Momentum is growing globally for rights-based, person-centered, and recovery-oriented mental health policies and action plans, ensuring equitable access to quality services within Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

This publication provides a clear framework for strengthening leadership, governance, service delivery, and workforce capacity. It highlights mental health’s connection to social and structural determinants—such as poverty, housing, education, and employment—offering actionable strategies to address these, combat stigma and discrimination, and expand access to care. It emphasizes the crucial role of people with lived experience in shaping inclusive, responsive systems and advocates for cross-sector collaboration to deliver holistic support, integrating lifestyle, and physical health, psychological, social, and economic interventions while promoting well-being and prevention.

The Guidance comprises five modules.

Module 5. Comprehensive directory of policy areas, directives, strategies and actions helps stakeholders navigate material from Module 2. It can facilitate discussions on policy reform and planning with staff and key stakeholders. Its summary approach helps policymakers quickly assess key elements that may be present, missing, or need strengthening in their mental health system or policies.

• Module 1. Introduction, purpose and use of the guidance
• Module 2. Key reform areas, directives, strategies, and actions for mental health policy & strategic action plans
• Module 3. Process for developing, implementing, and evaluating mental health policy & strategic action plans
• Module 4. Country case scenarios

P.20 Physical health and lifestyle interventions:

• physical activity and sport;
• nutrition and healthy diet;
• sleep;
• sexual and reproductive health;
• stress management and relaxation techniques (for example, mindfulness-based interventions, yoga);
• art and culture-based therapy;
• nature-based green and blue interventions;
• harm reduction interventions (for example, needle and syringe programmes in relation to alcohol use or substance use);
• screening, brief interventions, and referral to treatment for hazardous substance use (including alcohol) and substance use disorders;
• tobacco cessation; and
• collaboration/referral for screening and treatment of physical health conditions as appropriate (for example, diabetes, CVD, cancer, HIV/AIDS).

Psychological interventions:

• cognitive behavioural therapy, interpersonal therapy, behavioural activation therapy, brief psychodynamic therapy, third-wave therapies, trauma-informed approaches (for example, psychotherapy with a trauma focus, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), and — mainly in relation to alcohol or substance use — contingency management therapy, motivational interviewing and enhancement therapy, positive affect therapy, supportive expressive therapy;
• eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (E M D R);
• family therapy (for example, parenting programmes including home visits for pregnant or postpartum mothers, their partner, and their children, couples therapy, family-focused interventions);...