Building Community Mental Health Awareness, One Youth Leader at a Time
The PsyCoach Summer Challenge 2025, led by PsyCoach Bangladesh, brought together passionate undergraduate students from public, private and national universities across Bangladesh to address one of the country’s most urgent needs—community-based mental health awareness and psychosocial support. With youth at the center of change, the initiative focused on reducing stigma and malpractice, raising awareness on mental health along with equipping communities with stress management and other mental health related issues.
As a technical partner, the BRAC Institute of Educational Development (BRAC IED)—alongside collaborating organizations including the BRAC Youth Platform and other national partners—contributed to the quality and ethical implementation of the program by providing structured training inputs, professional supervision, and expert-guided learning support for student facilitators.
BRAC IED’s Technical Support and Professional Supervision
BRAC IED’s senior psychologists supported the design and delivery of the program’s online training and supervision framework, helping ensure that youth-led interventions were grounded in evidence-informed psychosocial support (PSS) practices. The training emphasized core competencies such as emotional intelligence, stress management, communication skills, and responsible help-seeking.
Participants also engaged in group supervision sessions facilitated by licensed mental health professionals. These sessions created reflective learning spaces to discuss field challenges, ethical considerations, and community engagement strategies, thereby strengthening facilitators’ confidence and promoting consistency in delivering community mental health education across diverse settings.
Across the program, students from multiple universities and academic disciplines—including Social Sciences, Engineering, English, and Business studies—designed and implemented community projects tailored to local needs.
Nationwide Impact and Youth-Led Innovation
Over the six-month challenge, 23 youth teams implemented 52 community-based sessions, reaching more than 2,700 individuals across Dhaka, Chattogram, Rajshahi, and Khulna divisions. Among these, five high-impact projects—led by students from diverse universities and academic disciplines, including social sciences, engineering, business studies, and English—demonstrated strong community engagement through initiatives focused on stress and exam well-being, family dynamics, emotional literacy, digital habits, and stigma reduction.
Alongside these, one participating team, “Shunte Chai” from BRAC University, developed a youth-led awareness initiative on AI misuse and emotional dependency on technology, encouraging peer connection, critical digital practices, and healthier forms of human interaction within academic environments—further highlighting the breadth of innovation across the program.
Learn, Lead, and Advance Your Career in Mental Health
BRAC IED continues to strengthen Bangladesh’s mental health ecosystem through its accredited Master’s in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (PSS) Program, which prepares learners with clinical insight, ethical practice, and community-based intervention skills.
In addition, information on mental health support and learning opportunities including BRAC IED’s Psychosocial Support (PSS) Course and BRAC IED–supported platforms such as Moner Jotno, Pashe Achi, and Active Listening Sessions (ALS)—was shared in community sessions by the PsyCoach team and participating student facilitators, helping individuals and communities connect with appropriate care pathways.
If you are passionate about creating meaningful change in mental health and education, join BRAC IED’s advanced training pathways and become part of a growing movement for inclusive, accessible, and youth-driven mental health support in Bangladesh.
