WHO is organizing a 1-day workshop in Yerevan to build capacity for planning evidence-based anti-stigma and anti-discrimination activities among key mental health stakeholders in Armenia. The event, which follows a webinar held in July 2025, is being co-produced by WHO/Europe, the WHO Country Office in Armenia and national lived-experience experts.
Part of the European Union-funded project “Health Resilience in the Eastern Partnership”, the workshop will bring together people with lived experience of mental health conditions; parents of children with neurological and intellectual disabilities; health professionals and representatives from the Government, civil society and advocacy groups; and members of the Armenian National Mental Health Coalition.
Mosaic: a tool for ending stigma and discrimination
Stigma and discrimination are among the greatest barriers to mental health and well-being across the WHO European Region. Many people living with mental health conditions find it difficult to live fulfilling lives because of both obvious and subtle forms of prejudice and discrimination. As a result, they can have trouble accessing health care, getting and keeping jobs, getting an education and even building a family.
To help countries address these challenges, WHO/Europe developed the Mosaic toolkit to end stigma and discrimination in mental health. It offers practical, evidence-based guidance for reducing stigma, focusing on 3 key principles:
- leadership and co-leadership by people with lived experience
- social contact and dialogue between people with and without lived experience
- inclusive partnerships across sectors and communities.
Workshop objectives
Co-led by national experts and WHO experts, the workshop will guide participants through discussions and group work on the critical importance of addressing mental health stigma and discrimination. It will also focus on how to apply the principles of the Mosaic toolkit to develop evidence-based anti-stigma activities to be implemented with WHO support.
Participants will:
- deepen their understanding of stigma and discrimination and how these impact mental health;
- learn how to collaborate equitably with people with lived experience;
- explore how to use social contact strategies to reduce stigma and discrimination;
- identify key stakeholders and allies for future work in Armenia; and
- develop and plan evidence-based anti-stigma activities to be implemented in 2026.
A regional effort
The “Health Resilience in the Eastern Partnership” project is a multiyear partnership funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enlargement and the Eastern Neighbourhood. The project supports the 5 countries in the Eastern Partnership – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine – in strengthening their health systems, with pillars focusing on the health workforce and mental health.
This workshop is aligned with the mental health pillar of the project, which focuses on ensuring that mental health support is accessible, equitable and person-centred. Reducing stigma and discrimination is one of the main objectives of this collaboration.
Beyond reducing stigma and discrimination, the project is an important step towards ensuring that people with lived experience of mental health conditions are recognized as active partners and experts in shaping recovery-oriented, person-centred and human rights-based mental health policies and services.