This blog contains content about mental health and suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, please see here for a list of helplines around the world.
In honor of World Mental Health Day, Zoom Cares, our social impact arm, is spotlighting four partners making mental health a priority in their communities.
At Zoom, we want to see a world where mental health is prioritized by all of society as a human right, from schoolteachers to politicians, from homes to workplaces, at local and global levels. In order to achieve systemic change, different sectors must come together to support one another.
Among those aged 15 to 19, depression, anxiety, and behavioral disorders are the leading causes of illness and disability, and suicide is the fourth-leading cause of death. This is why Zoom Cares provides funding and technology donations to organizations that are youth-focused, community-based, and that exist to raise the voices of marginalized groups working to address mental health care challenges so that young people may achieve their full potential. These organizations are also led by folks with lived experience.
An example of this leadership is the founder of Letters to Strangers, Diana Chao, who shared that when she was 13 years old she found out she had bipolar disorder. Not long after, she attempted suicide. At the time, “mental health” did not exist in her vocabulary given she was a first-generation immigrant to the U.S. from the poorest province in China, and Asian-Americans and minorities at large tend to seek mental health services at significantly lower rates than White-Americans. Diana turned to writing, and when she was just a sophomore in high school she started Letters to Strangers.
From providing free telehealth counseling services in India, suicide prevention support in Japan and Brazil, and letter-writing exchanges across the globe, the four groups highlighted here focus not only on destigmatizing mental ill-health and delivering care, but also go above and beyond to ensure their services are accessible to all. Check out our partner spotlights below to learn more about each organization.