‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’

York researchers are at the forefront of Global efforts to prevent mental health difficulties before they become entrenched. This year Professor Simon Gilbody and David Ekers led the largest UK contingent at the 2023 gathering of the Global Consortium for Depression Prevention. The Global Consortium is the key platform for research leaders in this area and their eighth annual meeting, was held at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, US on 27-29 September 2023.  

The theme of this year’s consortium was “Depression prevention in the context of Diversity, Development, and the Digital Age”. This was the first meeting since the COVID pandemic, with the previous one being held at the University of York in 2019. This was an opportunity to learn about how the Global research community had responded to the challenges of COVID. 

Simon Gilbody is Professor of Psychological Medicine at the University of York and was recently elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences for his work on preventing depression and loneliness. David Ekers is visiting Professor of Mental Health at the University of York and is Director of R&D at Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV), the largest NHS Trust in the North of England. 

Professors Gilbody and Ekers gave an invited talk to 100 research leaders from the US, Australia, and Europe who had gathered in New England to plan and share their international research programme. The York-TEWV contingent spoke of their recent BASIL trial that has demonstrated the effectiveness of behavioural activation in preventing loneliness and depression during the COVID pandemic. BASIL is the largest trial of a brief psychological intervention for loneliness ever undertaken. This was the first time to share this research with this influential grouping. Their talk explored how such approaches can be delivered at scale and the opportunities for preventative strategies to improve the mental health of older people, who remain at particular risk of loneliness.

Speaking of the Global Prevention consortium, Professor Gilbody said, ‘it is said that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This is especially true in mental health, and it was an honour to represent the BASIL research team in this Global forum. Our research generated great interest and the feedback from the Consortium will ensure its global reach and impact’.  

Professor Ekers added, ‘York and TEWV benefit by linking up with the international research community to think about Global responses and preventative strategies. Our next biennial meeting will be in Groningen in 2025 and the challenge ahead is how we scale up preventative strategies such as those in our BASIL programme’.