If she’s not on your radar already, Alanna Sethi is a mental health champion who is making big waves in her field.
She’s the founder of HOPE (Helping Our Planet Earth) – a non-profit working to improve accessibility to mental health support and resources for students and local communities, particularly in Asia. She had the dream to start the non-profit at just 11 years old – and is now scaling the non-profit and building out a team.
Her own lived experience drives her passion about early intervention and prevention, and the impact mental health support can have on the lives of young people.
She has quite the CV; in 2024 alone she received the Jackman Humanities Institute Scholar-in-Residence, Dean’s List Scholar and Sustainable Action Award at the University of Toronto, was the Laidlaw Undergraduate Leadership and Research Scholarship from the Laidlaw Foundation and was a recipient of the Global Citizen Youth Leaders Award for her work on HOPE.
Alanna has now received the Global Citizen Youth Leaders Award, which recognises young individuals who are innovators and advocates working to address the issues perpetuating extreme poverty from across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region; helping tackle the world’s biggest issues including climate, gender equity, and human rights.
We got to chat to Alanna about her work, and what drives her as she starts to focuses on mental health in her region, and beyond.
HOPE’S mission is to improve accessibility to mental health resources, particularly in Asia. What led you to focus on this region?
Compared to other parts of the world, Asia is one of the regions most affected by the mental health stigma and is lacking in mental health resources. Growing up in the multicultural diverse hub of Singapore, the communities I was a part of were heavily affected by mental health stigma. It was generally not talked about and so I only learnt what it was after studying abroad in England, when I was experiencing challenges to my mental health.
So, knowing what I know today, it was really important to me to give back to these communities that are so affected by stigma, and find accessible ways to improve the wellbeing of youth.
After attending the Global Citizen NOW: Melbourne Summit, I learnt more about Indigenous culture and traditional practices. I was really inspired by this experience and hope to find more opportunities to learn from and contribute to improving the mental health and wellbeing of Indigenous communities in the Asia-Pacific from a culturally informed and community-collaborative approach.
What systemic changes do you think are still needed to improve mental health accessibility?
Advocating for youth mental health is something that’s very close to my heart, and I am actively seeking opportunities to help inform policy and systemic change.
Very honestly, I think that the educational system needs to change. We have general physical education as part of our curriculum, and many schools have now also incorporated general sexual education as part of our curriculum. Why isn’t mental health included?
And when it is included, it needs to be more than existing to check off a box. Too many young people tell me that the few times they get mental health education, they’re told the same general concepts that they should eat healthy, do exercise, or practise meditation to improve mental health. Young people’s needs deserve to be heard. We need youth co-designed-and-delivered practical mental health education, rather than giving young people general information that they already know.
We also need to provide schools with safeguarding and accessibility training. Schools may be concerned about the liability risks of providing mental health education, especially with the rising number of youth mental health cases. But schools are where young people are being prepared for the real world.
We need schools to be accessible and be places that foster compassion and support to students, rather than discriminate against them based on their accessibility needs. This looks like accepting students on the basis of academic potential rather than rejection based on disability, providing reasonable accommodations where necessary instead of criticising youth for communicating about their needs.
What achievement are you most proud of?
Since the Global Citizen Youth Leaders Award, the past few months has been a whirlwind.
I was excited to organize Hong Kong’s first accessible and diverse mental health art exhibit, with the support of Global Youth Leader, Lester Dellosa, who contributed as a participating artist. I have been collaborating with another Youth Leader, Brigitta Gunawan, to develop an immersive 360° digital diving experience to promote mental resilience and inspire ocean conservation efforts.
I was named a Top 10 Finalist for the Chegg.org USD$100,000 Global Student Prize and interviewed live on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio. I launched HOPE’s School Partnership program as a pilot with Korean International School HK to empower their prefects as young leaders.
Most recently, I am so honoured to have been invited to be a panelist for the Duke-NUS Global Mental Health in Asia 2025 Post-Symposium Workshop.