Multi-Cultural Adaptation, Implementation,
and Training

We are working closely with universities to build tools for community health workers to use with families. Our work with University of Kwazulu-Natal Centre for Rural Health aims to create a tool to help identify children who are in the early stages of developing mental health concerns. This tool will also aid community health workers to support families and refer them for additional services.

In addition, we are building a digital tool to assess children’s cognitive functioning; this will help identify children who are likely to have difficulties in education and provide their teachers with evidence-based ways to support these children in the classroom.

We are partnering with local public entities in different areas of Brazil and South Africa to advance mental health literacy among educators and staff in public schools, equipping them to recognize and support common mental health difficulties in children and adolescents. We are adapting and culturally translating a school-based mental health literacy curriculum following an approach that is collaborative, grounded in science, and responsive to local needs—ensuring that the content is accessible, developmentally appropriate, and relevant to the public education contexts in Brazil and South Africa. We are also working with these public sector partners to co-develop sustainable models that allow long-term integration of mental health literacy into the public education systems in these countries.

Our partnerships efforts extend to a number of community-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including Grassroots Soccer, Community Keepers, School of Hard Knocks, Waves for Change and Radio Workshop in South Africa, with whom we are building new training for their coaches and near peers. This will add to their skills in identifying mental health problems and in offering evidence-based support and brief interventions. It also includes training supervisors and NGO managers to provide safe and supportive supervision to community workers so that they work with children within a system of care.

In collaboration with the University of São Paulo, we are leading an effort to culturally adapt evidence-based treatment manuals aimed to be used by health service providers in Brazil. These manuals focus on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for child and adolescent anxiety (individual and group intervention formats), CBT for adolescent depression, and parent training for managing behavior problems in children (also individual and group-based). Expert judges from each of Brazil’s five regions will review the materials to ensure national relevance and cultural resonance.

To deliver effective and inclusive child and adolescent mental health care in LMICs, we prioritize local co-production, working alongside partners who understand the specific cultural and social context in which children and young people live. Our methods are transparent, and we always include ongoing evaluation and monitoring. At each stage of our process, high importance is placed on peer review, feedback, testing and evaluation.

We are supporting the work of a youth-led organization focused on building a culture of peace and civic engagement among young people in Brazil. Their mission includes empowering young leaders to be agents of social change in their communities, working in schools in areas with high violence rates. Recognizing the power of youth voice, we are collaborating with them to strengthen and expand their mental health educational materials—ensuring that the content is developmentally appropriate, culturally resonant, and evidence-informed.