European Mental Health Week 2025: Discover EU-funded projects safeguarding mental health for all

European Mental Health Week is a pan-European initiative that raises awareness about the importance of mental health in our daily lives. Organised by Mental Health Europe, the 2025 edition of European Mental Health Week is taking place from 19 to 25 May. 

This year’s theme, ‘Care for mental health, invest in social rights’, is focused on the links between mental health and social policies, highlighting that mental health is not only shaped by individual circumstances, but also by the social and economic conditions in which we live, being influenced by factors such as poverty, education, employment or inequality. 

European Mental Health Week 2025 underlines that social rights and opportunities in an inclusive society are key to strengthening citizens’ mental wellbeing. 

Discover a selection of Horizon Europe and EU4Health projects that are working towards improving mental health. 

Horizon Europe

WELL CARE is working on safeguarding and investing in the mental wellbeing and resilience of informal carers – who provide unpaid care to close ones – as well as of professional care workers, by way of identifying, evaluating and promoting good practices across Europe. 

ADVANCE is addressing structural injustice with the objective of creating strategies to prevent mental health concerns and promote initiatives for vulnerable segments of the population and the challenges they face. The project deals with a variety of issues, ranging from the effect of climate change on young people’s mental health to addressing the so-called technostress (i.e. a negative psychological relationship between people and the introduction of new technologies).

ASP-belong is developing Augmented Social Play (ASP), a pioneering digital mental health intervention format that uses smartphones to create collaborative experiences for young people combining immersive storytelling, contemporary technology and evidence-based psychology. ASP-belong aims to boost youngster’s mental health by overcoming loneliness and fostering a sense of belonging within a group, considering that isolation, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic, is increasing among adolescents.

BootStRaP carries out research across Europe to closely monitor the internet usage patterns of young people. The aim of the project is to identify early signs of problematic internet use and provide data-driven recommendations for better mental health policies for young people.

EU4Health

IceHearts is a collaborative initiative aimed at supporting vulnerable children and youth across Europe by integrating mental health and social inclusion into grassroots sports programmes. Participants are organised into peer groups that engage in various sports and recreational activities, in a framework that fosters a sense of belonging, enhances social skills and promotes emotional wellbeing.

By October 2024, IceHearts had recruited 90 mentors and engaged around 1000 young participants. The programme combines physical activity with social work, addressing both mental and physical health needs, and aims to prevent school dropouts, reduce social isolation and build resilience among participants.

Let’s Talk about Children (LTC) has the objective of preventing intergenerational transmission of mental health issues by identifying strengths, resources and everyday solutions for children, parents, teachers and families. 

The project is implemented in 8 European countries. The training is sensitive to the local context and builds on the specific needs of each site. Project actions are aiming to promote positive parenting and family life in families in vulnerable situations, such as parents in mental health services or in reception centres for refugees and asylum seekers.

LTC has translated 80 logbooks in seven languages addressed to practitioners and parents as well as different age groups. In addition, the project has created trainer manuals for partner organisations. Up until now, a total of 1700 practitioners have been trained in the 8 U countries involved, and over 5000 families have been reached.

MENTALITY is dedicated to the transfer of mental health-focused best practices aimed at children, healthcare and care workers, people with pre-existing mental health problems and psychosocial disabilities, migrants and service providers.   

The project has developed a holistic methodology by integrating a community-based approach with the objective of breaking major barriers to mental health support: stigma and discrimination.

MENTALITY has been promoting mental health through innovative practices for these segments of the population, for them to build resilience within the health and social care services. These practices include a guide for educators to support children’s mental health, specifically targeting anxiety, depressive symptoms or social isolation, as well as workshops designed to help newly arrived migrants tap into their own potential to adapt to a new environment and labour market.

Find out more about MENTALITY and its holistic mental health support in our testimonial video.

Next to project grants, the EU4Health programme also supports mental health through procurement. EU-PROMENS is a capacity-building programme that aims to enhance the capacity of health professionals across Europe in the field of mental health. The programme is made up of two parts: the first one is focused on the development and implementation of a multidisciplinary training programme in community settings, while the second one involves the organisation of an exchange programme for health professionals.

To address this year's European Mental Health Week theme, ‘Care for mental health, invest in social rights’, EU-PROMENS is organising two webinars targeting professionals from health, social, education and justice sectors, as well as policymakers and individuals interested in the topic:

Unleashing the Power of Multidisciplinary Collaboration for Better Mental Health: Lessons learned from exploring and implementing cross-sectoral mental health competency framework 

• 20 May from 9:30 to 11:00
• Register here

The Power of Multidisciplinary Collaboration in Mental Health Services: lessons learned from the European Programme for Mental Health Exchange 

• 22 May from 10:00 to 11:30
• Register here

Background

Horizon Europe is the research and innovation programme of the EU for the period 2021-2027. The aims of Cluster 1 ‘Health’ include improving and protecting the health and well-being of citizens of all ages by generating new knowledge, developing innovative solutions and integrating where relevant a gender perspective to prevent, diagnose, monitor, treat and cure diseases. Horizon 2020 (H2020) was the EU’s multiannual funding programme between 2014 and 2020.

EU4Health is the fourth and largest of the EU health programmes. The EU4Health programme goes beyond an ambitious response to the COVID-19 crisis to address the resilience of European healthcare systems. The programme provides funding to national authorities, health organisations and other bodies through grants and public procurement, contributing to a healthier Europe. HaDEA manages the vast majority of the total EU4Health budget and implements the programme by managing calls for proposals and calls for tenders.