History of WCCB-WHO Collaboration: 2023–2025

2023

At the WCCBT Congress in Seoul, S. Korea, Past-President Dr. Keith Dobson (2020-2023), President Dr. Lata McGinn (2023-2026), and Board of Directors Dr. Mehmet Sungur (2023-2026) and Dr. Luis Flores (2023-2026) held a meeting with Dr. Mark Van Ommeren, head of the Mental Health Unit of the World Health Organization (WHO) to initiate a collaboration between the WCCBT and the WHO.

On behalf of the WCCBT, President Dr. Lata McGinn signed a memorandum of understanding between WCCBT and WHO in September 2023 to initiate the formal collaboration on shared mission, goals, and objectives.

WCCBT-WHO Taskforce (Dr. Lata McGinn and Dr. Keith Dobson and) began regular meetings with the WHO mental health team, WHO Department of Mental Health, Brain Health and Substance Use, (Dr. Mark Van Ommeren, Head of the WHO Mental Health Unit, Dr Ken Carswell, a WHO mental health specialist with focal point for innovation, digital mental health and scalable psychological interventions, and Dr James Underhill as the Coordinator for the Ensuring Quality in Psychological Support (EQUIP) Project for the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Use) to discuss how the two organizations might be able to support their compatible goals and to develop shared goals and initiatives. For example, early discussions included dissemination of WHO’s Equip program to WCCBT members and beyond, and the possibility of experts in training and evaluation from the WCCBT evaluate aspects of EQUIP, perhaps even adding to the competencies that are included there.

• WCCBT celebrated WHO’s World Mental Health Day 2023 theme “Mental health is a universal human right” to increase awareness and mobilize action to protect everyone’s mental health. 
• WCBB disseminated the key initiatives continued from the Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030, implement by member to strengthen leadership, improving community-based care, and implement promotion and prevention strategies
• WCCBT hosted the first WHO–WCCBT webinar featuring Dr. James Underhill, WHO’s EQUIP Project Coordinator, titled “An Introduction to the WHO–UNICEF EQUIP Initiative.” The webinar introduced WHO’s Ensuring Quality in Psychological Support (EQUIP) digital tools for assessing and strengthening provider competence and showcased WHO–UNICEF’s global initiative to improve the quality of mental health support delivered by non-specialists (Source: WCCBT W.H.O Webinar by Dr. James Underhill, December 20, https://youtu.be/l0xBI0S9Fug?si=IC_i9Qwvnp32Kkgl).
• WCCBT disseminated the following WHO initiatives, guidelines and manuals published in 2023 across all public platforms and its regional members in Asia, Australasia, Canada, Europe, North America, South and Central America, and the Caribbean:

WHO Guidelines

• Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) guideline, version 3.0: This major update released in November 2023 helps non-specialist health workers in low- and middle-income countries treat mental, neurological, and substance use conditions. It incorporates the latest evidence, adding 18 new recommendations and updating 30 others to strengthen mental health care. For example, this edition contains new recommendations on treating anxiety disorders
• Preventing suicide: a resource for media professionals, update 2023: Released in September 2023, this update provides guidelines for media professionals on how to report on suicide responsibly. It focuses on presenting stories of hope and recovery while avoiding reporting that can lead to imitative behavior.
• Report of a virtual roundtable meeting on online mental health content for young people: This report, published in October 2023, summarizes expert discussions and outlines ten guiding principles for creating effective and safe online mental health content for young people. 

WHO Manuals

• Early Adolescent Skills for Emotions (EASE): Launched in December 2023 in partnership with UNICEF, EASE is an evidence-based group psychological intervention for adolescents aged 10–15 years who are experiencing distress. It is delivered by trained non-specialist helpers and focuses on skills adapted from cognitive-behavioral therapy.
• Study on low-intensity psychosocial interventions: A systematic review and meta-analysis published in World Psychiatry in September 2023 summarized the favorable effects of WHO’s low-intensity psychosocial interventions, including Problem Management Plus (PM+) and its digital adaptation, Step-by-Step (SbS). 

WHO Competency and training materials

• Self-care competency framework (Volumes 1 & 3): These materials, published in July 2023, are part of a larger framework designed to equip health and care workers with the competencies needed to support people’s self-care practices. Volume 1 defines the competencies, while Volume 3 serves as a curriculum guide.
• Ensuring Quality in Psychosocial and Mental Health Care (EQUIP): While launched earlier, the development process for this competency assessment platform concluded in 2023, and global training courses on its use were held throughout the year. The platform is designed to ensure that psychological support delivered by non-specialists is safe and effective. 

2024

• WCCBT and WHO signed a vendor agreement, marking a formal mechanism for collaboration.
• Meetings between the WCCBT Taskforce and WHO mental health team were held throughout the year to plan and enact 2024 activities.
• WCCBT hosted a second WHO–WCCBT webinar featuring Dr. Ken Carswell, WHO Mental Health Specialist, titled “Supporting Communities Affected by Adversity: An Introduction to WHO’s Work in Developing and Implementing Scalable Psychological Interventions.” This session introduced WHO’s Psychological Intervention Implementation Manual and provided examples of scalable interventions used globally. (Source: WCCBT W.H.O Webinar by Dr. Ken Carswell, September 18, 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qci_haZm8w4)
• WHO invited WCCBT to provide feedback and dissemination support for its Guided Self-Help Plus manual. The WCCBT-Committee (Dr. Keith Dobson and Dr. Lata McGinn) provided feedback.
• WHO invited WCCBT to attend the 2025 World Mental Health forum in Geneva, Switzerland as and Non-State Actors Meeting held before the forum. WCCBT president, Dr. Lata McGinn and WCCBT Hon. Secretary Dr. Rod Holland attended both day long meetings at WHO headquarters in Geneva Switzerland, participated in the Non-State Actors meeting and in World Mental Health Day celebrations at WHO headquarters.  
• WCCBT celebrated WHO’s World Mental Health Day 2024 theme “Mental Health at Work” to highlight the vital connection between mental health and work at WHO headquarters and across public platforms.
• WCCBT disseminated the following WHO initiatives, guidelines and manuals published in 2023 across all public platforms and its regional members in Asia, Australasia, Canada, Europe, North America, South and Central America, and the Caribbean:

Guidelines and manuals

• ICD-11: On March 8th, 2024, W.H.O. published the 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases Manual (ICD-11), providing clinical descriptions and diagnostic requirements for ICD-11 mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental disorders added in ICD-11 (ICD-11 CDDR).  The new diagnostic guidance includes better guidance on diagnosis for several new categories added in ICD-11, including complex PTSD, gaming disorder and prolonged grief disorder.
• Psychological Interventions Implementation Manual: Released in March 2024, this manual offers practical guidance for program managers and service planners. It details how to integrate manualized psychological interventions into existing health, social, protection, and education services. The guide focuses on five implementation steps, including making a plan, adapting for context, preparing the workforce, identifying beneficiaries, and monitoring outcomes.
• Mental Health at Work Guidelines: Published in March 2024, these guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations to promote mental health and prevent mental health conditions in the workplace. They cover manager and worker training, organizational interventions, return-to-work programs, and gaining employment.
• Self-Help Plus (SH+) Training Manual: In October 2024, the WHO released an updated training manual for facilitators delivering the SH+ course. SH+ is a stress management course for adults that can be delivered by non-specialists.
• Competency-based training and supervision: A journal article published in The Lancet Psychiatry in September 2024 detailed the development of a competency-based training manual for mental health and psychosocial support interventions, which was created through WHO consultations for the EQUIP platform.

Competency and training materials

• EQUIP Foundational Helping Skills Training Manual: This new resource from WHO and UNICEF was developed to strengthen mental health support by training a wide range of individuals beyond specialists. The manual provides a competency-based, evidence-informed approach to teach foundational helping skills like communication and empathy.
• Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) guideline: While released in November 2023, the updated mhGAP guideline designed for implementation throughout 2024 provides guidance to scale up care for mental, neurological, and substance use conditions in low- and middle-income countries and includes an updated intervention guide (mhGAP-IG) with clinical protocols is included. 

Mental health reports

• Mental Health Atlas 2024: Published in September 2024, this report provides a global overview of mental health systems and services. It tracks progress toward the Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030 and highlights significant gaps.
• Transforming mental health in the WHO South-East Asia Region: This report from December 2024 details key regional initiatives undertaken throughout the year to improve mental health. 

2025

• WCCBT renewed its vendor agreement with WHO to continue its partnership with the WHO.
• Meetings between the WCCBT Taskforce and WHO mental health team were held throughout the year to plan and enact 2025 activities.
• WHO invited WCCBT to provide feedback and dissemination support for its Self-Help Plus manual. The WCCBT-Committee (Dr. Keith Dobson and Dr. Lata McGinn) provided feedback.
• On September 17, 2025, WCCBT hosted a third WHO–WCCBT webinar, featuring Dr. Ken Carswell, titled “A Practical Guide to Integrating Evidence-Based, Non-Specialist Delivered Psychological Interventions into Existing Services Across the Globe.” (Sources: WHO Psychological Implementation Webinar, September 2025. The webinar focused on integrating scalable psychological interventions into community and health systems and supporting non-specialist training worldwide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8Wp4YKkSRI 
• WHO leaders in the Department of Mental Health, Brain Health, and Substance Abuse and the in AFRO region will participate in WCCBT’s Africa Development Roundtable on October 28, 2025, reflecting a shared commitment to building capacity in low- and middle-income regions and aligning regional and global strategies for mental health implementation.
• WCCBT celebrated WHO’s World Mental Health Day 2025 theme “Mental health in humanitarian emergencies,” which focuses on the urgent need to support the mental health and psychosocial needs of people affected by humanitarian emergencies.
• WCCBT disseminated information across on WHO’s psychological guidelines, manuals, and competency and training materials released in 2023 across its regional members and its public platforms. In 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) released several key resources related to psychological interventions, training, and mental health policy. 

Guidelines

• Guidance on mental health policy and strategic action plans. This comprehensive guidance released in March 2024 provides a framework for strengthening mental health leadership, governance, service delivery, and workforce capacity. It offers strategies to address the social and structural determinants of mental health, reduce stigma, and expand access to care.

Manuals

• Early Adolescent Skills for Emotions (EASE) training manual. Published in August, these manual details a group psychological intervention for adolescents aged 10–15 who are experiencing emotional distress. It is designed to be delivered by non-specialist workers. 

Training and Competency

• Ensuring Quality in Psychological Support (EQUIP) platform provides ongoing e-learning courses and competency assessment tools.
• Foundational helping skills training manual. Initially launched in 2022, and developed in partnership with UNICEF, the foundational Skills manual is a resource for governments and non-governmental organizations to train and supervise the workforce in delivering psychological support. In July 2025 the competency-based foundational helping skills manual which represents an expansion of the EQUIP initiative, focuses on providing scalable resources for competency-based training. It equips health and social care professionals with essential helping skills such as active listening and empathy. It is intended for both specialist and non-specialist workers to strengthen mental health support, particularly in regions with a shortage of trained specialists.