This piece is written by Janine Del Mundo, one of the Co-Executive Directors of Lunas Collective.
It has been a month since the fourth Global Mental Health Advocacy Forum (GMHAF), convened by the Global Mental Health Action Network (GMHAN) and hosted by United for Global Mental Health, in Iloilo City, Philippines.
We at Lunas Collective, as part of the AwareNest Community of Practice (CoP)—funded organizations whose participation in the forum was supported by EMpower – The Emerging Markets Foundation—are now mapping ways to translate the forum’s learnings into concrete outcomes.
More than a space for networking, the forum affirmed the legitimacy of organizations integrating mental health into their work, such as Lunas Collective, a feminist organization focused on addressing gender-based violence (GBV) and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) concerns in the Philippines.
In our context, civil society and nonprofit organizations are often the first line of support that people turn to, especially for concerns rooted in sociopolitical struggles. Organizations like ours help build community resilience amid persistent challenges in accessing healthcare.
At Lunas Collective, we are deeply aware of the barriers people face when seeking help for experiences of GBV and their SRH needs. Because of this, we take extra steps to thoughtfully connect individuals to diverse forms of care and services. For example, we prepare them for possible challenges when approaching healthcare and service providers who may not yet be fully sensitive to the kind of care and support they need—especially when their concerns are considered taboo. In doing so, we create space to share and exchange strategies on how to engage with an imperfect healthcare system.
Relatedly, the one-day post-GMHAF CoP workshop highlighted the need for organizations working with grassroots communities to integrate mental health and SRH services. Mental health challenges do not exist independently of the social conditions in which people are situated. A coordinated mental health and SRH service will only affirm that our experiences are embodied, diverse, and contextual. Integrating mental health and SRH services is an area that Lunas Collective is intentionally advancing.
Given these realities, it is only right for organizations with a social justice and feminist agenda to claim space in forums like GMHAF and in the broader mental health landscape.
On a more personal note, as a formally trained mental health practitioner, my ethics and practice have been shaped by my work with Lunas Collective. Rather than limiting mental health care to traditional one-on-one counseling sessions, we continue to work toward designing spaces and systems that make care accessible, sustainable, and replicable—while remaining open to feedback, improvement, and collaboration.
Our volunteer-powered chat helpline reflects this approach. It is work that thrives on power-sharing between service providers and those who use the services.
This is the kind of work being carried out by organizations across sectors—Lunas Collective included—that recognize mental health not as a standalone service, but as a shared, community-rooted responsibility.
Janine Del Mundo is a psychologist-in-training based in the Philippines who integrates mental health with advocacy for human rights and sexual and reproductive health. She serves as one of the Co-Executive Directors of Lunas Collective, and she led the rebuilding of the organization’s chat helpline after the pandemic.