World Mental Health Day Webinar - Lived Experiences Heard: From Real Voices to Real Change
Mental health is essential to overall health and wellbeing, yet millions of people worldwide continue to experience mental health challenges. Nurses are vital in promoting mental wellbeing, providing person-centred care, supporting recovery, and advocating for equitable, rights-based services across diverse settings. However, growing workplace pressures can also affect nurses’ own wellbeing. The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has long called for greater investment in the mental health nursing workforce and stronger mental health services worldwide.
In recognition of World Mental Health Day 2026 and its theme, “Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change,” this webinar highlighted WHO's practical guidance on deinstitutionalization and explored the particular contribution of nurses in changing the culture and practice of mental health care and ensuring that services are designed with people, not merely for them.
Watch the webinar recording below
Speakers
- Hoi Shan Fokeladeh, Senior Policy Advisor, International Council of Nurses
- Mark van Ommeren, Head of the WHO Mental Health Unit, WHO
- Espen Gade Rolland, President Norwegian Nurses Organization’s professional group in mental health and addiction
- Madeline A. Naegle, Professor Emerita and Adjunct Professor, Global Mental Health Consultant, New York University Meyers College of Nursing
- Sheryl Garriques-Lloyd, Mental health nurse
- Dr. Dan Wesemann, Program Director and Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Iowa College of Nursing and past president of ISPN
Outcomes
- Strengthened understanding of the vital role of mental health nursing in promoting wellbeing, supporting recovery, and delivering person-centred, rights-based care across diverse settings.
- Increased awareness of evidence-informed approaches and recommendations from the ICN Guidelines on Mental Health Nursing (2024), and their relevance to practice, leadership, education, and policy.
- Deepened appreciation of how lived experience can shape mental health services, improve care outcomes, and inform meaningful change in systems and policies.
- Identified practical actions and opportunities for collaboration to strengthen mental health care, support the wellbeing of the nursing workforce, and advance advocacy in participants’ communities and contexts.