Global mental health offers a wide range of career opportunities that span across disciplines, sectors, and levels of the socio-ecological model. Professionals in this field may work in clinical practice, research, program implementation, management, advocacy, or policy—each contributing uniquely to improving mental health and well-being around the world.
Because these pathways are so diverse, navigating a career in global mental health can take many forms. One might work directly with communities to strengthen mental health services, lead research that informs global policy, or manage programs that help scale-up evidence-based interventions.
We hope the examples provided below can be helpful in identifying interests, clarifying goals, and exploring a wide breadth of potential careers. Whether it be at a university, in a hospital, or in the field, there are countless ways to contribute meaningfully to the growing field of global mental health.
Career Paths
Clinical Practitioner careers include psychiatry, clinical psychology, social work, and mental health nursing, focusing on diagnosing, treating, and supporting individuals experiencing mental health conditions across diverse contexts. Read more
Project Implementation and Management careers include program manager, and monitoring and evaluation specialists, roles which require working closely with governments, NGOs, community health workers, clinicians, and researchers to translate evidence into action in the field. Read more
Researcher careers include epidemiologist, clinical research coordinator, and research analysts, roles that focus on understanding the causes, consequences, and treatment of mental health conditions across diverse cultural and socioeconomic contexts. Read more
External Resources
Job Boards, Internship Opportunities, Research Assistant Postings
- Duke Careers
- Academic Jobs Online
- Consortium of Universities for Global Health
- NIH
- Partners in Health
- RTI International
- NC Global Health Alliance
- Impact Source
- Association of Schools and Programs for Public Health
- Johns Hopkins (Bloomberg School of Public Health)
- UNC Chapel Hill
- Emory University (Maternal and Child Health Center for Excellence)
Career Development Resources
- MHPPS Courses: The Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) website hosts a number of free courses in global mental health for those interested, including courses on mhGAP and mental health in humanitarian settings.
- WHO Academy: mhGAP: The World Health Organization website also has a free course on mhGAP, which includes interactive modules to learn how to use the mhGAP Intervention Guide to identify, assess, manage, follow-up and refer people living with priority mental, neurological and substance use disorders.
- Coursera Courses in GMH: The online platform Coursera offers a variety of free course modules related to global mental health, taught by professors at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Yale School of Public Health, and others.