Mental health is as an urgent priority in Europe. The EU is focusing on big challenges like the pandemic, climate change, digitalisation, economic disparities, migration, conflicts, and changes in society as the most critical threats for mental health in our time. EU reports show that 84 million people in the EU face mental health issues, which ends up costing a lot of money (more than 600 billion Euros, or 4% of the economy). Mental health problems make up about 26% of all health issues in Europe.

Read EU's comprehensive approach on mental health

Even though many groups of people are recognized as being at risk for mental health issues, there haven't been enough efforts to create strategies beyond specialized clinical treatments. To tackle this challenge, we need a significant shift in the mental health field. This means closing the gap between research and practical solutions and making a variety of evidence-based, flexible, and scalable mental health promotion and prevention interventions accessible and usable all across Europe.

ADVANCE is a comprehensive project aiming to enhance our knowledge about mental health promotion and prevention. It will develop specific programs that can be used as models for important groups in various European countries. Additionally, ADVANCE will create the necessary guidance and methodologies to make sure that mental health programs are not only effective but also can be developed, adjusted, put into action, evaluated, and scaled up to reach wider populations.

The ADVANCE project has received funding from the EU Horizon Programme under Grant Agreement No. 101080323. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Health and Digital Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.