Learning From the Climate Mental Health Convergence Learning From the Climate Mental Health Convergence

Webinar Held By Catalyst 2030

August 2023

This webinar focused on the Stanford Social Innovation Review article of the same name. Read here.

The webinar was moderated by Matt Hughsam, speaking to Kelly Davis and Lian Zeitz as they expanded on the ideas within the article they co-authored with John Jamir Benzon R. Aruta.

Speakers Speakers

KELLY DAVIS

Kelly Davis is the AVP of Peer and Youth Advocacy at Mental Health America, where she leads efforts to expand peer support and young adult leadership. Kelly is a person with lived experience and is passionate about lived experience-driven and led programs, policies, and research. Examples of her current projects include partnering with college students to advance mental health rights in higher education and collaborating with youth to create priorities for school mental health policy.

LIAN ZEITZ

Lian Zeitz is the Co-Founder at the Climate Mental Health Network and was previously the Global Director of Love and Compassion for citiesRISE, a global platform committed to transforming the state of mental health policy and practice in cities and beyond to meet the mental health needs of populations across the world. He has conducted national and global research on youth mental health, family therapy models, trauma, and community mental health interventions. He has published work in leading journals, such as Contemporary Family Therapy, Cities & Health, Environment international, and Journal of Adolescent Health. Lian recently completed a Master of Divinity at Naropa University, studying contemplative wisdom, bioethics, youth mental health, and community healing. Lian earned a BASc from Quest University Canada, where he focused on public mental health and literature, and a certificate for Leadership in Mental Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

MATT HUGHSAM

Matt Hughsam is a facilitator, researcher, and coach committed to pursuing well-being and justice for people, our communities, and our planet. He is passionate about bringing together grassroots-led and systems-led efforts toward transformative change. At citiesRISE, Matt builds research, innovation, and movement building initiatives supporting youth-driven mental health transformation, primarily in India, Kenya, the U.S., and Colombia. He previously worked on programs ranging from community-based interventions to supporting evidence-informed decision-making in national governments. Matt loves speculative fiction and outdoor adventures.

Chris Underhill

Social Entrepreneur and Professional Mentor

Chris Underhill MBE is a social entrepreneur and professional mentor. He has worked in the field of the Wellbeing, Resilience, and Mental Health since he started Thrive in 1978 (www.thrive.org.uk). The organisation provides to this day an opportunity for many people with different needs to benefit from gardening and horticulture whether as a hobby or a vocation. Chris is a serial social innovator and has established many organisations over the years in addition to Thrive. To give several examples: Action on Disability and Development (ADD), working in the developing world with disabled people creating systems of representation, advocacy, and policy creation. BasicNeeds in the field of community mental health worldwide, and citiesRISE in the field of mental health and the big city.

He has founded several other organisations as well, but coming up to date, he Chairs the Mental Health Collaboration of Catalyst 2030 and is cofounder of the Elders Council for Social Entrepreneurs. The Elders Council for Social Entrepreneurs gives practical support to founders as they make successions within and away from their organisations as well as the encouragement of younger social entrepreneurs as they field the complex challenges and transitions that inevitably confront them.

Chris is a well-known and sought after professional mentor and his practice, Mentor Services, has been carefully nurtured since 2000. Chris has been married to Giselle for 52 years, and they have three grown-up children and six grandchildren. He is an Elder of the Wellbeing Project and attended the Wellbeing Summit in Bilbao working on both Eldership and Mental Health within the wider context of Wellbeing. He is a recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, an awardee in Social Entrepreneurship of the Schwab Foundation, and a Senior Fellow of Ashoka. In 2000 he was honoured with an MBE by HRH the Queen for his work in disability and development.

Click here to learn more about Mentor Services.

Connect with Chris Underhill on social media :

Dr Rukudzo Mwamuka

Psychiatrist

Dr Rukudzo Mwamuka is a psychiatrist living and working in Zimbabwe. For the past 6 years, she has been providing clinical care to patients from marginalised communities at the referral psychiatric units in the capital city of Harare. Her experience in working with patients and understanding their challenge to access to mental health services ignited her interest in community mental health interventions. To pursue her interest, Rukudzo joined the Friendship Bench, an organisation that trains community health care workers to provide Cognitive behavioural Therapy with emphasis on Problem Solving Therapy, activity scheduling and behavioural activation.

In her role as the Clinical Programs Manager and member of the organisation’s Senior Leadership Team, Rukudzo provides oversight and strategy for the Implementation teams. She is currently focusing on ensuring fidelity of the program as it scales across the country with support from the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation under the special initiative for mental health.She is a member of the Catalyst 2030 movement.

Rukudzo holds a medical degree (MBCHB) from the University of Zimbabwe and a Master of Medicine degree (Psychiatry) from the same university and she continues to tutor undergraduate medical students from the university’s mental health unit.

Chris Underhill

Social Entrepreneur and Professional Mentor

Chris Underhill MBE is a social entrepreneur and professional mentor. He is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Futures Council on Mental Health and the Chair of the Catalyst 2030 Mental Health Collaborative. Chris is attending the Well Being Summit, Bilbao, with two interests in front of mind. Eldership and Community Mental Health Practice.

Regarding Eldership he is the cofounder of the Elders Council for Social Entrepreneurs. At the age of 73 he is a “young Elder” and is involved in the support of founders as they make transitions in their organisations and in the encouragement of younger social entrepreneurs as they field the complex challenges that inevitably confront them.

Regarding Community Mental Health Chris is the creator of the Model for Mental Health and Development which has been disseminated in some 15 developing countries. Over the years he has founded organisations in the field of wellbeing, resilience, and mental health. For example, Thrive, an organisation working in gardening, disability, resilience, and wellbeing. Also, Action on Disability and Development, working in the developing world with disabled people creating systems of representation, advocacy, and policy creation. In the field of global mental health, he has founded BasicNeeds working on community mental health, and co-founded citiesRISE in the field of mental health youth and the big city.

As a mentor and organisational development advisor he is working with a number of organisations including Spark Inside, CorStone, BecauseYou, Health Leads USA and VidaAfrolatina. Chris has been married to Giselle for 52 years, has three grown up children and six grandchildren. He is a recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, an awardee in Social Entrepreneurship of the Schwab Foundation, and a Senior Fellow of Ashoka and has been honoured with an MBE by HRH the Queen for his work in disability and development.

Click here to learn more about Mentor Services.

Connect with Chris Underhill on social media :