Hello! I’m so happy you’re here reading this! My name is Jaclyn, though I’ve gone by “Jackee” since my 10th birthday when I was asked how I wanted my name spelled on my birthday cake and I decided to do things differently.



When I entered college, I knew I was passionate about global health. Fast forward to now, I have had multiple placements at Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research in Australia, and Sangath Community NGO in India, studied comparative global health systems in Delhi, Cape Town and São Paolo, and been given the opportunity to speak about my lived experience with mental illness in my campus community.



Through my placement experiences I have gained skills which will help me succeed in the mental health field and connected to mentors who are leaders in global mental health that continue to open doors. I’ve also been given the opportunity to meet other young people with a passion for global mental health, some of whom are now part of the core team of GenMH.



But the reality is that most people with a passion for mental health don’t have the mentorship or the funding necessary to access these critical opportunities for training and capacity building. Truly accessible training opportunities are missing throughout the world. Creating an opportunity that would not only fund young people but also train them to make the most of a placement in a new setting became the clear way forward.



Coming together with the other young people who I have bonded with over a central passion for making the world a place where mental health care is a right, we pledged to do things differently in the way we prepare young people to enter the world of global mental health. We know that a world with a well trained mental health workforce will also be one with better mental health outcomes. This is our dream - we hope you will join us!



To the future,

Jackee Schess

Founder, Generation Mental Health