Mr. Arjun Kapoor visits the YMHC!

Last week, we had a special visit from Mr. Arjun Kapoor, Program Director & Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Mental Health Law & Policy, Indian Law Society (Pune, India). Arjun is a lawyer and psychologist with experience in human rights, suicide prevention, access to justice and mental health. 

He provides technical support to governments in India and low- and middle-income countries to develop their mental health and suicide prevention strategies. Arjun had several meetings with students and staff at the YMHC, and the Ludic Mind Studio (led by Dr. Mauela Ferrari). Discussions were focussed on participatory youth mental health research, improving policy and access to care for marginalised youth, those experiencing psychosis, and the unique health care needs and experiences of Indigenous youth in Canada and Adivasi youth in India.

Arjun presented a hybrid talk on Youth and community involvement in mental health innovations in India.  His talk specifically focussed on Outlive, a project he currently co-leads. Outlive is a youth suicide prevention program which addresses urban youth suicide in India by engaging with young people through 1) Outlive Chat – a peer support program which trains youth volunteers to provide chat-based emotional support to youth in distress or contemplating suicide and 2) Youth Action for Suicide Prevention Fellowship which trains and mentors youth leaders to engage with policymakers for driving systemic changes for youth suicide prevention. Outlive has been recognised by the World Health Organisation and UNICEF as a good practice example of participatory approaches to service design in youth mental health.