CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Beyond Borders: Global Collaborations for Mental Health Research and Services conference connected more than 200 students, scholars, and practitioners, both in person and online, over two days of open dialogue regarding mental health.
This first-of-its-kind event, which took place Oct. 9-10, was one of 11 projects funded by the Vision 2030 Global Strategy Implementation Grant, which provides funding to support activities and/or programs across campus that seek to specifically address one or more actions under the priorities outlined in strategy. The grant is funded by the Office of the Provost and administratively supported by Illinois International.
The conference was hosted by the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and highlighted transdisciplinary perspectives by providing an interdisciplinary space for researchers, practitioners, and people with lived experience to share innovative ideas to support global mental health.
It featured workshops focused on diverse mental health topics, poster sessions showcasing research, and guest speakers from Illinois and institutions in the Global South.
Flora Cohen, assistant professor and lead organizer of the conference, said 282 people registered for the conference in total. That number included 124 in-person, 108 online, and 61 who registered to attend both online and in person.
Guests traveled from across the U.S. and Cohen said they also sponsored four international guests to travel for the conference— two from South Africa, and two from Bangladesh.
Additionally, there were several international speakers who joined online and were from as far away as India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the United Kingdom.
“If we look at registrations, we had 62 international participants register, 48 from other states in the US, and 172 from Illinois. Our international registrants were from Indonesia, the Philippines, Canada, Bangladesh, Ireland, United Kingdom, Sweden, Mexico, Australia, Thailand, Spain, Israel, Portugal, Brazil, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Ghana, India, and China,” Cohen said.
Conference feedback was positive, and Cohen explained that participants felt like they were part of a larger community dedicated to supporting people who are struggling with their mental health.
She added that one participant said that their biggest takeaway was, “we live in a big world, but a lot of our problems are the same everywhere we go and that we need to do a better job helping one another.”
"They appreciated learning different approaches to addressing mental health and discussing the goal of improving mental health for everyone,” Cohen said.
When asked what she was most proud of as the lead organizer of the event, Cohen said she was proud of the planning committee.
“We were able to gather a group of wonderful people who poured their hearts into the event. This was my first time planning an event of this size, so I was quite nervous about how it would go,” Cohen said. “But, our committee stepped in to show support, and we had wonderful speakers who were thoughtful and understanding of any challenges.”
Reflecting on the experience, Cohen said she wished she had the capacity to attend more sessions.
“There were a few conversations I had that really gleaned beautiful insight about the ways different people approach mental health,” Cohen said. “There were speakers from many different disciplines - some who focus on somatic healing, design thinking, dance, Buddhism, etc., and I think I learned a little bit of something from everyone.”
Moving forward, although Cohen explained that it is still too early to tell if this conference will be possible again, she said she is looking into methods to elevate the work of the speakers through a collaborative written piece or an exclusively online event in the future.
Analicia Haynes is the storytelling and social media specialist for Illinois International. She can be reached at ahayn2@illinois.edu.