Oluwatobi Adu 
GENEVA – The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a new implementation guide to help countries expand access to mental health services through evidence-based psychological self-help interventions, targeting millions of people who lack professional support.
The guide, released on Monday, forms part of WHO’s broader effort to strengthen community-based mental health care and address a growing global treatment gap affecting more than one billion people living with mental health conditions.
According to WHO, psychological self-help interventions offer structured techniques that individuals can use independently, supported by minimal human resources, making them particularly effective in low-resource settings. WHO Pushes Self-Help Tools to Tackle Mental Health Crisis
“Psychological self-help interventions are one way to help close this gap, offering structured techniques that people can use on their own, supported by minimal human resources,” WHO stated.
The publication, Psychological Self-Help Interventions: Delivering Self-Help for Individuals, Featuring Step-by-Step and Doing What Matters in Times of Stress, provides practical guidance for programme managers, supervisors, frontline workers and humanitarian actors on designing and implementing self-help programmes.
WHO said evidence shows that self-help interventions can significantly reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety when integrated into primary healthcare systems, community programmes and digital platforms.
The guide highlights two WHO-developed interventions — Step-by-Step and Doing What Matters in Times of Stress — both of which have undergone randomised controlled trials.
Digital versions of the programmes are already being implemented in national health services in Lebanon and Thailand, demonstrating how self-help models can safely and effectively expand mental health support.
The organisation said the initiative supports global efforts to make mental health services more accessible, affordable and scalable, particularly in underserved communities.
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Korede Abdullah 
