Building a new future for youth mental health in Colombia

Mental health is central to any conversation about equity, inclusion, and justice—especially for young women in the Global South. It is time to stop treating it as an afterthought.

Dr Laura Ospina-Pinillos in Bucaramanga, Colombia, speaking with a group of young people about the main issues affecting mental health in their community.

I was raised in a household where the idea of a woman leading was never questioned—it was the norm. My great-grandmother, Ofelia Uribe de Acosta, was a pioneer of Colombian feminism in the early 20th century. A writer, educator, and fearless advocate for women’s political and economic rights, she championed suffrage and used her voice boldly in a country not ready to hear it.

My mother, Clara Isabel Pinillos Abozaglo, followed suit. She was a congresswoman, a position earned not by appointment but by popular vote—a reflection of her deep ties with the communities she served. Growing up, I witnessed her leadership not from afar, but in motion: navigating rural roads, standing in town squares, and listening intently in crowded community halls. Those moments, etched in memory, taught me that leadership starts with presence.

These early experiences shaped how I understand power. Leadership was not about holding office; it was about proximity, showing up, and translating ideals into impact. From my great-grandmother and mother, I inherited more than stories—I inherited a worldview. One where equity, diversity, and public service are non-negotiable values. One where power is a tool for transformation, not preservation.

From politics to psychiatry

From this lineage, it may have seemed natural for me to pursue a traditional political career. But I chose medicine, and eventually psychiatry, not as a departure from politics, but as a different way of engaging with the world.

Mental health is not confined to the clinic or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM); it is threaded through every aspect of life, including politics. It shows up in how we design our cities, fund our schools, respond to conflict, or support caregivers. It is shaped by policy, culture, inequality, and connection.

Psychiatry, especially when working with young people, allows me to sit at the crossroads of these forces. It means accompanying people in moments of profound vulnerability while also holding a lens to the systems that produce or perpetuate distress. In that sense, my work is both clinical and structural. It is deeply personal and inherently collective.

I have been lucky to live a life shaped by privilege and filled with opportunities that are not easy to access, especially for women in Colombia. These opportunities did not come easily. They had to be pursued with hard work, determination, and multiple scholarships.

I studied in Colombia, then in Europe, learning new languages and adapting to new ways of life. I travelled across continents, studying family therapy in Italy and later completing a PhD at the University of Sydney in Australia. These experiences exposed me to different cultures, systems, and ways of thinking, and opened my mind to new approaches to care and collaboration.

I am now one of the few women psychiatrists in Colombia with a PhD, and the only child and adolescent psychiatrist who holds a PhD. I have come to understand that opportunities are not just gifts, but responsibilities. That knowledge comes with a duty I cannot ignore. Though I was offered opportunities to stay abroad, I knew I had to return to Colombia.

Returning to a mental health crisis

Returning to Colombia was both a personal and political act. While many peers remained abroad, I chose to come back—not despite the challenges, but because of them. The youth mental health crisis in Colombia is urgent.

One in two Colombians is under the age of 25, yet the systems designed to support them remain fragmented and under-resourced. According to the latest National Mental Health Survey, one in eight adolescents experiences mental health problems, and mental disorders account for nearly a third of all disability-adjusted life years among young people aged 15–24. Suicide rates in this age group have steadily risen, with young people aged 20–24 facing the highest suicide rates in the country across all age groups.

These are not just statistics—they are daily realities in classrooms, clinics, and homes across the country. They are compounded by structural and historical challenges, including poverty, forced migration, inequality, and the lasting effects of one of the world’s longest-running internal conflicts. For adolescent girls and young women, these burdens are worsened by gender-based violence, stigma, and systemic barriers to care.

In response to the mental health crisis, I knew we needed new ways forward. Traditional models were not reaching those most in need—especially in underserved areas. Innovation in mental health is not about novelty, but about relevance, responsiveness, and courage. It means asking hard questions, collaborating across boundaries, and experimenting beyond tradition. Real solutions do not trickle down; they rise from lived experience, youth insight, and local knowledge—starting where the need is greatest.

Creating new digital mental health tools

Technology is offering opportunities we did not have before—solutions that are agile, scalable, and fast to implement. While living and studying in Australia, I witnessed how digital mental health tools were transforming care, making it more accessible, timely, and patient-centred. But when I looked to Colombia and the broader Spanish-speaking world, I saw a different picture: few tools, slow implementation, and large swathes of the population left out. The digital mental health gap was real. And widening. I realised that the same technologies helping people elsewhere were not being adapted to our context.

That was when I knew we could not wait for global innovation to arrive—we had to build it ourselves. At Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, I was trusted to lead innovation. It was an opportunity that reflected the university's belief in my work and the urgency of building context-specific mental health solutions from within Colombia.

That is why I have led the creation of digital tools and community-based strategies to expand access to care. These include Collective Minds, a free telecounselling service that has reached over 7,500 users; EnMental, the largest Spanish-language psychoeducation website with over 200 co-designed resources for youth and carers; and I co-designed one of the first youth self-help mental health platforms in Colombia.

But what matters most to me is not the technology or publications. It is the approach: rooted in curiosity, humility, and the belief that transformation happens through proximity. Working closely with young people, trusting in their insights, and collaborating with those who experience the gaps firsthand—that is where real change begins.

Stop treating mental health as a footnote

Being a woman leader in global mental health from the Global South is both a challenge and a privilege. It requires navigating systems not designed for us and reimagining them in real time. Colombia is not a backdrop—it is a protagonist in my work. Its challenges, resilience, and complexity fuel my vision for change.

As the world prepares for the 2025 UN High-Level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases and Mental Health, I hope we stop treating mental health as a footnote. Especially for young women in the Global South, it is central to any conversation about equity, inclusion, and justice. It is time to invest in bold, locally rooted, gender-responsive solutions—and in the people willing to build them.

For my children, my patients, and the millions of young people growing up in Colombia, I wish for a world that not only acknowledges mental health struggles but meets them with imagination and resolve. Because building a better future—one that is attuned, inclusive, and responsive—begins when we trust in new ways of seeing and create the space for transformation to take root.

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The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Re:solve Global Health.

Dr Laura Ospina-Pinillos is an assistant professor at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, and a pioneer in digital mental health. With more than 15 years of clinical and research experience, she publishes internationally and leads innovative national and international projects. In 2022, she was recognised by the Inter-American Development Bank as a Woman Champion in Digital Health, advancing youth mental health through participatory and culturally adapted solutions.