the Sustainable Development Agenda to transform our world by 2030. These global goals were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 25 September 2015.
Building collaborative changemaker spaces to disrupt barriers to well-being
What if we brought young engineers, storytellers, mental-health advocates from all over the world to the headquarters of a leading global health-care company to address challenges associated with mental health and the promotion of well-being? What would happen?
We recently teamed up with Boehringer Ingelheim and selected eight bold changemakers to engage in our first-ever #MakingMoreHealth global youth challenge at Boehringer Ingelheim’s headquarters in Germany. Leading social entrepreneurs for Ashoka and the company’s staff and leadership engaged with young changemakers on how to improve our world when it comes to the promotion of mental health and well-being.