Mental Health
Mental health and psychosocial wellbeing are critical foundations for overall health. The United Nations included mental health as integral to the global 2015 Sustainable Development Goals, but achieving these goals in the next generation remains a challenge given that the World Health Organization estimates that 20% of the world’s children and adolescents have a mental health condition. Moreover, while the most common conditions of depression and anxiety may cost over $1 trillion worldwide, less than 2% of governmental health expenditures are devoted to mental health care.
UCSC faculty are researching the significance of access to food, housing, medical care, and citizenship for mental health, as well as one of the secondary ill-health effects of COVID. They are forging new research pathways with students in community-based projects that address precarity, build resilient networks and inform responsible policy to address mental health as it relates to the health of women & children, migrants, indigenous communities, and planetary health more widely.
Faculty
Donald Smith
Professor
Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology, Chemistry & Biochemistry
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Sofie Salama
Adjunct Professor
Biomolecular Science and Engineering, Genomics Institute
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