Stronger together: RED NOSES International for European Mental Health Week 2026
This year, for European Mental Health Week 2026, held under the theme Stronger Together: Prioritise Mental Health in a Changing Europe, RED NOSES International produced two original communication formats that bring our work, our values, and the voices of experts in arts and health directly to you.
Podcast episode
The first is a new episode of our podcast Between Two Curtains, in which we are joined by Ameer Shaheed, arts and health consultant, public health researcher, and musician, to ask a question that sits at the heart of European mental health care: are the arts a missing link? Drawing on landmark WHO research, fieldwork across 15 countries, and his own experience at the intersection of culture and public health, Ameer walks us through the evidence on what the arts genuinely do for mental health, tracing the physiological, psychological, and social mechanisms through which creativity heals, connects, and restores.
Listen to the full episode on:
Panel discussion
The second is a panel discussion, Arts, Mental Health & Young People: Challenging Stigma and Discrimination Together, moderated by Carmen Valero, Advocacy and Strategic Relations Lead at RED NOSES International, and featuring Dominique de Marné, founder of Mental Health Crowd and Board Member of Mental Health Europe, and Anna Olejnik, certified RED NOSES clown artist with RED NOSES Poland and psychologist. Together, they explore what it actually takes to support young people's mental health, through arts, community, and human connection, and what needs to change for genuine support systems to exist across Europe.
Both pieces reflect what RED NOSES International has believed for over 30 years: that joy, humour, and human connection are not peripheral to mental health care, they are essential to it. That belief extends beyond patients and young people to the professionals who care for them: the wellbeing of the people doing this work matters too. And it matters not only for them, but for every person they support.
We hope they inspire, provoke, and remind you that being stronger together starts with having the conversations that matter.