Happy 2nd Birthday mhinnovation.net!

Since launching the website in August 2014, we have made every effort to serve our lively online community by sharing knowledge to facilitate the development and uptake of evidence-based mental healthcare. To mark our 2-year anniversary, we’re looking back at some of our proudest moments: the top 10 achievements of MHIN and partners since the launch.

These are our highlighted achievements but we would love to hear from our members so we can continue to serve the global mental health community as best possible.

• Take the 10 minute survey to help us improve our services: bit.ly/MHINsurvey2016

1. Launch and growth of MHIN website

We launched our website aiming to serve MHIN members in August 2014. Since then, MHIN membership has grown considerably. In June 2016 our MHIN community grew to more than 2,200 members, and we have also far surpassed this number on Twitter, with more than 500 new followers since January 2016.

• Join our network 
• Follow us on Twitter 
• Like us on Facebook 

2. Innovation Fair: Showcasing mental health innovations to World Financial Leaders

In April 2016, MHIN coordinated the first global mental health Innovation Fair as part of the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank Group (WBG) landmark meeting “Out of the Shadows: Making Mental Health a Global Development Priority.” The Fair was the inaugural event of the meeting, and featured more than 50 affordable and effective mental health innovations from across the world.  

• Relive the Innovation Fair highlights on Storify
• Read about the policy momentum generated by the Fair

3. MHIN policy engagement visits to Zimbabwe, Pakistan, India

Over the last year, MHIN team members at LSHTM and WHO, together with our colleagues at the Overseas Development Institute visited three global mental health innovators to carry out stakeholder engagement workshops. Each visit received overwhelmingly positive feedback. Read about the successful engagement of policy makers:

• Friendship Bench, Zimbabwe
• Family Networks (FaNs) for Kids Programme, Pakistan
• Atmiyata, India

4. #NGOs4mentalhealth: UK All-Party Parliamentary Group Meeting

In February 2016, MHIN and the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Global Health and Mental Health co-organised a meeting to discuss the role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in achieving mental health targets of the Sustainable Development Goals. This meeting followed on from the 2014 All Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health and Mental Health meeting where MHIN produced the Mental Health for Sustainable Development Report. A key outcome of the 2016 meeting was a call to action from the international NGO community, dubbed #NGOs4mentalhealth.

• Sign the Change.org #NGOs4mentalhealth call to action petition
• Find out what NGOs can contribute to improving global mental health
• Relive the meeting’s highlights on Storify

5. Three “how to” global mental health toolkits published

Communications Toolkit

This Toolkit contains insider tips for global mental health researchers to communicate their work to different stakeholders on a budget. With 6 individual tools – each complete with a description of the time and resources necessary to complete the tool – the Communications Toolkit has been downloaded more than 200 times since its launch in October 2015.

Policy Influence Toolkit

Jointly prepared by MHIN and the Overseas Development Institute, the Policy Influence Toolkit has been downloaded nearly 300 times since launching in May 2015. The Toolkit seeks to maximize the policy influence of researchers conducting innovative research and implementing mental health interventions.

Theory of Change Toolkit 

Theory of Change is an approach to developing, implementing and evaluating complex interventions that is rapidly gaining popularity in the field of global mental health. MHIN’s Theory of Change Toolkit has been viewed more than 1,100 times since its release in December 2014.

6. Launch of MHIN Africa

Earlier this summer, we proudly announced our first regional MHIN network - MHIN Africa – currently headquartered at the Alan J. Flisher Center for Public Mental Health in South Africa. MHIN Africa will leverage our existing online platform to provide support to African mental health stakeholders, and will focus on regionally relevant resources and products. We will continue to work with colleagues at MHIN Africa to develop the Network in the coming years. Stay tuned for their upcoming launch, and follow and contribute to the Network:

• MHIN Africa Twitter
• MHIN Africa Facebook
• MHIN Africa Forum
• MHIN Africa Organization Profile

7. Impact evaluation of GCC's Global Mental Health portfolio

In 2014, MHIN worked closely with Grand Challenges Canada grantees to identify implementation and outcome indicators, known as core metrics, to help evaluate the impact of the Global Mental Health portfolio. With projects drawing to a close, these core metrics have started rolling in and are helping the synthesis of knowledge on successes and barriers faced during project implementation. Our analyses have been ongoing, and we hope the findings will inform future funding decisions by funders and policy makers. Stay tuned!

8. Popular “Ask the Policy Expert” webinar series

Bringing to life the four major objectives of the WHO Mental Health Action Plan, 2013 – 2020 this webinar series ran between March and July 2016 and discussed policy approaches to implementation in different countries. The series saw our first ever webinar in Spanish - our most popular, with 90 people registered. Watch the webinars:

Objective 1: Strengthen effective leadership and governance for mental health
Dr Rabih El Chammay: Mental Health Reform in Lebanon

Objective 2: Provide comprehensive, integrated and responsive mental health and social care services in community-based settings
Dr Tedla Wolde-Giorgis: Scaling Up of Mental Health Services in Ethiopia

Objective 3: Implement strategies for promotion and prevention in mental health
Prof Ella Arensman and Dr Yeshi Wangdi: National suicide prevention strategies in Bhutan and Ireland

Objective 4: Strengthen information systems, evidence and research for mental health
Cinthia Lociks de Araújo: Strengthening information systems and research in Brazil [in Spanish]

9. Searchable database of validated screening tools in LMICs 

Authored by current and former MHIN team members Gemma-Claire Ali, Grace Ryan, and Mary DeSilva, this publication provides a comprehensive summary of brief screening tools for common mental disorders validated for use in low and middle income countries. The resource page was popular on social media and has been viewed nearly 450 times, with nearly 50 downloads of the searchable database and 480 views of the infographic, in just 4 weeks.

• Download the searchable database
• View the summary infographic

10. Seven Blog Series on hot topics

To date, MHIN has published seven blog series, ranging in topic and purpose, to raise awareness and encourage dialogue on key issues in global mental health:

• #NGOs4mentalhealth
• World Mental Health Day: dignity
• Maternal Mental Health Matters
• #studyGMH by MSc students
• World Mental Health Day: living with schizophrenia
• #FundaMentalSDG, to push for inclusion of mental health in the global goals
• #SocEnt4MH, on social entrepreneurship and global mental health

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