UC Online Course Highlight: GLBH 171R

As the world continues to battle the ongoing COVID-19 virus, we are not just going through a global pandemic, but also an unprecedented mental health crisis. The pandemic, coupled with the severe economic recession, has significantly impacted people’s mental health and has created new challenges for those already suffering from mental illness. The importance of recognizing mental health has never been more important, and as a UC community, it is our job to educate ourselves on this integral aspect of our wellbeing and work to prioritize mental health for people worldwide. UC Online is excited to promote “Global Mental Health”, a fully remote course taught through UC San Diego that introduces students to the classic and contemporary issues surrounding mental illness. Through participation in this course, students will examine interventions on a global scale to be able to challenge preconceived notions surrounding mental health and illness and recognize the importance of prioritizing it in our lives. 

Global Mental Health is an interdisciplinary course that offers diverse academic perspectives from medical anthropology, cultural psychiatry, psychology, public health, and epidemiology. An all-encompassing educational perspective is critical to achieve a broader understanding of the mental health treatment process. This class also critically engages students through hearing from people who are most affected by mental illness, and how structural-institutional arrangements play a role in shaping mental health. Students will reach a sound understanding of what disorders serve as the leading causes of disability worldwide and work to counteract social stigma and discrimination associated with those conditions. 

This course is open to all UC students and is conducted completely online. Global Mental Health is a four-unit long course that meets every Thursday through Zoom. Attendance is mandatory for the entire duration of the class session. Students will also complete online modules that consist of engage, inform, discuss, and respond activities. Engage activities–which typically include reading a news article or watching a video–are designed to introduce students to the topic of the week. These activities will not be graded, but are expected to be completed prior to class. Inform lessons provide students with the assigned weekly readings and videos and require a short reading response to ensure understanding. The discussion takes place during class time and encourages active participation and engagement with the class about the readings and assignments. Response activities consist of a total of 5 bi-weekly short essays responding to an assigned prompt. To ease student stress, there will be no online midterm or final exam in this course. Please refer to the syllabus for more information about class expectations and learning objectives.

All class assignments and learning materials are designed to provide students with the skills needed to combat the stigma associated with mental illnesses and work to prioritize mental health on a global scale. Global Mental Health is the perfect course for those looking to be future change-makers in the healthcare field and advocate for the continued research, practice, and recognition of mental health.