The social determinants of mental health (SDMH), as recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, involve the economic, social, and political conditions into which one is born that influence a person’s mental health—and, in particular, that affect the likelihood a person raised in deficient or dangerous conditions often associated with poverty will develop persistent mental health challenges throughout his or her life. This definition was part of a background paper presented on January 11, 2019 by Zohray Talib of the California University of Science and Medicine and Carl Sheperis, formerly with the National Board for Certified Counselors, at the information-gathering session held in Irvine, California, in preparation for a workshop of the Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education. The information gathering was intended to provide members of the workshop planning committee with an opportunity to gain a better understanding of stakeholder views on educating health professionals to address the SDMH. Conversations that took place during the sessions were framed by the statement of task (see Box 1-1), which would form the foundation of the workshop on this topic taking place in Washington, DC, on November 14–15, 2019. 

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