Jo Malone London, Spotify, Zurich Insurance Group join Global Coalition for Youth Mental Well-being

Three leading companies join UNICEF and Z Zurich Foundation to advocate for greater investment and action to support young people’s mental health and well-being.

The Global Coalition for Youth Mental Well-being, hosted by UNICEF, is pleased to announce today that three leading global companies - Jo Malone London, Spotify, and Zurich Insurance Group - have joined the initiative.

The new members of the coalition, which was first launched in April 2022 with the support of Z Zurich Foundation, will play a lead role in helping to drive forward public and private sector investment and action to promote mental well-being, prevent mental health challenges, and ensure support to young people and caregivers with mental health conditions.

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, young people were suffering the most with half of all mental disorders developing before the age of 14, and 75 per cent by early adulthood.* One in seven young people were estimated to be experiencing mental challenges. Despite this, on average just 2% of government health budgets globally are allocated to mental health.**

Support for youth mental health promotion and prevention is particularly low. While Government funding globally is mostly channelled to addressing crisis intervention and chronic mental illnesses, more funds need to be directed towards mental well-being promotion and prevention.

The announcement of the new members comes in the month following World Mental Health Day, which helped to shine a spotlight on the growing burden of mental health issues on children, adolescents and caregivers worldwide, but also highlighted the severe global shortage of funding and action on mental well-being.

“Children and young people are our future, and we should be doing everything we can to invest in the support they need. Failure to do so leaves them vulnerable to greater distress and at risk of missing out on life chances, limiting their future potential,” said Carla Haddad Mardini, Director of UNICEF’s Private Fundraising and Partnerships. “Businesses have a crucial role to play in raising awareness and helping to drive more investment and action. I'd like to thank Jo Malone London, Spotify, Z Zurich Foundation and Zurich Insurance Group for showing global leadership on this issue, and urgently encourage others to do the same.”

The growing gap between need and investment and action is why the Global Coalition for Youth Mental Well-being is calling for public and private sector companies to join the global movement to realize its ambition of reaching 30 million young people in 30 countries by 2030.

"For the past 10 years, Jo Malone London has been committed to positive mental health through raising awareness, providing support and helping to reduce stigma. In honour of this 10-year milestone, we are thrilled to join the UNICEF-hosted Global Coalition for Youth Mental Wellbeing. We will leverage the Coalition’s collective voice to help stamp out stigma and provide support for children, adolescents and caregivers. Collaboration will be key and working together with other businesses will be critical to inspire hope and to make a much-needed difference," said Jo Dancey, Global General Manager, Jo Malone London.

The Coalition will engage its members and network to address stigma, raise awareness, increase private and public investment for mental well-being programming and improve business practices related to workplace mental well-being. UNICEF believes the latter not only improves employee well-being and company performance, but also employees’ family and community mental well-being.

"At the Z Zurich Foundation, we are prioritizing the mental well-being of young people and programs which support them. We are calling on the private sector to join us and support the Global Coalition for Youth Mental Well-being. Through joint action, we can help create a brighter future for young people globally," said Gary Shaughnessy, Chair of the Z Zurich Foundation.

"As a global insurance company, we know that prevention is better than relief and repair and this is true for most of the global challenges that society is facing today. We strongly believe that private and public investments should be increased to improve mental well-being promotion and prevention work. That is why we are proud to have joined the Global Coalition for Youth Mental Wellbeing hosted by UNICEF. Zurich Insurance Group is committed to working hand in hand with other corporations to ensure mental wellbeing is a global priority. We welcome other leading businesses to join us," said Linda Freiner, Group Head of Sustainability, Zurich Insurance Group.

The Coalition was born out of the belief that addressing this challenge requires concerted and collective action by a range of stakeholders. It is now time for joint action on mental health, for every child.

*Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, Jin R, Merikangas KR, Walters EE. (2005). Lifetime Prevalence and Age-of-Onset Distributions of DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62 (6) pp. 593-602.doi:10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.593.

** https://www.unicef.org/media/114636/file/SOWC-2021-full-report-English.pdf, page 10

For media enquiries, please contact:

Sohini Roychowdhury, UNICEF Geneva, Tel: +41 79433 5264, sroychowdhury@unicef.org

For more information about the Coalition, including opportunities to join, please contact corporate-partnerships@unicef.org

About UNICEF

UNICEF works in some of the world's toughest places, to reach the world's most disadvantaged children. Across more than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone.

UNICEF does not endorse any company brand, product or service.

About Jo Malone London

Since 1994 Jo Malone London has created a palette of exquisitely simple, elegant scents and curated a world where every sense is indulged. Acquired by The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. in 1999, today the brand is internationally known for its unexpected fragrances and distinctly British character.

About Spotify

Spotify transformed music listening forever when it launched in 2008. Discover, manage and share over 80 million tracks, including 4.7 million podcasts, for free, or upgrade to Spotify Premium to access exclusive features for music including improved sound quality and an on-demand, offline, and ad-free music listening experience. Today, Spotify is the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service with 456 million users, including 195 million subscribers, across 183 markets.

About Zurich Insurance Group

Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) is a leading multi-line insurer serving people and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Founded 150 years ago, Zurich is transforming insurance. In addition to providing insurance protection, Zurich is increasingly offering prevention services such as those that promote wellbeing and enhance climate resilience. Reflecting its purpose to ‘create a brighter future together’, Zurich aspires to be one of the most responsible and impactful businesses in the world. It is targeting net-zero emissions by 2050 and has the highest-possible ESG rating from MSCI. In 2020, Zurich launched the Zurich Forest project to support reforestation and biodiversity restoration in Brazil.

The Group has about 56,000 employees and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (ZURN), is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and has a level I American Depositary Receipt (ZURVY) program, which is traded over-the-counter on OTCQX. Further information is available at www.zurich.com.

About Z Zurich Foundation

The Z Zurich Foundation believes in a world where young people have the tools and resources to improve their mental well-being. Throughout the various projects we support, we aim to create a mental well-being movement that is helping young people see their feelings for what they are, so they can prevent stress from developing into anxiety.

The Z Zurich Foundation works alongside Zurich Insurance Group employees and other stakeholders as well as with governments and NGOs in pursuit of a future where people can thrive in the face of increasing climate hazards, where those of us feeling the stresses of life are empowered to speak up, and where the marginalized in our society can reach their full potential.

The Z Zurich Foundation is a Swiss-based charitable foundation established by members of the Zurich Insurance Group. It is the main vehicle by which Zurich Insurance Group delivers on its global community investment strategy.

Visit the Z Zurich Foundation’s website to learn more about its work: https://zurich.foundation