PAREA calls for a European Mental Health Moonshot and launches a new policy paper on mental health innovation “Made in Europe”
At an event today in Brussels, PAREA launched its new policy paper, From Lagging to Leading: A Policy Toolkit for Mental Health Innovation “Made in Europe”. Psychedelic therapies as a test of Europe’s innovation capacity, calling on the European institutions to launch a European Mental Health Moonshot – a bold, mission-driven initiative to make mental health a driver of Europe’s competitiveness, innovation, and social agenda.
The event, From Lagging to Leading, gathered experts, policymakers and researchers to discuss how Europe can close its innovation gap in mental health and translate scientific breakthroughs, including psychedelic therapies, into equitable, real-world care.
“Europe invests in strategic infrastructure - from clean energy and semiconductor production to digital connectivity and AI. It should treat mental health the same way: as critical infrastructure that unlocks human potential and fuels economic growth,” said Tadeusz Hawrot, PAREA’s Founder and Executive Director.
PAREA’s call comes as the EU prepares its next Multiannual Financial Framework and new Competitiveness Fund, a moment when Europe is redefining its core priorities for the decade ahead – from industrial leadership and digital transformation to the foundations of human capital and well-being.
We’ll share the event recording in the next PAREA newsletter.
PAREA’s key policy recommendations
The new policy paper outlines a comprehensive policy toolkit to transform mental health innovation in Europe. The centrepiece is the proposed European Mental Health Moonshot, which would mobilise EU and Member State funding, align stakeholders, and set measurable goals – for example, halving suicide rates or doubling recovery rates in severe mental illness by 2030.
In parallel, the paper calls for four supporting actions:
Developing an EU Mental Health Strategy. Without a strategy, mental health will remain everyone’s priority but no one’s plan.
Creating a European Mental Health Innovation Hub to coordinate expertise, infrastructure and collaboration across Member States.
Launching a European Mental Health Care Capacity Initiative to train professionals, expand treatment infrastructure, and integrate digital tools.
Piloting regulatory sandboxes for psychedelic therapies, enabling safe, early implementation under regulatory oversight while generating real-world evidence on safety, efficacy, and delivery models.
PAREA’s proposal on psychedelic sandboxes, discussed during the event, reflects growing momentum for innovative regulatory tools across Europe. Sandboxes could be used to explore new therapeutic approaches such as psilocybin for end-of-life distress or ketamine with psychotherapy for treatment resistant depression in controlled clinical settings, helping bridge the gap between research and routine care while protecting patient safety.
“Europe’s Mental Health Moonshot” visual roadmap, presented at the event, outlines the initiative’s structure: a coordinated mission connecting regulatory reform, innovation hubs, capacity building, and regulatory sandboxes.
A call to action
Europe’s strategic autonomy begins with inner autonomy. Mental health is the foundation of human capital and a prerequisite for innovation, learning and productivity. By placing mental health at the centre of the EU’s competitiveness agenda, Europe can turn a long-neglected challenge into a global success story of innovation made in Europe.
Read the full policy paper here.
