Many young people in Indonesia face significant mental health challenges. In 2022, the Indonesia – National Adolescent Mental Health Survey (I-NAMHS) reported that 34.9% of young Indonesians experienced mental health problems in the past year. However, only 2.6% sought help from mental health services. Growing evidence suggests that digital mental health interventions could be accessible and effective in supporting young people’s mental health. However, this evidence largely originates from high-resource settings and does not yet address the specific mental health needs and preferences of youth in low-resource settings like Indonesia. This gap is particularly acute for youth with a history of mental health conditions and experience of violence. In addition, the perspectives, capacities, and engagement of parents, caregivers, and other stakeholders in supporting young people’s mental health in low-resource settings need to be explored. To address this, the Kita Bersama (We Are Together) research project aims to develop accessible, culturally relevant digital mental health interventions through co-design workshops grounded in the Double Diamond framework. The workshops actively engage young people aged 10-24 years with lived experience of mental health challenges and/or violence, along with parents, caregivers, and other stakeholders. Key qualitative findings related to young people's mental health needs and coping strategies, as well as the roles, capacities, and barriers for parents, caregivers, and other stakeholders in supporting youth mental health, will be presented. Additionally, key learnings on the methodological challenges and successes of conducting the research with vulnerable youth will be shared. The findings will inform the development of the Kita Bersama digital mental health intervention and offer transferable learnings for similar digital youth mental health initiatives in low-resource settings.

Three Key Learnings
1. Insight into the specific mental health needs, coping strategies, and digital intervention preferences of Indonesian youth, particularly those with lived experience of mental health challenges and/or violence.
2. An understanding of the perceived roles, capacities, and barriers for parents, caregivers, and other stakeholders in supporting youth mental health within low-resource community settings.
3. Practical strategies and methodological learnings for successfully and ethically engaging vulnerable youth and their wider community ecosystem in co-design research.

Many young people in Indonesia face significant mental health challenges. In 2022, the Indonesia – National Adolescent Mental Health Survey (I-NAMHS) reported that 34.9% of young Indonesians experienced mental health problems in the past year. However, only 2.6% sought help from mental health services. Growing evidence suggests that digital mental health interventions could be accessible and effective in supporting young people’s mental health. However, this evidence largely originates from high-resource settings and does not yet address the specific mental health needs and preferences of youth in low-resource settings like Indonesia. This gap is particularly acute for youth with a history of mental health conditions and experience of violence. In addition, the perspectives, capacities, and engagement of parents, caregivers, and other stakeholders in supporting young people’s mental health in low-resource settings need to be explored. To address this, the Kita Bersama (We Are Together) research project aims to develop accessible, culturally relevant digital mental health interventions through co-design workshops grounded in the Double Diamond framework. The workshops actively engage young people aged 10-24 years with lived experience of mental health challenges and/or violence, along with parents, caregivers, and other stakeholders. Key qualitative findings related to young people's mental health needs and coping strategies, as well as the roles, capacities, and barriers for parents, caregivers, and other stakeholders in supporting youth mental health, will be presented. Additionally, key learnings on the methodological challenges and successes of conducting the research with vulnerable youth will be shared. The findings will inform the development of the Kita Bersama digital mental health intervention and offer transferable learnings for similar digital youth mental health initiatives in low-resource settings.