"For me, the mental health sector offers both a scientific challenge and a human mission," explains
Jesus Emmanuel A. D. Sevilleja, an epidemiologist at the National Center for Mental Health in the Philippines. "It means contributing to equity, empowerment and human rights."
Emmanuel's work is rooted in evidence—he generates data on the burden, risk factors, and outcomes of mental health conditions to inform policy, clinical guidelines and effective interventions. But it was his direct interactions with people living with psychosocial, intellectual and cognitive disabilities during one of his research projects that first inspired him to turn his love of research towards mental health.
"These encounters allowed me to appreciate the lived realities of service users, including the stigma, discrimination and exclusion they often face. Their stories revealed the urgent need to transform not only the science of mental health but also the culture of care."
Driven by this desire to help change the lives of those who experience mental health issues, Emmanuel completed the WHO 'QualityRights in Mental Health' online, self-paced course. The six-module course provides the foundation for challenging stigma and discrimination and for promoting person-centred approaches in mental health.
"The course reshaped the way I view mental health by grounding it in human rights, dignity and recovery-oriented practice," he said. "Now, I will embed rights-based principles in study design, data collection and interpretation so that research not only produces knowledge but also empowers service users."
"The course taught me that people with lived experience should not just be passive recipients of care or research subjects but active co-creators of solutions. I will engage service users and families more meaningfully in research, policy and programme design to ensure that their voices and preferences shape outcomes."
While all employees of the National Center for Mental Health in the Philippines are required to complete the training, Emmanuel excelled and remains at the top of the leaderboard of the 141 000 people who have enrolled in the course globally. Emmanuel's experience is echoed in a global evaluation of the course, which analyzed data from over 3000 learners. The results were striking: attitudes toward people with mental health conditions improved by 22.78% overall after completing the course, with even greater shifts in low- and middle-income countries (29.18%) compared to high-income countries (20.58%) [1] .
"I especially appreciated the practical examples and case scenarios that showed how human rights can be applied in real-world situations, offering strategies to challenge stigma, reduce coercive practices and promote service user participation," notes Emmanuel. "The course was also highly inclusive, designed not only for health professionals but also for service users, families and communities, reinforcing that mental health is everyone's concern and that real change requires collective effort."
The global evaluation also highlighted the course's feasibility, with a completion rate of 54.17%, far above the typical 10–30% for online courses [1] . With learners all around the world, the course is a significant tool towards systemic change in the mental health sector. "In my institution I have seen positive change in raising awareness, challenging stigma and moving towards a rights-based, person-centered approach to care," says Emmanuel.
"I would strongly recommend this course. What makes the course especially impactful is its practicality – offering approaches that can be applied immediately in clinical work, research, advocacy and policy. Most importantly, it empowers learners to become champions of change, transforming mental health systems away from outdated, coercive practices toward inclusive, equitable, and rights-based care."
The QualityRights in Mental Health course, as well as other free courses on a range of health topics, can be found at whoacademy.org.
