New EU-funded SUPPORT-Y project launches to strengthen youth mental health across education, training and work

Posted on 18 May 2026

A consortium of twelve partners from eight European countries will co-create, pilot and scale mental health interventions for young people aged 12–25, backed by a five-year Horizon Europe grant.

A new five-year research and innovation project, SUPPORT-Y (Supporting the Mental Health of Youth in Education, Training and Work), is launching this autumn with funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme. Coordinated by the University of Eastern Finland, the project brings together twelve partners -- including the University of York -- from England, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Malta and Portugal to address one of Europe’s most urgent and underserved challenges: the mental health of young people navigating school, vocational training and the transition into work.

SUPPORT-Y is designed to close that gap with interventions that are co-created with young people themselves — including those most often left out of research, such as marginalised girls, young people with disabilities, and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

The consortium is supported by an international advisory board including members of the European Parliament, the Finnish National Board of Education, leading universities and civil society organisations.

What the project will deliver

Over five years, SUPPORT-Y will develop and test two complementary, evidence-based interventions:

A blended SUPPORT-Y intervention — combining a youth-friendly webapp (mood check-ins, goal tracking, psycho-educational modules, with offline functionality on Android, iOS and desktop) with in-person mentoring, peer groups and creative workshops, supported by an open-access resource hub for educators, trainers and employers.
An in-person SUPPORT-Y seminar — a programme for young apprentices and vocational students covering four thematic areas: own value, unfolding in working life, resources, and team.

Both interventions will be co-created with around 100 to 150 young people and stakeholders across England, Finland, Germany, Malta and Portugal, then piloted, scaled and evaluated in real-world education, training and workplace settings. The project will also deliver longitudinal mental health outcome data, a health-economic evaluation, a scalability assessment tool, transferability guidelines, and policy recommendations for local, national and EU decision-makers.

Dr Emma Clarke, from the Department of Education said: "I am excited to join my national and international colleagues on this bid and complement their significant expertise by contributing an understanding of young people's mental health and well-being, with a specific focus on the school environment and the impact of gender"

Full details about the project, including consortium activities, research outputs and project progression can be found on the SUPPORT-Y website.