UCLA Depression Grand Challenge seeks votes in competition for $100,000 grant

When “Game of Thrones” star Sophie Turner recently spoke about her years of battling severe depression, it once again shed light on both the prevalence and stigma of a problem that affects more than 300 million people worldwide.A UCLA-led project aiming to address that stigma is competing for $100,000 in funding from the  Goldhirsh Foundation, a Los Angeles nonprofit. The foundation’sMy LA 2050 Grants Challenge will distribute a total of $1 million to 10 organizations that are working to make Los Angeles the best place to play, connect, live, create and learn by 2050.UCLA ’s project, “Humanizing and Destigmatizing Depression,” is a part of the UCLA Depression Grand Challenge, a campuswide effort UCLA launched in 2015 to reduce the burden of depression worldwide. The grand challenge involves more than 100 researchers from 25 academic departments who are developing better understanding of depression and improved methods for prevention and treatment. One of its key goals is to develop targeted strategies to defeat the stigma associated with depression by raising awareness and fostering hope.The initiative competing for the LA 2050 grant would feature six regional events in Los Angeles designed “to spark conversation and empower Los Angeles to humanize depression.” Those discussions would in turn fuel digital media campaigns that would be disseminated throughout and beyond Los Angeles.“We aim to inspire members of Los Angeles communities to broadly share th...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news