Brown Bag Seminar: Advancing global mental health delivery: The role of digital innovation, task sharing, and reciprocal learning
Mental disorders are a leading cause of disability worldwide, yet in most countries, individuals living with mental disorders are more likely to have access to a mobile phone than basic mental health care. As digital technologies have fundamentally changed the way we interact with each other and with the world around us, there are new opportunities to leverage these devices for addressing the significant barriers to implementing and extending the reach of mental health services, and ultimately towards improving outcomes for those facing the challenges of mental illness. In this presentation, John Naslund will draw from his field research in both India and in the United States to illustrate how emerging digital technologies can advance task sharing and early intervention in both lower and higher income settings. Importantly, this involves shifting from ‘digital promise’ to ‘digital practice’, and realizing the impact of digital innovations in advancing mental health care delivery in real-world settings. Naslund will discuss the potential challenges and hurdles ahead and consider emerging innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI) to advance implementation science and strengthen capacity of health systems, empower community providers, and combat stigma towards bridging the global mental health care gap.
John Naslund is co-director of the Mental Health For All Lab at Harvard Medical School, and faculty in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. He holds expertise in psychiatric epidemiology, implementation science, and digital mental health. Naslund’s scholarship seeks to advance efforts aimed at improving the lives of individuals facing the challenges of mental illness worldwide. His work focuses on low-resource settings in India and the U.S., using digital innovations to train frontline providers, support recovery in people with severe mental illness, and promote peer-to-peer support and mental health advocacy. Naslund’s work is supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, the Harvard Global Health Institute Burke Fellowship, Grand Challenges Canada, the H.E. Butt Foundation, the Tepper Foundation, and the Wellcome Trust. Naslund has over 200 peer-reviewed publications and is an Honorary Research Fellow with Sangath, a world-leading NGO and research organization based in India. He has a longstanding track record advocating for the rights, dignity, and quality of healthcare for those living with mental illness.
Speaker Information
John Naslund
Organizers
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