2.Q. Skills building seminar: Mental Health Impact Assessment: making every decision count

Abstract Mental health is significantly influenced by social, economic, and physical environments. This has driven a paradigm shift from viewing mental health as solely an individual issue, to recognising its relevance across all sectors and society. This shift has also emphasised the need for population level mental health promotion on different levels. Despite this, the mental health impact of various decisions or actions are rarely assessed. Policy development relies on the availability of robust evaluation tools to measure their impact. The European Commission's “Better Regulation Agenda” supports evidence-based policies and practices, emphasising impact assessment as a crucial instrument for better regulation. A key component of this is Mental Health Impact Assessment (MHIA). MHIA acknowledges multiple individual and population determinants of mental health and highlights the importance of multisector collaboration. MHIA can be used for evaluating diverse actions addressing social determinants of mental health such as social policies for poverty reduction, social services, and community engagement to name a few. MHIA can also be used to evaluate environmental policies, or the impact of workplace policies such as work-life balance initiatives, or other organisational changes on mental health. MHIA is also applicable to healthcare policies supporting assessment of changes in mental health services, access to care, and treatment approaches on mental health outcomes. For MHIA to become more widespread, there must be a broad understanding of its need, and increased confidence in its implementation. Key objectives of the skills building workshop is to: * To raise awareness of the mental health impacts of various policies and actions across different sectors. * Introduce participants to the MHIA framework and provide practical and useable tools. * To develop participants’ skills in conducting MHIA, including data collection, analysis, and reporting. * To encourage multisector collaboration, and to provide guidance for fostering such collaboration within a MHIA. * To support the implementation of MHIA in participants’ respective fields and sectors. As there is clear value in using of lived experience, the seminar will include real examples of MHIA from Finnish and international contexts. The seminar includes two presentations: the first outlines recent findings from a systematic review, and the second describes the implementation of the MHIA in alignment with the Finnish Mental Health Strategy, followed by a collaborative learning session. Collaborative learning will be integrated into the skill building seminar by simulating MHIA using real case study examples, group activities and discussions. Participants will work in small groups, making use of digital solutions to explore different aspects of MHIA. The Finnish MHIA framework will be translated and provided for participants to use and implement in their local context. Key messages • Mental Health Impact Assessment (MHIA) is crucial for evaluating the mental health implications of various policies and actions across different sectors. • The skills-building workshop aims to raise awareness and develop practical skills for conducting Mental Health Impact Assessment (MHIA).