Ashoka
Welcome
Formed in March 2023, the Ashoka Mental Health Fellows Network convenes leading social entrepreneurs who are creating fairer systems and building more inclusive spaces for those facing mental health challenges.
Network members from across four continents enable individuals and organizations in their respective ecosystems to be a change agent for their own health and the health of their communities.
They also shift mindsets about mental health and what adequate care looks like.
This Fellow-led Network is structured around 3 intentions:
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Amplifying Ashoka Fellows’ work and voices through peer-to-peer learnings
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Identifying new collective pathways to disseminate mental health solutions and unleash funding sources
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Building collaborations across organizations and projects
The Network is always growing and welcoming new members. If you're an Ashoka Fellow in the mental health field and want to be connected with other inspiring social entrepreneurs across the globe, reach out to Todd Pavel ([email protected]).
If you're a corporate partner, policymaker, changemaker, health professional and want to contribute to the knowledge and projects of the Network, please also reach out to Todd.
To learn about Network members' focus and scope of work, you can find below their profiles and geographies.
Alberto Fergusson
Empowers people with mental illness to take charge of their own treatment, while challenging the medical profession to rethink its attitudes towards rehabilitation and the doctor-patient relationship
Alberto Fergusson
Empowers people with mental illness to take charge of their own treatment, while challenging the medical profession to rethink its attitudes towards rehabilitation and the doctor-patient relationship
Founder, Institute of Accompanied Selfrehabilitation
Mission:
Beneficiaries:
Scaling and Impact:
Future scaling and funding needs:
READ MORE ABOUT ALBERTO HERE
Benny Prawira Siauw
Works with young people, universities, media, and the government to shift societal attitude towards suicide prevention and changes the way society practices mental health in Indonesia
Benny Prawira Siauw
Works with young people, universities, media, and the government to shift societal attitude towards suicide prevention and changes the way society practices mental health in Indonesia
Founder, Into the Light Indonesia
Mission:
Beneficiaries:
Scaling and Impact:
Future scaling and funding needs:
Catalina Cock Duque
Activates ecosystems and develops capacities so that new generations can be protagonists in the construction of a culture of peace in Colombia
Catalina Cock Duque
Activates ecosystems and develops capacities so that new generations can be protagonists in the construction of a culture of peace in Colombia
Founder, Fundacion Mi Sangre
Mission: To activate ecosystems and build capabilities that enable new generations to lead the construction of a peace culture in Colombia
Beneficiaries: Young people, especially women; migrants; teachers; parents
Scaling and Impact: Fundacion Mi Sangre has reached 1.8 million people in 23 departments and 202 municipalities across Colombia since its founding in 2006. A recent partnerships with Brio supports the development of a new curriculum to enable young people to develop six skills relating to psychological flexibility.
Future scaling and funding needs: Forthcoming
Chris Underhill
Has developed and run mental health organisations for nearly 50 years and is a leading exponent on global mental health and wellbeing practice
Chris Underhill
Has developed and run mental health organisations for nearly 50 years and is a leading exponent on global mental health and wellbeing practice
Founder and Co-Founder of more than 10 organisations since 1978 including THRIVE // Action on Disability and Development (ADD) International // BasicNeeds // citiesRISE
Chris is also very involved in Ashoka particularly the Board of Ashoka UK and Ireland and the Globalizer, which he has participated in as a Strategic Thought Partner.
Mission: Enable people with disabilities and mental health challenges to recognise their agency, build connection with others and the world around them, and thrive through a primary focus on community health
Beneficiaries: Those with disabilities; those facing mental health challenges; women and youth; families and communities; disability rights organisations
Scaling and impact: While THRIVE has enabled those living in the UK, several other of Chris' organisations have had an international focus. For Basic Needs alone and founded by Chris in 2000, by the time he stepped back in 2016 more than 850,000 individuals had directly benefited across five Indian states and 10 countries in SE Asia and Africa. Chris's current work includes supporting innovators of all ages through the Elders Council for Social Entrepreneurs, which he co-founded in 2020, and leading the Catalyst 2030 Mental Health Collaboration of 90 member organisations from around the world. He is also a mentor to social entrepreneurs and other innovators.
Francesca Cavallini
Creates roles for psychologists in helping children with learning disabilities, and their parents and schools, to shape future pathways based on their potential rather than challenges
Francesca Cavallini
Creates roles for psychologists in helping children with learning disabilities, and their parents and schools, to shape future pathways based on their potential rather than challenges
Founder, Centro Tice
Mission: To create a world in which every human being is self-aware and acts on their potential to build the change they want to see through evidence-based educational and psychological services.
Beneficiaries: Children; young adults; families; students; communities
Scaling and Impact: Tice encompasses an online platform and three in-person learning centres. The model offers 20 different services to help young people thrive and reach their full potential, as well as to help the parents of children who learn differently and/or are neurodivergent. Tice also partners with universities and research centres and has created a joint two-year Master's programme with Parma University on behavioural analysis.
Future scaling and funding needs: Francesca is currently trying to scale her model to Spain and Rwanda.
Jimmy Westerheim
Empowers people to access their own resources and facilitate conversation about mental health across culture, ideology and age to break the stigma and isolation often associated with struggle.
Jimmy Westerheim
Empowers people to access their own resources and facilitate conversation about mental health across culture, ideology and age to break the stigma and isolation often associated with struggle.
Founder, The Human Aspect
Mission:
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Impact and scalability:
Future scaling and funding needs:
Krystian Fikert
Builds a movement for accessible, preventative mental health care through community-based mental health services
Krystian Fikert
Builds a movement for accessible, preventative mental health care through community-based mental health services
Founder, MyMind
Vision + Mission: MyMind’s vision for change is an Ireland where no-one faces mental health challenges alone. Its mission is to positively change lives by providing professional, affordable, accessible therapy to anyone experiencing mild to moderate mental health challenges.
Beneficiaries: MyMind's therapists support anyone struggling with mental health challenges ranging from depression and anxiety to people who self-harm or experienced domestic violence.
Scaling and impact: For nearly two decades, Krystian has collaborated closely with Ireland's public health service, enhancing structural supports for his innovative model with a primary focus on early intervention. MyMind exists to bridge the gap between public and private mental health services nationwide. With a team of over 200 therapists delivering both in-person and online therapy in over 20 languages, MyMind is Ireland's first and largest blended model of mental health care. In 2023, MyMind delivered 40,341 appointments. Of this figure, 15% were free therapy sessions made possible through funded projects.
Future scaling and funding needs: Recently, there has been a sharp rise in demand for in-person counselling from MyMind service-users. As a result, Krystian is focused on improving client access to talk therapy sessions across Ireland by decentralising the care model so that face-to-face care is available closer to where clients and therapists live. This expansion of services beyond urban centers and into local communities will work towards making professional and affordable mental health support within reach for everyone. MyMind will also continue to enhance the customer experience and explore how best to integrate more of the latest technologies, such as AI, blockchain, and virtual/augmented reality.
Markus Raivio
Enables those with severe mental health challenges to focus on skill sharing and co-creation in the arts to build self-confidence, resilience, and community
Markus Raivio
Enables those with severe mental health challenges to focus on skill sharing and co-creation in the arts to build self-confidence, resilience, and community
Founder, Kukunori
Mission: To create spaces - i.e., Culture Houses - in which those facing (often severe) mental health challenges focus on their strengths to co-create in the arts and build relationships with peers to cultivate a sense of belonging, self-confidence, and agency
Beneficiaries: Young adults and their families; those recovering from substance abuse; the LGBTQ+ community; prisoners; mental health professionals
Impact and scalability: There are currently 20 Culture Houses across Finland and 1 in Sweden. More than 3,000 young adults benefit from them each year, and more than 60% of participants apply for work and school after just one year. Finland's Ministry of Social Welfare is a major funding partner, and Markus' organisation Kukunori convenes 43 Finnish non-government organisations to help scale his model and its impact. Markus has also adapted this approach to work with prisoners and those who are stigmatised because they identify as LGBTQ+.
Future scaling and funding needs: Markus is currently scaling the Culture House model to Kenya with the support of Ashoka's partner Boehringer Ingelheim. He also wants to scale to other parts of Scandinavia, as well as to Poland the UK.
Manoj Kumar
Delivers free, recovery-oriented comprehensive psychiatric care for the poorest of the poor spread across 75 community-run clinics in 11 districts in Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Bengaluru
Manoj Kumar
Delivers free, recovery-oriented comprehensive psychiatric care for the poorest of the poor spread across 75 community-run clinics in 11 districts in Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Bengaluru
Founder, Mental Health Action Trust
Mission: To surmount the constraints of stigma, prejudice, and economic barriers to bring high-quality mental health care to the underprivileged
Beneficiaries: Under-resourced community members in need of clinical mental health support and their family members; increasingly, Indigenous communities and coastal fishermen
Impact and scalability: MHAT has worked directly with more than 7,000 patients, and at most of its 75 clinics, comprehensive care is provided leading to better outcomes than traditional alternatives. The organisation has successfully engaged existing care providers such as palliative care centres, primary health centres, and other independent civil society organisations to tie other medical care more closely with mental health treatment. This has helped to negate stigma.
Future scaling and funding needs: Forthcoming focus is on what MHAT calls the Samagram model, which aims to bridge the gap between social and community development services and clinical mental healthcare. This will enable MHAT direct access to the community for prevention initiatives amongst vulnerable groups and better detection of individuals who need care.
Matrika Devkota
Breaks the silence and stigma associated with mental health by empowering those who have experienced challenges first-hand and recovered to advocate for themselves
Matrika Devkota
Breaks the silence and stigma associated with mental health by empowering those who have experienced challenges first-hand and recovered to advocate for themselves
Miriam Israel
Builds and scales a culture of end-of-life care in Mexico through a set of integrated services to help patients and their families cope with the emotional, psychological, physical and legal or socio-economic consequences of death
Miriam Israel
Builds and scales a culture of end-of-life care in Mexico through a set of integrated services to help patients and their families cope with the emotional, psychological, physical and legal or socio-economic consequences of death
Founder, Caminos Paliativos de Luz
Mission:
Beneficiaries:
Scaling and Impact:
Future scaling and funding needs:
Oskar Blakstad
Builds a library of interventions, spreads knowledge about mental health and catalyzes new types of collaboration within the Norwegian healthcare system
Oskar Blakstad
Builds a library of interventions, spreads knowledge about mental health and catalyzes new types of collaboration within the Norwegian healthcare system
Founder, Explorable AS/Assisted Self-Help
Mission:
Beneficiaries:
Scaling and Impact:
Future scaling and funding needs:
Sachin Chaudhry
Leverages a unique mental health and wellbeing platform that helps foster emotional resilience, prevention, and early interventions for students and school staff at scale
Sachin Chaudhry
Leverages a unique mental health and wellbeing platform that helps foster emotional resilience, prevention, and early interventions for students and school staff at scale
Founder, Trust Circle
Mission: To foster emotional resilience and wellbeing for students and school staff, identify schoolwide social-emotional learning trends, and utilize AI-driven wellbeing insights to improve learning environments
Beneficiaries: Students; school staff including teachers and school administrators
Impact and scalability: TrustCircle has reached more than 1.3 million individuals and 300 schools/school districts in India, Malaysia, Kenya, Nigeria, and the United States. The model has enabled five times more ‘Seek Help Requests’ from students, reflecting how the platform facilitates children’s initiative for self-care. It is designated both a UNICEF featured solution and UNDP DigitalX solution and looks to scale through these international networks. It has also been listed as a Healthy Brains Global Initiative leading programme by the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, and the World Bank. The most recent G20 Summit in New Delhi featured TrustCircle for its success at fostering adolescents’ wellbeing. And Sachin's model is partnering with India’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sport and UNICEF to reach more colleges across the country.
Future scaling and funding needs: By the end of 2026, TrustCircle aims to empower 5 million individuals globally and seeks public, private, and government partnerships to realise this goal. The organisation also looks to expand its platform to refugees and other displaced people.
Thorkil Sonne
Generates meaningful employment for autistic persons and those with similar profiles through social entrepreneurship, corporate sector engagement and a global change in mindsets
Thorkil Sonne
Generates meaningful employment for autistic persons and those with similar profiles through social entrepreneurship, corporate sector engagement and a global change in mindsets
Founder, Specialisterne Foundation
Mission: Catalyse employment opportunities for neurodivergent persons through an interconnected and inclusive ecosystem that shifts both mindsets and systems for greater equality
Beneficiaries: Neurodivergent people; companies seeking to strengthen their workforce
Impact and scalability: Specialisterne Foundation has worked with more than 200 multinational companies in 14 countries to generate 20,000 jobs for autistic people. These companies include those in finance, technology, agriculture, and cybersecurity among others. The Foundation has also worked with the United Nations and the World Economic Forum on promoting the advantages of employing those with autism.
Future scaling and funding needs: Forthcoming focus will be on enabling more of those who are neurodivergent beyond autism to find and thrive in employment. The Foundation also seeks to convene international stakeholders with similar missions to align on underlying mental models and work together to engage more schools, companies, local governments, and NGOs for greater collective impact. Building new narratives to shift mindsets and systems globally is another priority, as is inviting more grandparents – who have more time – to help build a grassroots movement for change.
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