GMHT Announces Inaugural World Mental Health Week Leadership Summit with Boys Town as Presenting Sponsor
Thursday, September 24th, 2026
The Global Mental Health Task Force (GMHT) is proud to announce its inaugural World Mental Health Week Leadership Summit, taking place October 8 at the United Nations Dining Room in New York City, with Boys Town serving as Presenting Sponsor.
Held in the lead-up to World Mental Health Day on October 10, the Summit will bring together leaders across mental health, healthcare, research, policy, investment, technology, philanthropy, business, and lived experience around the ideas, partnerships, and actions needed to move mental health forward.
Mental health is at an inflection point. Extraordinary work is advancing across sectors, yet too often these efforts remain siloed.
No single organization, sector, or solution can address the scale of the mental health crisis alone. It will take all of us.
“The mental health crisis demands more than conversation. This inaugural Summit is the first of what we hope will become an annual gathering focused on turning collaboration into meaningful action,” said Rachel Wilkins, Executive Director of the Global Mental Health Task Force. “We’re proud to begin that work with Boys Town as our Presenting Sponsor.”
The invitation-only Summit will convene a highly curated cross-section of senior leaders spanning diplomacy, global health, academic research, clinical innovation, Fortune 500 companies, family offices, investment funds, major healthcare institutions, nonprofit leadership, policy, and those with lived experience.
Programming will explore mental health across generations, innovation, brain health and longevity, investment, policy, and lived experience, alongside keynote conversations, expert panels, and curated opportunities for connection.
As a Presenting Sponsor and national leader in youth mental health and wellbeing, Boys Town brings more than a century of experience helping children and families thrive through integrated care, research, education and family support. Boys Town Chief Executive Officer Rod Kempkes will also join the Summit as a keynote speaker.
“The Leadership Summit gives us an opportunity to turn shared ideas into collective action and build a more hopeful future for mental health,” said Kempkes.
GMHT’s work is grounded in the belief that mental health is fundamental to human wellbeing and in its commitment to advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being and SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals.
Our ambition is to build a coalition that does more than convene: creating the conditions for collaboration to become action, and for action to become measurable progress.
For more than a century, Boys Town has helped children and families heal, grow and thrive. Boys Town connects compassionate care, family support, education and research across homes, schools and communities. In 2025, Boys Town directly served more than 197,000 children and families nationwide. As Presenting Sponsor of the Global Mental Health Task Force’s World Mental Health Week Leadership Summit, Boys Town is helping bring leaders together to advance a more connected, accessible and human-centered future for mental health.
Over the coming weeks, GMHT will announce additional speakers, leaders, and partners helping shape the inaugural Summit.