Empowering future innovators.
Overview
Innovative solutions in mental health require a cross-disciplinary approach -- starting with learning from each other. Our courses are highly collaborative, interactive, and fast-paced, drawing students and faculty from across schools and programs at Stanford. Courses provide current and future leaders with a well-rounded understanding of what is required to effectively innovate in mental health, from the fundamentals of clinical problem solving to human-centered product design.
Some past projects include:
- A service to decrease stress in high performance environments
- A program using school based interventions to heal childhood trauma
- A product to increase physical activity on locked inpatient units
- An app to connect those at risk for domestic violence to resources and community
- A social media campaign to decrease stigma of mental illness for teens
- A nonprofit to provide mental health resources to the children of incarcerated parents
Upcoming Course (Winter 2025)
PSYC 248/148: AI's Psyche and Psych: Mental Health in the Age of AI
How does AI make you feel? This course, led by two psychiatrists who are actively seeing patients and working with AI companies, will investigate the impact of generative AI on your/user mental health and the mental healthcare system. It will emphasize both the profound benefits of the technology while investigating its risks and poor outcomes. The class will cover topics ranging from the history of sentencing algorithms and current legal framework of AI and healthcare, to AI in organizations like NASA and the Department of Defense. It will round out this discussion by tapping into industry expertise to hear how the largest AI companies are thinking about mental health. It will help you understand how as a user of AI, you can protect yourself from harm and leverage the best of AI to improve your life and the life of others. Further, it will help you understand how to develop safe, effective, and inclusive AI that benefits society and humanity.
Tuesdays (1/6/2025-3/14/2025) 5:30 PM - 6:50 PM
Future Course (TBD)
PSYC 246: THE FUTURE OF MENTAL HEALTH
According to a recent Lancet Commission, the world’s failure to respond to the global mental health crisis has resulted in a “monumental loss of human capabilities and avoidable suffering”. The Future of Mental Health seminar (PSYC 246) provides students with the opportunity to hear experiences, stories, and insights from experts and influencers working on mental health across a diverse range of sectors- including athletics, entertainment, journalism/media, politics, business, ethics, science, technology, activism, medicine, education, and economics. These conversations will explore the mental health innovation landscape, the need for collaboration including product and program development, policy reform, and underlying cultural change. Students in all Stanford schools and programs are encouraged to enroll.
Previous Courses
PSYC 240: DESIGNING FOR THE 2 BILLION: LEADING INNOVATION IN MENTAL HEALTH
Instructors: Nina Vasan, Gowri Aragam, Steve Chan, Neha Chaudhary, Jon Sole, Madison McCall
PSYC 242: MENTAL HEALTH INNOVATION STUDIO: ENTREPRENEURSHIP, TECHNOLOGY, AND POLICY
Instructors: Nina Vasan, Gowri Aragam, Steve Chan, Neha Chaudhary, Jon Sole, Madison McCall
This course - the first university course on mental health innovation - empowers students of all backgrounds to confront contemporary challenges related to the U.S. mental health crisis through curiosity, creativity, and strategy. During the quarter, students will gain foundational knowledge in mental health, develop skills necessary to apply that knowledge to solutions in a practical context, and interface with world-renowned experts in the industry.
Students will also appreciate the role of cross-sector partnerships in mental healthcare leadership, and, by extension, develop effective communication, collaboration, and decision-making skills. This is partly facilitated by the course structure, which draws on students, faculty, and resources from across the University. Highly entrepreneurial and experiential, this course is ideal for future pioneers in a broad array of careers related to mental health.
Students will collaborate in multidisciplinary teams among graduate schools and undergraduate majors to design and pitch a mental health intervention with the guidance of expert faculty and mentors to improve clinical validity and scalability of the idea. Interventions may range from designing a wearable device, to creating a school based mental health intervention, to establishing better transitions of care for the incarcerated population.
**Non-Stanford students or professionals interested in taking PSYCH 248/148 course should email brainstormlab@stanford.edu for more information on special enrollment.**
Testimonials
“Drs. Vasan and Bandstra skip to a beat that keeps students engaged and inspired, highlighting the newest developments in the mental health space from both academia and industry. Students come from all walks of campus life... a unique composition that facilitates greater lateral thinking, innovation, and an amazing classroom environment. This class represents Stanford at its best.”
“Mental healthcare needs innovative solutions, and this course provides the perfect toolkit for students to make real change. Dr. Vasan and Dr. Bandstra have developed a thoughtful, rigorous approach for teaching students how to tackle the most important challenges in mental and behavioral health.”