Call for stories (closed): We want to hear your experiences with delivering mental health support during the COVID-19 pandemic

The call for stories closed on April 17, 2020. View the blog series along with key resources for health care systems:  

Mental Health and COVID-19

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The Mental Health Innovation Network, in collaboration with the Department of Mental Health and Substance Use at the World Health Organization, is calling for submission of global experiences of mental health and social care providers involved in mental health support to people during the COVID-19 outbreak, either people affected by the outbreak or people with pre-existing mental health conditions or psychosocial disabilities. 

The purpose of this exercise is to use the experiences of people on the front line to share information that can support others engaged in similar work. We want people to learn about your experiences in service delivery.    

We invite mental health and social care providers from all countries affected to share their stories, experiences and journey of addressing mental health concerns. We are interested in experiences with different populations during COVID-19 pandemic (older adults, adults and children in isolation, people with disabilities, people with underlying chronic health conditions). We would be pleased to receive the experiences in any format (email, word document, pdf or recorded audio message). Let us know if you are too busy with the emergency response to write an email and would rather prefer a phone call to collect your inputs.

We also invite people to share contact details (with consent) of colleagues who may have experiences to share for this purpose.

We propose the following structure for the documentation of your experiences/stories:

1. In your experience, what has been the effect on the mental health of the general population (or the people you are treating if a clinician), and of health care and other sector workers delivering care (including you)? 
2. What are the challenges you are experiencing with regards to delivering mental health care?
3. What are the innovative activities you and others are conducting to address mental health needs and provide support during the outbreak? 
4. What are you currently doing to continue running your mental health services for people with pre-existing mental health conditions or psychosocial disabilities?
5. What are the recommendations you would like to provide to other mental health and social care providers during COVID-19 outbreak?

Please email mhin@lshtm.ac.uk and salag@who.int with the email subject heading ‘Submission for mental health experiences and practices at times of service disruption’. We will contact selected entries that have shared their experience and practices to document their stories. Initially, 20 examples will be featured on the Mental Health Innovation Network, and we will collect all experiences for further opportunities to share.