The Youth Cafe in collaboration with the University of Sussex (UK) through Sussex Writes, have won the 2021 Global Challenges Fund for a project that is working to formulate a contextually-appropriate psychosocial intervention model, aiming to improve youth mental health, promote social inclusion and strengthen post-pandemic resilience in Kenya. With mental health disorders left untreated, these conditions have serious detrimental effects on young people’s developmental progress, family life and educational achievement, with long-term risks for poor health, social marginalisation and unemployment in adulthood. COVID-19 has increased threats to mental ill health and worsened pre-existing global inequalities in access to adequate care. Addressing these challenges is essential to achieving post-COVID recovery, given the close links between youth mental health, social disability and economic development.