Introducing PLOS Mental Health: The Bigger Picture

Right from the outset, PLOS Mental Health is dedicated to employing multi-pronged approaches in order to hold a space for the voices and experiences that need to be elevated for the field to progress in a meaningful way. Aside from promoting our content, we have been starting to dig deeper into the stories behind the content with the launch of our ‘Community Case Studies’ series and we have also provided a forum for those who wish to share experiences anonymously through ‘Journeys in Mental Health’. As mentioned in our launch Editorial, we will consistently champion the voice of lived experiences in order to break down structural barriers that currently prevent too many from getting the support that they need. We will also provide a forum for interdisciplinary communication – so that all parties involved in the translation of research and implementation of policies can sit around the same table. 

We realise that, for everything we try to achieve as a journal, our authors are pivotal and without them, we will not be in a position to drive progress. This is why, as part of our mission, we are committed to shining a spotlight on the work and perspectives of our authors,and in particular, those who are Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and/or from historically underrepresented regions. To this end, we are proud to introduce a new series of quarterly bitesize seminars – ‘PLOS Mental Health: The Bigger Picture’. The development of this series, which has been steered by one of our ‘Cognition and Mental Health’ Section Editors, Christian Beste, aims to make the work of ECRs and those from underrepresented regions published in our journal as far reaching and accessible as possible. The seminars have been formulated with this specific goal in mind and so will…

• Be presented in non-specialist language and focus on the bigger picture of how the work advances the field. Non-specialist language ensures that the seminars are more accessible to all communities – especially those which the studies are aiming to serve.

• Be short. With busy schedules and limited internet bandwidth in many parts of the world, having lengthy recordings will limit accessibility and so seminars will be in the region of 10-15 mins maximum.

• Include the authors. Authors of featured content will be involved in the discussion giving them the opportunity to share the inspiration behind, and objectives of, their work as well as discuss how they see their work contributing to the field.

The first seminar focuses on a recent Opinion piece in the journal, which discusses implications of the framing of lay counselling. We are joined by some of the authors behind this piece, including Parbati Shrestha from Transcultural Psychosocial Organization Nepal who shares how this Opinion came about and where we go from here.

We look forward to sharing our next ‘Bigger Picture’ seminar and will continue to utilize different means of promoting the work of our authors with accessibility in mind.

View the first ‘The Bigger Picture’ recording below:

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