For people with mental health problems, stigma and discrimination often become a greater barrier than the symptoms of the illness themselves. In response to this global challenge, an important report was presented at the annual GIMPHA 2026 conference by Jason Maurer, a consultant at the WHO Regional Office for Europe. He introduced the audience to a new practical guide – the “WHO Mosaic Toolkit”, co-created by experts by experience and by profession following a call for action from the Lancet Commission, aiming to tackle the stigma associated with mental health. Notably, this toolkit, alongside other languages, is already available in Georgian.
In his speech, Jason Maurer emphasized three evidence-based principles for reducing stigma, which should form the baseline of any anti-stigma campaign. These are inclusive partnerships, social contact, and leadership or co-leadership by people with lived experience of mental health problems. The principle of “nothing about us without us” implies involving these individuals from the very beginning, ensuring equal power sharing, safety, and transparency, as their diverse lived experience is a vital asset for the development of the field.
The presentation put a special emphasis on social contact strategies, which are considered the most effective way of reducing stigma. This approach aims to break down prejudice, dispel myths, and create a sense of shared humanity and identity, which can be achieved either virtually or through in-person interaction. As the “active ingredients” of social contact, the WHO consultant named sharing personal testimonies, opportunities to interact over time, intergroup cooperation and friendship, equal status, working towards a common goal, and most importantly, using “person-first” language.
To design anti-stigma activities, the toolkit proposes a four-step cycle. The first step is to identify and define aims, which involves understanding who experiences stigma, who enacts it, and what needs to change. The second step includes planning and preparation, where the scope of the activity, human or financial resources, and the monitoring system are determined. The third step is launch and learn, where paramount attention is paid to participant safety, utilizing specially trained individuals to mitigate discrimination, physical safe spaces, “safe words”, and crisis response plans. It is also important to manage the levels of disclosure so that individuals can decide for themselves which parts of their story they will make public. The fourth and final step is to reflect and proceed, which involves analyzing the experience gained and scaling it up further, as real impact is measured not just by numbers, but by human stories.
At the end of the report, Jason Maurer presented a call for action and actionable recommendations covering policy, environmental, resourcing, health, legal, and social aspects, where the media is also assigned a crucial role. According to him, the main principle is to keep it simple, make maximum use of available resources, and adapt to the local context. Every activity, no matter how small its scale, contributes to the larger common “mosaic” necessary to ultimately end discrimination in the field of mental health.
