Depression Grand Challenge

The UCLA Depression Grand Challenge releases STAND Tips, a web-based toolkit available to everyone that provides effective strategies to help manage common stress, anxiety and grief, especially during periods of hardship or following traumatic events.

The UCLA Depression Grand Challenge STAND for All program has been featured by the Mental Health Coalition as a top resource for college students in its inaugural College Student Mental Health Toolkit. The MHC designed and launched the toolkit for the start of the 2023 school year to equip college students with reliable resources, services and support needed to thrive as they transition into adult life.

With the goal of expanding its dissemination activities, the UCLA Depression Grand Challenge secured funding from supporters to recruit a senior investigator with implementation science expertise to join the DGC executive committee.

On May 16, 2022, Vice Chancellor Monroe Gorden and CAPS Director Nicole Green announced the opening of the Stress and Resilience or “STAR” Program.

In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, UCLA teamed up with Beyoncé’s BeyGOOD to open the STAND for All program to everyone. Through STAND for All, UCLA offers free self-guided online lessons to teach participants cognitive behavioral skills for self-management of low mood and anxiety.

After building content, a new platform, training a new cohort of coaches on the content and collaborating closely with students and administrators at East Los Angeles College, staff at Didi Hirsch and staff at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, the UCLA Depression Grand Challenge is excited to launch the STAND at ELAC program for ELAC students.

The UCLA Depression Grand Challenge was awarded two years of funding from the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health under the DMH+UCLA Public Partnership for Wellbeing in July 2020. This demonstration project explores the feasibility of implementing STAND in community colleges, as community college students are less likely to have access to mental health services and face significant need.

In response to the enormous and immediate need for support during COVID-19, UCLA partnered with Beyoncé’s BeyGOOD initiative and Jack Dorsey’s Start Small fund to create an online COVID-19 Care Package.

The DGC is recruiting approximately 200 people into the STAND coaching program. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, all training sessions are to be conducted remotely.