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DHA Campus, IslamabadMandra Campus, Rawalpindi
Youth engagement at GIHD
Young people at GIHD are co-creators, leaders and changemakers — peer researchers, youth advisors, campaigners, storytellers and programme co-designers, with fair compensation and real decision-making power.
Why youth engagement matters
Whether you're speaking from lived experience, passion, or a sense of purpose, your voice matters. You see what works. What doesn't. What's missing. That insight changes everything: programmes, policies, and lives.
We believe solutions for youth mental health must be built with young people. Always.
It's more than consultation. It's collaboration. Youth engagement means creating, shaping, and leading, not just responding.
We include young people from all backgrounds: those with lived experience of mental health challenges; advocates, creators, learners, doers; and voices that are often unheard. True engagement happens when youth influence the work, from vision to impact.
All young people bring value. Youth mental health experts are young people with lived experience of mental health challenges; those supporting peers through advocacy or action; and creators, students, leaders, entrepreneurs — anyone with insight into what it means to grow up today.
We actively seek out those from marginalized communities, youth facing barriers to participation, and those often left out of the mental health conversation.
Because no one understands youth mental health better than young people themselves. They know what's working, and what's not. They bring ideas that are grounded in lived reality, not just theory.
When young people are part of the research process, the results are more relevant, ethical, and impactful. Their involvement leads to solutions that fit the world in which they live. For us, it's simple: research about youth must include youth.
Engagement without support isn't fair or effective. We offer respect for time and expertise, fair compensation, flexible and accessible ways to get involved, and mentoring, learning and leadership opportunities.
We don't just ask for input. We invest in youth as co-creators.
For us, it's never about ticking boxes. It's about sharing power and making it count. We create spaces where young people feel safe, respected and heard; shape decisions, not just react to them; and influence what matters, from priorities to practice.
We engage for change.
How we engage young people
Meaningful youth engagement extends beyond consultation. At GIHD, young people contribute throughout the research and programme cycle, from identifying priorities and co-designing interventions to strengthening implementation and informing policy. We work alongside young people to ensure lived experience shapes decisions in ways that are ethical, inclusive, and sustainable.
Shaped with young people, not just for them.
Direct experience guides direction and priorities.
Backgrounds and perspectives that reflect real communities.
Protection built into every stage of involvement.
Youth at the table where choices are actually made.
Skills and confidence that outlast any one project.
Feedback and reflection built into every cycle.
Our youth engagement activities
Real programmes where young people are shaping mental health research and services in Pakistan.
Youth-led platform
SMART Network is a youth-led platform established by GIHD to bring together young people with lived experience of mental health challenges alongside technical experts and partner organisations. The Network ensures young people's voices are meaningfully included in the design, implementation, and improvement of mental health programmes, policies, and research. It promotes peer support, collaboration, leadership, and shared learning while strengthening youth participation in decision-making through structured governance and safeguarding.
GLOW-CAT / OSI
An international initiative working across multiple countries to improve access to evidence-based support for parents of children experiencing anxiety. In Pakistan, the programme focuses on culturally adapting the Online Support and Intervention (OSI) through collaborative workshops involving parents, children, clinicians, and school counsellors to ensure it reflects local needs and experiences before implementation.
Research & advocacy
This initiative promotes meaningful involvement of people with lived experience in mental health research and programme development. Through workshops and awareness sessions, participants explore how personal experiences can reduce stigma, strengthen research, improve services, and inspire positive change. The programme also introduces global examples of lived experience leadership and opportunities for meaningful involvement.
Coming soon
Showcasing how implementation research and evidence generated through youth partnerships contribute to improving mental health systems and services. Learn how research is translated into real-world impact through collaboration and innovation. In development — check back soon.
Meaningful roles for young people
Research pathway
Co-designing qualitative youth interviews, assisting in community surveys, and interpreting findings to ensure adolescent realities are represented without clinical bias.
Advisory pathway
Providing direct guidance on ethics, study materials, and school-based engagement protocols for major trials including IDEA-IMPACT and PREVENT.
Advocacy pathway
Representing adolescent mental health priorities at national roundtables, university dialogues, and the Pakistan Global Mental Health Summit 2026.
Creative pathway
Co-producing multimedia content, podcasts, and personal narratives to challenge stigma and amplify youth mental health awareness.
We value your time and expertise: contributors receive fair hourly honorariums and travel stipends for all advisory and co-design meetings.
Safeguarding and psychological wellbeing support are embedded in every activity. You are never asked to disclose personal medical diagnoses or distressing experiences to participate.
Through these roles, young people at GIHD are integral to shaping mental health initiatives that are relevant, effective, and sustainable.
Key considerations
Engaging youth deeply and respectfully takes commitment. Here's how we make it real.
This is how we transition from tokenism to genuine partnership, creating lasting change.
Resources
Explore guidance, publications, and practical tools supporting meaningful youth engagement and lived experience.
Hamdani, S.U., Huma, Z.E., Chakrabarti, B. et al.
BMC Psychiatry 25, 647
Being Initiative
Being Initiative report, 2024
Get involved
Whether you're driven by lived experience, curiosity, or the desire to create change, there's a place for you in this work. Together, we can develop genuine, relevant, and transformative mental health solutions. Be part of the change.
Also for you
A fully paid, professionally structured internship for young people passionate about youth mental health — hands-on research, one-to-one mentorship, career counselling, transport and accommodation.
A one-month virtual programme built around Early Adolescent Skills for Emotions (EASE), the WHO–UNICEF endorsed psychosocial intervention for adolescent mental health in Pakistan.
Get involved
Young people at GIHD are co-creators, leaders and changemakers — peer researchers, youth advisors, campaigners, storytellers and programme co-designers, with fair compensation and real decision-making power.
Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm