By Brittney Dudar, Portfolio Manager at Grand Challenges Canada
One of my favourite parts of my work at Grand Challenges Canada is the opportunity to engage with innovators firsthand. While working remotely in Kampala, Uganda, I recently spent a day with the StrongMinds team, a nonprofit organization dedicated to treating depression through group interpersonal therapy (IPT-G). The World Health Organization recommends IPT-G as a first-line treatment for depression in low- and middle-income countries due to its effectiveness and cost-efficiency. This approach helps individuals address depression by strengthening social support networks, improving interpersonal relationships, and enhancing communication.
The urgent need for mental health support in Uganda and the growing impact of StrongMinds
StrongMinds is at the forefront of integrating mental health services into community health and education structures throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. In StrongMinds therapy groups, members find a safe space to open up with peers about their worries and struggles. Over six sessions, lay counselors (in Uganda, this includes teachers and community health workers ) guide structured discussions to help participants identify their underlying triggers of depression and examine how their interpersonal relationships and depression symptoms are linked. Group members work together to strategize solutions to their problems, learn coping mechanisms, practice interpersonal skills, and identify support structures that they can continue to lean on after therapy has ended.
Globally, 14% of adolescents experience mental health conditions like depression and anxiety, often unrecognized and untreated. In Uganda, with only 53 psychiatrists for 45 million people, the mental health treatment gap is severe and growing. Mental health issues, especially in youth, can lead to school struggles, isolation, and increased suicide rates.
StrongMinds’ focus is on reaching women and youth and integrating mental health services into community-based health and education structures. Grand Challenges Canada (GCC) has funded StrongMinds’ since 2017, helping to develop training and tools to scale their program. So far, they’ve and expanded into new countries while significantly lowering the cost per patient, demonstrating how partnerships with government and non-profit organizations can support growth. Currently, GCC’s funding is helping StrongMinds strengthen partnerships to expand their reach and sustainability, including working with the Ugandan government to adopt their program in the Masaka district (a major step towards closing the mental health treatment gap while creating a blueprint for government handover in Uganda).
“GCC’s TTS4 funding has been a game-changer in refining our scaling strategy. It has fueled our fastest growth yet while deepening our strategic advocacy and government engagement. This support gave us the resources to navigate the complexities of government adoption—transforming momentum into lasting systemic change. We are now scaling the approach we pioneered, redefining how we operate at StrongMinds, and paving the way for sustainable mental health integration across all districts that we work in.”
– Charlotte Oloya, Deputy Country Director, StrongMinds Uganda
Reflections from my site visit to StrongMinds
Photo Caption: Pictured from left to right, Brittney Dudar (Grand Challenges Canada) and teachers Senior Man Teacher Lookman and Senior Woman Teacher Alice (StrongMinds facilitators) at a primary school in Kampala
Having managed the StrongMinds grant for the last three years, I was really looking forward to spending a day with the team, and I learned so much about their work during what felt like a 4-hour crash course at their office in Kampala. We visited one of the 120 schools where StrongMinds operates across Kampala and Wakiso districts. I heard from a group of 13–14-year-old girls on how the StrongMinds program has positively impacted their lives. The girls shared how they’ve learned to recognize the signs of depression, support one another, develop confidence, and use healthy coping mechanisms. I also heard from StrongMinds facilitators at the school, Senior Man Teacher Lookman and Senior Woman Teacher Alice, on how the training has made them better listeners and more understanding of the challenges their students face.
Key takeaways from my visit:
1. Mental health impacts go beyond depression scores: Hearing how the program has improved the lives of students really struck me. One girl went from ranking 100th to 21st in her class, and another improved her focus in school. Senior Man Teacher Lookman Mutambire shared that other teachers have vocalized their appreciation during staff meetings for StrongMinds’ program and its positive impacts on students. However, such outcomes are often overlooked in mental health monitoring and evaluation frameworks.
2. The value of personal stories: Public sector stakeholders in Uganda, like the Ministry of Education, value “downstream impacts” like academic performance, showing the importance of collecting personal stories in mental health innovations. StrongMinds has gathered compelling data showing improvements in school absenteeism, meal consumption, work productivity and social support. Understanding what information different audiences and potential partners care about, can help mental health innovators decide what data to collect, and how to combine quantitative outcomes with qualitative insights.
“I underwent StrongMinds training which helped me to understand that for any behaviour in children, there may be an underlying factor. So it makes me a better teacher by first of all understanding how children behave. And sometimes the cause of such behaviour. So the tips for counselling me helped me to reassure the learners, and even helping them to find their own solutions to their problems.”
-Senior Man Teacher Lookman
“StrongMinds has helped me develop my skills. Because I’m already a counsellor so I thought that I’m in the right place. It made my skills more viable. It has helped me, and the girls I’m dealing with, become more open, they tell their experiences, the girls are now having their self-esteem has been raised, and they can counsel themselves.”
-Senior Woman Teacher Alice
3. Making mental health innovations a permanent part of public systems takes effort, time, and creative thinking: Mental health continues to be severely underfunded in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and there are few examples of successful integration into public systems. StrongMinds has been working with government partners in Uganda since 2013 and is helping the government put mental health policies and guidelines into action. One way they do this is through mental health scorecards, where districts, healthcare facilities and schools are assessed twice a year on how well they’re following mental health best practices. This supports government engagement and motivates districts to improve their scores. For example, Masaka District Health Officer, Dr. Faith Nakiyimba, and Jeremiah Mulamba, Psychiatric Nursing Officer, shared how they have improved their score from 20% to 55% over one year, thanks to StrongMinds. With funding from GCC, StrongMinds also helped launch a national multi-sectoral committee on mental health in Uganda, which has led to more government support and expanded the StrongMinds model to other districts.
Photo Caption: Pictured from left to right, Sandra (StrongMinds), Abigail (StrongMinds Mental Health Coach), Senior Man Teacher and StrongMinds Facilitator Matambire Lookman, Senior Woman Teacher and StrongMinds Facilitator Sebuliba Alice, Charlotte Olayo (StrongMinds Deputy Country Director).
During my visit, I saw firsthand the positive effect of StrongMinds’ work on both students and teachers. Personal stories, like testimonials, are a powerful way to truly brings a program’s impact to life. For me, this experience highlighted the critical role GCC’s funding plays in helping the public sector adopt mental health innovations. Scaling mental health innovation takes time, funding, and the understanding that the path isn’t always straightforward and involves complex challenges. For funders, it’s crucial to recognize the need for long-term commitment to build lasting mental health support systems.
