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This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

SO389

Stop Stigma Together: A Grand Challenge Initiative in the United States

STOP STIGMA TOGETHER: A U.S. GRAND CHALLENGE INITIATIVE

A four-year study of a national, multistakeholder initiative to combat stigma surrounding mental illness and substance use disorders yielded a community weaving model that combines a central architecture with semi-autonomous task forces.

The aim is to report findings from a national grand challenge initiative focused on reducing stigma surrounding mental illness and substance use disorders (SUDs) in the United States and to understand how multiple stakeholders can coordinate nationwide anti-stigma efforts. A four-year collaborative study of the Stop Stigma Together initiative was conducted, drawing on hundreds of hours of participant observation at leadership meetings, task force meetings, and summits; dozens of formal and informal interviews with key leaders and members; and archival data comprising internal documents and correspondence dating from the initiative’s inception. Grounded theory techniques (case summaries, coding, memo writing, and modeling) were used in the analysis. Described as an organization of organizations targeting structural, social, and internalized stigma simultaneously, the initiative encompasses more than 300 partners and organizations. It establishes task forces in areas such as journalism, entertainment, the criminal justice system, workplaces, children and youth and families, marginalized communities, and rural communities, and organizes national summits, the public-facing Love, Your Mind campaign, and joint research projects involving academics and practitioners. The community weaving model derived from the research combines a central architecture with semi-autonomous task forces, maintaining sufficient alignment around a shared purpose while allowing locally meaningful action through tailored organizing and communication. The poster identifies three tensions that threaten collaboration: stakeholder inclusion versus exclusion, defined versus abstract measures of success, and expanding membership versus nurturing existing membership. The architecture and strategies associated with the founding phase are listed as unconventional leadership, an organization of organizations, and a socialized shared vision; those associated with the expansion phase include opportunistic strategizing, making partnership synergies visible, strengthening the volunteerism paradigm, facilitating diverse stakeholder gatherings, and sustaining a multivocal vision. The authors note that, as the initiative grows, it iteratively reworks ongoing tensions surrounding membership, identity, and values, and they present the model as a framework transferable to other countries, states, and regions.

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