From January 25-26, 2026, CMB/Equity Initiative convened a two-day Mental Health Equity Strategic Workshop bringing together Senior Fellows from the Equity Initiative Mental Health Group and external guests from across the region. Designed as an experiential, embodied, and collaborative space, the workshop focused on building a shared foundation for advancing mental health equity across diverse regional and professional contexts.

Suebpong Charoenmechaikul (2023, Thailand) (left) discusses the EI Mental Health group's values to better align future steps.

The two-day workshop brought participants together to align on a shared vision for mental health equity for the region and to begin defining how that vision translates into action. Through facilitated exercises, participants practiced calm, compassionate, curious, and courageous leadership, developed a common understanding of mental health equity, and worked collaboratively to draft a short strategic plan outlining priority activities and potential projects to advance this work. With Climate Justice established as EI’s first regional theme, the EI Community is now beginning to shape Mental Health as a new regional them in the years ahead.

Day One focused on relationship-building, alignment, and collective meaning-making. Participants engaged in guided grounding practices, movement-based introductions, and facilitated group exercises to establish safety, presence, and shared responsibility within the room. Together, they co-created a group contract that acknowledged the diversity of organizational mandates, professional constraints, and lived experiences present- while committing to respectful dialogue, confidentiality, and brave collaboration.

Eleanor Ong (2024, Singapore) (center right), discusses the internal mental health scan and the implications for future steps.

The workshop also built on an internal mental health equity scan conducted ahead of the workshop by Eleanor Ong (2024, Singapore) and Benny Prawira (2022, Indonesia). The scan drew on interviews and written inputs from EI Fellows working on mental health across the region, mapping current areas of work, shared challenges, and opportunities for regional collaboration. Insights from the scan helped ground the workshop discussions in lived practice, highlighting both the diversity of contexts Fellows work within and the strong convergence around key priorities for advancing mental health equity.

Eleanor reflected, “The internal scan exposed the silos within the different areas of mental health, as well as the diversity of our contexts. It also allowed us to ground the workshop in the lived realities of practice across the region, because without a community-formed metric for mental health equity, we have no mechanism to articulate our impact, or amplify the work happening across the region. The Equity Initiative and its Fellows have a unique opportunity to create Southeast Asia’s and China’s first evidence-based framework designed locally, for the region.”

From this foundation, participants explored mental health equity as a collective concept. Through small-group discussions, embodied image-making, and large-group synthesis, they examined questions such as: What does mental health equity look like in our region? What values and principles must underpin it? Where are systems currently falling short, and where is community already leading? Ayu Kartika Dewi (2025, Indonesia) said ‘For thousands of years, Asian healthcare traditions have treated mental health, physical health, and spiritual well-being as one interconnected system. Values-based approach allows us to honor these practices as legitimate healthcare, not just 'alternatives'.

The day culminated in collective visioning- mapping both the current mental health ecosystem and a desired future five years ahead. Using movement and image theatre, participants surfaced shared aspirations for more just, accessible, community-rooted approaches to mental health, and named what must change to get there.

Day Two focused on turning shared insights into practical structures and next steps. Participants began by revisiting the group’s overarching Theory of Change drafted prior to the convening and expanded upon during the Annual Forum as a working reference. Together, they mapped existing activities and gaps across three core pillars- policy and systems change; community, culture, and narrative; and research, evidence, and capacity-building- adding, challenging, and refining what was already on the paper based on regional and community experience.

A key focus of the day was the early co-design of a Mental Health Equity Index. Working in small groups aligned around core values (such as justice, care, and inclusion), participants generated initial questions and indicators that could help measure mental health equity in ways that reflect lived realities- not just institutional performance.

Ferena Debineva (2025, Indonesia) (center) unpacking discussions around community-based models and local capacity and peer learning.

Alongside this, participants collaboratively developed ideas for community-based models, knowledge exchange networks, and research roadmaps, emphasizing approaches that do not rely solely on formal health systems but instead strengthen local capacity and peer learning.

Moh Moh Lwin (2024, Myanmar) chimed in ‘From my experiences working in the crisis-affected and resource limited setting, I have learnt that regional approaches matter for mental health equity. Working together across the region helps align policies, resources, and community-led solutions so supports reach those most affected. By centering lived experiences and community voices, collaboration leads to responses that are realistic, culturally grounded, and rooted in dignity.

The workshop closed with rituals of appreciation and commitment. Participants acknowledged one another’s contributions, named qualities they witnessed over the two days, and articulated concrete actions they would carry forward in their own work and within CMB/Equity Initiative’s mental health portfolio.

Mythily Subramaniam (second from left) discussing possible future steps for the group.

Mythily Subramaniam from the Institute of Mental Health commented “Being part of the EI mental health workshop (as a guest) was deeply humbling and genuinely energizing. I met young people doing extraordinary work, often in difficult and even risky settings, driven not by recognition but by a real commitment to doing good. At a time when I sometimes question the relevance of my own work, they reminded me that meaningful change is happening and gave me renewed hope. From this community, I want nothing for myself- only that these Fellows are recognized for the impact they are making, and that they remain safe, supported, and sustained in the work they care so deeply about.”

“As we shape mental health leadership across the region, may we also strengthen and safeguard mental health within our own EI community, becoming the proof that care is not just something we advocate for, but something actively supported and resourced by our leadership and consistently practiced among us” were Shairra Belo’s (2022, Philippines) final reflections.

The workshop concluded with clear next steps: named leads, defined focus areas, and early commitments to carry forward the development of a Mental Health Equity Index, regional capacity-building efforts, and shared learning initiatives. Participants left not only aligned on direction, but with defined roles and responsibilities for advancing this work in the months ahead.