About
The Global Now Project is a global situational analysis that aims to map the organisations, programs, services, initiatives, resources, literature, research and stakeholders that are currently operating in the mental health sector at a local, national and global level. As an open source initiative, The Global Now Project uses ‘service mapping tools’ to map the mental health sector to create a one-stop-shop for mental health consumers, carers, policy makers, students and professionals to access information about what is out there and what is happening in the mental health sector at a local, national and global level. The Global Now Project aims to inform consumers, researchers, policy makers and other stakeholders in the mental health system of what mental health programs, services, initiatives, resources, literature, research and stakeholders exist in the sector. The project provides a way to bring about changes in the mental health sector including:
- Identifying gaps and where there is duplication in program, service and organizational design.
- Identifying the most cutting edge strategies in project and research design
- Acting as an organisational tool for mental health organisations, policy makers and other stakeholders to help design mental health services and events.
- Providing a research tool for academics and researchers to gain an awareness of what other institutions are doing and to form a united research agenda.
- Creating shared terminology, understanding and purpose amongst mental health stakeholders.
- Summarise information from research, literature and other sources found on websites throughout the mental health sector.
- Create a regional mental health framework based on the best practice found in the service mapping.
There are numerous assumptions upon which the framework for the mental health global situational analysis is taking into consideration. The major assumption based on the project design is the fact that ‘prior to dreaming (i.e. planning and design), one must first explore the context in which we live and what has come before us. Other assumptions include that in the current situation of the mental health system there is a need for:
- Organisation, cooperation and coordination of the information to create further plans
- Collaboration of leaders in the mental health sector at a state, national and global level
- Increased awareness of organisations, programs, services etc. in the mental health sector at all levels of society, especially for decision making and policy making; a universal terminology of mental health, mental illness and the journey of mental health consumer that transcends national policies and plans as well as different cultures and languages
- A reduction in the duplication of program and service design in the mental health sector to create a unified agenda amongst the mental health system to prioritise the most pressing needs in the mental health sector
- A unified research agenda that prioritises amongst mental health research needs, reduces duplication in resource design and integrates the evidence collected in research already conducted
- A network of community’s of practice that share information, resources , research etc; a universal template for a regional mental health platform that uses best practice from a variety of sources; and
- A centralized global mental health agenda that integrates a common understanding and cutting-edge evidence.