Leading youth mental health experts have come together at the Australian Mission to the UN in New York to launch the ground-breaking Lancet Psychiatry Commission on Youth Mental Health.
Following successful launches in Canberra and London, the New York event, hosted by Australia’s Ambassador at the U.N., James Larsen, explored both the local and global contexts driving the youth mental health crisis, and explored the Orygen-led Commission’s roadmap for action.
Ambassador Larsen said leaning in to research from organisations like Orygen was “vital to ensuring we remain connected to the issues faced by young people today”.
Opening remarks were given by Dustin Graham, Deputy Editor of the Lancet Psychiatry, before Professor Patrick McGorry then introduced the Commission and outlined the megatrends driving the global youth mental health crisis – and the actions available to governments to the stem the rising tide.
- Read about the Lancet Commission in The New York Times here
NewsCorp Australia US Correspondent Tom Minear hosted a panel discussion, with North American perspectives offered by Commission co-authors Professor Srividya Iyer from McGill University and Professor Maryann Davis from the University of Massachusetts, who spoke to the recommendations and the complex interplay of factors – biological, social, cultural, political and structural – impacting young people’s mental health.
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Malavika Rajesh, a Youth Advisory Board member of the Born This Way Foundation, spoke to the experience of contributing to the Commission as a young person, and the importance of raising the voices of young people when seeking solutions to declining mental health.
Professor McGorry said it was an honour to launch the Commission with support of the Australian government and the UN, and to hear from co-authors and young people who brought international perspectives.
“We know this is a global crisis, and we’re seeing encouraging signs that the impact is being taken seriously around the world,” Professor McGorry said.
“The US Surgeon General referring to this deteriorating situation as a youth mental health crisis, and formulating strategies to combat it, is an important step in this global recognition.
“We now need action, and our Commission calls for a global strategy that can catalyse national and local action plans to tackle the crisis and address the megatrends driving it. Harmful social and economic policies must be challenged and changed to protect the current and future generations of young people.”
Professor McGorry said the Commission also advocated for the concept of mental wealth, recognising the enormous social and economic benefits that could flow from better mental health and wellbeing.
“Focusing on the mental wealth that is created by focusing on prevention, early intervention and high-quality treatment for young people with emerging mental ill-health offers an unparallelled return on investment for a modern health care system which is struggling to keep up with increasing demand and allocate finite resources,” he said.
“It is also a matter of human rights and health equity.”