The Centre initiating a course in global mental health

The course "Introduction to Global Mental Health" is a full-time course were the participants primarily are psychology students at UiB and Tribhuvan University in Nepal.

The course awards 10 ECT-credits and is part of our new International semester. The students will work on a project assignment with international partners, and continue with the course "Crisis Psychology and Disaster Response" later this fall.

Eight students from the professional study program in psychology are selected to participate in the international semester this year. Originally, students were first to follow theoretical teaching in Bergen before an internship to Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand or South Africa, respectively. However, the pandemic has limited physical travel this year. The Centre offers an exciting alternative semester with digital globalization instead.

The Minister of International Development Dag-Inge Ulstein opened the course, and Professor Vikram Patel will give a lecture the first week together with Associate Professor Ragnhild Dybdahl and senior adviser Unni Heltne.

The Minister of International Development congratulated the Centre in his speech at the opening of the course, and emphasized the course's important focus. He stressed how physical and mental health are intertwined, and that Covid-19 has made us more aware of the importance of good mental health.

He further thanked the students who have chosen to participate, and emphasized that they are important for success in a future improvement of global mental health. The course is both theoretical and applied with practical examples from different contexts. The course addresses a range of topics, including sustainability, human rights, strengthening mental health, prevention and treatment of mental health problems and disorders, scalable programs, and the role of primary health care, specialist health care, communities and various actors.

Dag-Inge Ulstein, Minister of International Development: speech in full