The Global Mental Health & Well-Being Initiative was conceptualized as a response to a call for interdisciplinary and uniquely noteworthy “Big Ideas” solicited by the newly founded School of Health at Georgetown University. We are profoundly grateful to colleagues and leadership at the School of Health for their trust as we start to transform our Big Ideas into action. The world is facing a critical period with simultaneously unfolding threats to mental health and well-being. Termed as a “polycrisis” we are witnessing worsening climate change, social disconnection, racial and ethnic tensions, misinformation and weaponized disinformation, resurgent infectious disease and pandemics, multiple conflicts and wars, declining trust in public institutions, and so on. Given this context, the Initiative seeks to engage in scientific inquiry to empirically assess these risks and develop evidence-based strategies that can safeguard mental health and well-being, engage in transformational pedagogy so we can better inform and prepare the leaders of today and tomorrow to navigate this crisis, and engage our community to raise awareness and conduct strategic advocacy, to elevate a message of connection, empathy, resilience, and hope.

For all queries regarding the initiative please contact:

Dr. Shabab Wahid | ssw64@georgetown.edu

Teresa Kim: email | ttk19@georgetown.edu