Mental Health Innovation Portfolio
The Mental Health Innovation Portfolio co-creates to discover, iterate and scale solutions with the potential to transform adolescent mental health and emotional wellness globally.
The time to address the mental health crisis is NOW
Mental health is a universal challenge, affecting all economies and geographies, with children and adolescents being particularly vulnerable.
Despite 1 in 7 of 10–19-year-olds globally experiencing mental disorders, stigma persists, and mental health support services are underfunded across nearly every country. This issue significantly impacts education, healthcare, child protection and social protection —especially for girls, marginalized communities and vulnerable populations.
Change is on the horizon as more governments prioritize mental health and emotional wellbeing. With this shift, innovation clusters, ecosystems, and frontier technologies will play a pivotal role in scaling mental health support for young people in unprecedented ways. This presents a strategic opportunity for collaborative and systemic efforts to address the mental health crisis as a core strategic initiative within UNICEF’s support to communities.
Our goals include addressing:
- Inadequate data on child and adolescent-specific mental health and psychosocial support services (MHPSS).
- Limited and constrained access to MHPSS services.
- Building capacity within the MHPSS workforce to support and sustain mental health and psychosocial wellbeing effectively.
How we’re catalyzing innovation in mental health
In collaboration with a global network of partners, UNICEF’s Global Mental Health Innovation Portfolio aims to discover, co-create and scale innovative projects and initiatives to ensure a future where mental health is prioritized and accessible for every child and young person worldwide.
We will achieve this by:
- Sourcing, iterating and scaling solutions that can deliver impactful outcomes for young people and their communities.
- Facilitating innovative and strategic funding for global mental health programs, empowering partners to enhance children’s mental well-being.
- Connecting local innovators to pave the way for innovation to transform mental health and emotional wellbeing for young people
- Supporting countries in adopting and promoting innovation to strengthen access to mental health and psychosocial support services for young people through systemic innovation.
Systemic innovation and a portfolio-based approach
The mental health crisis is complex and interconnected, demanding a collaborative approach rooted in systemic innovation. Addressing this challenge requires a strategic and collaborative redesign of systems, structures, processes, and technologies, recognizing the value of connections and cross-sectoral collaboration.
By a systemic perspective on innovation, we can transform the global mental health landscape holistically.
One of the most efficient ways to do this is through a portfolio approach which allows for multiple intervention points, providing opportunities to refine and improve solutions. This method enables the expansion of effective solutions across various aspects of a child's life, including healthcare, education, child protection, behaviour change, and humanitarian assistance.
Where we work
The Mental Health Innovation Portfolio has implemented transformative solutions across more than twenty countries and 5 UNICEF regions. Roughly 80 per cent of the portfolio projects can be classified as digital mental health interventions, leveraging technologies including AI, chatbots, apps, video games and big data to bring mental health support to children right where they are.
Below is a selection of solutions in the portfolio:
- USupport connects adolescents and youth aged 16-24 to existing mental health support resources through digital services, including self-help online tools.
- TeleMHealth uses social media platforms to increase awareness of and access to mental and psychosocial health services for children and adolescents. Through a chatbot-driven digital platform, it provides information, connects users to mental health professionals, and offers emergency support where connectivity is limited.
- TeleCPUs help improve access to highly responsive case management for victims of abuse through Women and Children Protection Unit (WCPUs) across the country, composed of multidisciplinary teams of doctors and medical personnel, social workers, mental health professionals, teachers, lawyers and police.
- NewTech4MHPSS focuses on mental health and psychosocial support in the UNICEF Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office (LACRO), leveraging a wide range of technologies like video games, chatbots and AI.
- Here4U provides legal counseling and content creation to provide comprehensive mental health support to Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) and young migrants and refugees.
- Big Data for Mental Health - uses big data as a tool to equip policymakers with valuable insights for designing and implementing effective mental health interventions.
In addition to these solutions, the Portfolio keeps expanding and exploring innovations at the forefront of emerging trends, featuring self-care apps for youth mental health, advanced chatbot-enhanced first-response systems, remote training for workforce shortages, data-driven research, computer game therapy and virtual reality-enabled care.
“The need for transformative change in mental health services is undeniable, with conventional approaches falling short in our rapidly evolving world. The Mental Health Innovation Portfolio is pioneering a collaborative, tech-driven strategy, incorporating diverse voices from various sectors to build relevant, impactful mental health innovation ecosystems for tomorrow.”
Victor Olusoji Ladele - Innovation Lead, Mental Health, Global Office of Innovation, UNICEF
Get Involved
The Global Mental Health Innovation Portfolio invites multisectoral partners from the public and private sectors – mental health professionals, technology providers, donors, and data/AI experts – to collaborate on our mission. Together, we can shape a future where mental health support is accessible, effective, and innovative, making a real difference in the lives of children, young people and caregivers who need it the most.
Join us!
