Civil society organisations urgently call for EU strategy on mental health

On World Mental Health Day, European Doctors have signed a joint statement calling for substantive actions to shape a Europe where everyone’s mental health thrives across their life course.

Re-elected European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has emphasised the urgent need to ‘step up our work on preventive health, in particular for mental health’.

She has placed a special focus on the mental health of children and young people, especially online, and promised actions to tackle what she calls ‘the greatest challenge in this decade’. These promises build on commitments made over recent years by several EU institutions. 

The joint statement welcomes the renewed ambition and calls on all stakeholders to work together to translate this ambition into concrete actions.

Among its many calls, the joint statement asks the Commission, as part of its strategy on mental health, to propose a legislative initiative on the management of psychosocial risks and well-being at work, with special attention to the health and care workforces.