Some impactful examples of how UNICEF and partners are providing mental health and psychosocial support to children and young people in Armenia, Belize, Nepal, Ukraine and other countries.
At a child corner in Goris, Syunik province, Armenia, UNICEF Armenia Focal Point Heghine Ghukasyan plays with Viktoria, whose family fled Azerbaijan in September 2023 amid rising hostilities. The child corner is a dedicated space for ethnic Armenian refugee children who have made the challenging journey through the Lachin corridor to reach Syunik. The space offers a comprehensive array of essential services, encompassing recreation, pediatrics, psychosocial support and more, all under one roof. The center also serves as a safe and nurturing space where mothers can comfortably breastfeed their babies.
© UNICEF/UNI444770/Martirosyan
By Maryanne Buechner and Andrew Maguire
For UNICEF, investing in child and youth mental health is essential not just for individual well-being but for the strength and resilience of entire communities.
Yet, millions of young people face mental health challenges without adequate support, potentially causing them harm and threatening their futures.
UNICEF works with partners to respond to the acute mental health needs of children and caregivers, prevent those challenges and promote child mental well-being.
1 in 7 young people likely to struggle with mental health
Living through conflicts and disasters — experiencing the death of loved ones, separation from family members, suffering through poverty, homelessness, even loss of a daily routine — can have a devastating impact on children’s well-being and compromise their social, emotional and cognitive development.
For children in crisis, UNICEF provides spaces and activities to help children and families re-establish a sense of safety, strengthen social connections, regain a sense of control and develop a sense of hope to help them recover and build resilience. From Afghanistan to Ukraine, Myanmar to Sudan, UNICEF is reaching children in need of psychosocial support through health facilities, mobile clinics, schools and informal learning centers and child-friendly spaces.
UNICEF also works with governments and other partners to strengthen capacities within health, protection and education systems for addressing children’s mental health needs.
This includes building effective child protection information systems that allow for effective case management, including referrals to health providers, counselors, social workers, legal advocates and other frontline workers. Frontline workers not only need to be able to deliver strong services, but also pick up on behaviors from children that might require referrals to more specialized care.
UNICEF also works with parents and caregivers to help them provide nurturing care and environments to children as well as to protect their own mental health. Other programs focus on promoting strong peer relationships and equipping young people with skills to talk openly about their emotions and stressors.
Mira, 8, kisses her mother Fadia, 49, in their house in Beit Sawa village in Rural Damascus, Syria. The family has been displaced by conflict multiple times in the years since Syria’s civil war started in 2011. Both are benefiting from UNICEF-supported mental health and psychosocial support services, which include parenting skills sessions. “When the instructors emphasized the well-being of mothers, it struck me that I hadn’t been taking care of myself for years; my focus was solely on my children’s needs,” Fadia says. “I realized that I need to prioritize myself, or else I won’t be able to support my family.”
© UNICEF/UNI659576/Shahan
In 2023, UNICEF reached 34.7 million children and caregivers with mental health and psychosocial support services — a 37 percent increase from 2022 — in 130 countries where UNICEF works.
With partners, UNICEF continues to innovate and try fresh strategies for supporting youth mental health. Here are some promising examples of this work.
Supporting refugees in Armenia
UNICEF’s focus in Armenia, with support from partners, has been on providing support to ethnic Armenian families who remain traumatized by their forced flight from the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan in September 2023, and who continue to struggle to rebuild their lives.
Psychosocial support programs for kids incorporate music and art as therapy. There are also special education sessions for parents and caregivers. Those reached through the sessions say they are learning how to better communicate with their children, process their own feelings and find the strength to go on.
Related: UNICEF in Armenia: Better Together, Today and Tomorrow
Socio-emotional learning for adolescents in Nepal
In Nepal, many mental health issues among children and adolescents go unrecognized and untreated. UNICEF and partners are working with the government to change that by training health workers to better identify mental health issues, introducing a new referral system to improve access to support services and teaching kids how to support their own mental health.
A pillar of UNICEF’s mental health and psychosocial support programming is to create an enabling learning environment, embedding mental health literacy and social and emotional skills development into school curricula.
This approach is already helping students at schools across Nepal’s Karnali province. Sessions introduce tools like the feelings chart. “We teach them techniques for managing stress,” Dipa Pulami, a facilitator, explains. “They have found it very effective and can practice at home.”
Srijana, a secondary school student in Surkhet district, western Nepal, is one of many benefiting from socio-economic learning sessions supported by UNICEF and partners.
© UNICEF
Srijana is one of the students participating in the socio-emotional learning sessions at Shree Sarada Secondary School in Nepal’s Surkhet District.
“Before, I was constantly afraid,” Srijana says. “I had lots of tears. Now, I first try to identify a problem. If it’s something I can’t address myself, I make sure to reach out, to a teacher, a friend, a nurse. It’s a big change from before, and I see the change in my friends as well.”
The best start for baby: mental health support for pregnant mothers in Belize
In many countries, supporting women’s mental health during pregnancy is often overlooked. Not anymore in Belize. With support from UNICEF and partners, mental health has been integrated as a standard part of antenatal care at all primary health care facilities. Health care workers are trained to conduct routine mental health assessments, promote best practices for positive mental health and refer women and adolescent girls to additional support services as needed.
This is especially important for adolescent girls because of the social stigma around teen pregnancy and the country’s high suicide risk among teenage mothers in the country. Depression among new mothers is also a common issue.
After a successful initial roll out, where UNICEF and partners helped develop and implement new tools and trainings, the government of Belize decided to scale the program nationwide.
In Belize, mental health screenings and referrals are now standard for pregnant women and new mothers — the result of the government’s decision to scale up a UNICEF- and partner-backed integration initiative. Health workers are being trained to do assessments during routine follow-up appointments as well. Above, 4-month-old Ella’s mother brings her to Cleopatra White Health Clinic in Belize City to be vaccinated.
© UNICEF/UNI596652/Dejongh
Connecting to youth through a popular digital music platform
UNICEF has partnered with popular music streaming service Spotify to support the mental health and well-being of young people through the power of music and a range of other audio content provided through a new Spotify channel called Our Minds Matter.
The partnership combines Spotify’s expertise in content and vast user base with UNICEF’s programmatic expertise in leveraging evidence-based approaches to support youth mental health.
On the Our Minds Matter hub, listeners can access the UNICEF On My Mind podcast, which has been co-created with young people and informed by evidence on mental health needs. The hub also includes music playlists curated by Spotify for relaxation and focus moments.
Episodes cover topics such as the stigma around talking about mental health, managing anxiety, coping with stress, nurturing healthy relationships, connecting with family, self-care and handling grief and loss.
Content in Ukrainian, Polish and English was developed first and released in June 2023, a response to the urgent mental health needs of young people affected by the war in Ukraine.
In May 2024, a Spanish version of the hub debuted in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Chile and Paraguay, followed by a Portuguese version in Brazil.
A student at a June 2024 UNICEF and Spotify launch event for “Our Minds Matters,” a content hub co-created by and for young people, at San Carlos University in Guatemala City, Guatemala. The hub offers podcasts on various mental health topics and curated music playlists for moments of relaxation and focus. Ukrainian, Polish and English versions launched in 2023.
© UNICEF/UNI607952/Lopez
Mental health has been one of the most neglected, and least funded, global challenges. Investing in the mental health and psychosocial support of children, adolescents and caregivers advances UNICEF’s goals, including the collective work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Help UNICEF continue to break down barriers and strengthen essential systems for supporting children’s mental health, so that every child has the opportunity to thrive. Support UNICEF. Donate today.
UNICEF leads the Global Coalition for Youth Mental Health. Learn more about this mechanism through which UNICEF and partners are making a meaningful difference for children and young people here.
Additional resources for parents and caregivers: Protecting Your Child’s Mental Health at Every Age