Depression Grand Challenge

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.

Jonathan Flint, UCLA behavioral geneticist and Depression Grand Challenge Executive Committee member, shared background about the theory of the “warrior gene” in a blog post written for the Oxford University Press.

In an effort to understand more about depression experienced by pregnant and new moms, we are recruiting women who receive care at a UCLA OBGYN clinic and who are between week 28 of their pregnancy and 6 months postpartum.

Today is the launch of the second pilot phase of the study, involving approximately 140 participants recruited from UCLA Health. As with the prior pilot phase, this phase will be conducted entirely remotely.

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 has established an advisory committee to help ensure its programs and decisions promote social justice and anti-racism. The inaugural DGC Social Justice Advisory Committee includes: Jeanne Miranda, chair, Gaby Aguilera, Denise Chavira, Nicole Green, Stan Huey, Tamar Kodish, Isabelle Lanser and Anna Lau.

UCLA Depression Grand Challenge Co-Director Michelle Craske (psychology and psychiatry professor) was a featured speaker at a virtually streamed Scientific Symposium presented by One Mind on September 12, 2020. One Mind’s 26th Music Festival for Brain Health celebrated groundbreaking ideas, brain health and community with a virtually streamed concert and Scientific Symposium.

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.

Nelson Freimer, UCLA Depression Grand Challenge director, appeared on KTVU San Francisco to discuss the DGC’s pilot research project in collaboration with Apple.

The UCLA Depression Grand Challenge has begun a pilot research project in collaboration with Apple, called the Digital Mental Health Study. The study seeks to develop more objective measures for detecting depression and anxiety.