Child Mind Institute Receives $55 Million Stavros Niarchos Foundation Grant for Global Children’s Mental Health

SNF Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute Will Fight Stigma and Expand Access to Youth Mental Health Resources Across Borders

New York, NY (June 23, 2022) – The Child Mind Institute, the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health, received $55 million from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to establish the SNF Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute. The center will seek to dramatically expand access to effective mental health care for children and adolescents worldwide with initiatives to combat three of the greatest barriers to care: lack of information, limited access, and stigma.

“The children’s mental health crisis is the defining public health challenge of the next generation,” said Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, founding president and medical director of the Child Mind Institute. “And the crisis is a global one, which disproportionately impacts marginalized children and families everywhere. The Child Mind Institute is grateful for the generosity and vision of SNF as we work together to reduce stigma, improve access to care, and transform mental health care for children no matter where they are.”

SNF and the Child Mind Institute have a long history of partnership. SNF served as one of the founding donors when the Child Mind Institute opened in 2009 and was instrumental in launching the non-profit’s Healthy Brain Network Initiative. Most recently, in 2021, SNF spearheaded the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Initiative with the Child Mind Institute to help enhance child and adolescent mental health care capacity and strengthen the infrastructure for the prevention, assessment, and treatment of mental health struggles faced by children and adolescents in Greece.

The Child Mind Institute’s $55 million grant from SNF is one of three major grants totaling $205 million from the foundation.  The other institutions being awarded with grants are Columbia University and Rockefeller University. The funding is part of SNF’s ongoing $700 million-plus Health Initiative, launched in Greece in September 2017 and now expanding internationally.

“The more we learn about health, the more we learn that everything is connected—physical health to mental health, individual health to global health,” said SNF Co-President Andreas Dracopoulos. “This means that our approach to addressing the major health challenges we face today, from pandemics to woefully inadequate access to effective mental health care, must also be a connected one, across disciplines and across borders.”

Globally, mental health conditions are among the leading causes of disability and death for adolescents ages 10–19 years old. Barriers to treatment include limited availability and affordability of mental health care services, insufficient mental health care policies, lack of education about mental illness, and stigma.

The mission of the SNF Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute is to systematically increase access, quality, and equity in child and adolescent mental health care. It will do this through:

• Comprehensive assessment of the state of global child and adolescent mental health
• Open-access informational resources, trainings, treatment protocols
• Technology-based innovations outside clinical settings
• Multiculturally adapted anti-stigma materials

• Fellowship programs for mental health leaders from low- and middle-income countries
• Annual events to accelerate international collaboration

The Child Mind Institute seeks to empower young people and their families with the mental health resources they need to thrive everywhere. The Child Mind Institute’s previous international work includes:

• Inviting thousands of researchers around the world to publish articles using the Institute’s Open Science data sets
• Providing youth mental health information and support for Greece’s public health system through SNF’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Initiative, a five-year program
• Supporting global communities as they help children cope with traumatic events, including natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine

About the Child Mind Institute

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The Child Mind Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need. We’ve become the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health by providing gold-standard evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments. Learn more at childmind.org.

For press questions, contact our press team at childmindinstitute@sunshinesachs.com or our media officer at mediaoffice@childmind.org.

About the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) is one of the world’s leading private, international philanthropic organizations, making grants to nonprofit organizations in the areas of arts and culture, education, health and sports, and social welfare. SNF funds organizations and projects worldwide that aim to achieve a broad, lasting, and positive impact for society at large, and exhibit strong leadership and sound management. The Foundation also supports projects that facilitate the formation of public-private partnerships as an effective means for serving public welfare.

Since 1996, the Foundation has committed more than $3.2 billion through over 5,100 grants to nonprofit organizations in more than 135 countries around the world. Learn more at SNF.org.