Addressing the Growing Mental Health Gap: HELP University and Good Mood Collaborate to Strengthen Education and Professional Training

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (26 March 2026) As mental health challenges continue to rise globally, the need for well-trained professionals, accessible services, and scalable solutions has become increasingly urgent. In Asia, this gap is particularly pronounced, where demand for mental health support is growing faster than the systems designed to meet it.

Recent data highlights the scale of the issue. In China, lifetime prevalence rates for mental health conditions remain significant, including anxiety (7.6%), depression (6.8%), and dementia (5.6%). The number of potentially mentally ill adults has increased steadily over the past decades, reaching approximately 240 million in 2024.

However, access to care remains limited. Only 9.5% of individuals in China who require mental health support seek or receive treatment, compared to 19% in upper-middle-income countries and 70% in high-income countries. This gap is further compounded by a shortage of trained professionals, with just 3.5 psychiatrists per 100,000 population — a figure significantly lower than countries such as Japan (11.9) and the United States (45).

These challenges are not unique to China but reflect broader regional trends, including low awareness of mental health conditions, persistent social stigma, and a mismatch between supply and demand of qualified practitioners.

In response to these growing needs, HELP University has partnered with Good Mood, a technology-driven digital mental health group based in China, to strengthen mental health education and professional counselling training across the region.

Rather than focusing solely on service delivery, the collaboration places education and capacity-building at its core. The initiative will focus on developing the next generation of mental health professionals through academic programmes, structured counselling training, and skills development for psychological service providers, alongside opportunities for international academic exchange.

A key component of the collaboration involves the joint development of professional upskilling programmes tailored for medical and mental health practitioners. These programmes will cover essential competencies such as active listening, crisis counselling, grief support, and mental health management. Designed across multiple tiers, the training will integrate online learning, AI-enabled tools, and assessment frameworks to ensure both accessibility and quality.

By combining HELP University’s academic expertise in psychology and counselling with Good Mood’s large-scale digital platform, the collaboration seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice, while expanding access to mental health education in a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape.

Good Mood currently operates one of the largest integrated digital mental health platforms in China, with a network of approximately 70,000 psychiatrists and neurologists and over 13 million registered users as of 2025. The platform facilitates more than 3 million online service visits annually, underscoring the growing role of digital technologies in addressing gaps in mental healthcare access.

Professor Datuk Dr Paul Chan, Chancellor of HELP University, said the collaboration is an important step in strengthening the global ecosystem for mental health education and technology-enabled healthcare innovation. He noted that mental health is one of the defining challenges of our time and emphasised that education must serve humanity by strengthening both intellectual capability and human well-being.

He added that the partnership brings together academic excellence and technological innovation to develop new models of education, professional training, and AI-supported mental health services, while expanding training into areas such as digital health management and integrated healthcare systems.

Chen Guanwei, Chief Executive Officer of Good Mood, added that the collaboration aligns with the organisation’s broader vision of expanding mental health capabilities through innovation and education.

“Through this partnership, we aim to strengthen talent development, enhance professional training, and contribute to a more connected and responsive mental health ecosystem. Education and technology must work together to meet the scale of today’s challenges,” he said.

As mental health continues to gain global attention, collaborations that prioritise education, professional development, and innovation will play a critical role in shaping more resilient and inclusive healthcare systems.