ADVANCE - Addressing mental health vulnerabilities from adolescence to older age: innovating prevention science for times of change

Mental health has been identified as an urgent priority for action throughout Europe. The EU has prioritised a historic pandemic, climate change, digitalisation, socio-economic inequities, migration, conflict and socio-demographic transitions as the most critical threats for mental health in our times. EU documents highlight that 84 million people in the EU experience mental health problems, costing 4% of GDP (>600 billion Euro). Mental health contributes 26% to the burden of disease in Europe.

Yet despite so many large groups of people identified as being at risk, development of mental health strategies beyond specialised clinical treatments has been limited. If this challenge is to be addressed it requires a systematic change in the field of mental health: one where the large research to practice gap is bridged and a diverse series of evidence-based, adaptable and scalable mental health promotion and prevention interventions are available and can be implemented throughout Europe.