Mr. Lian Zeitz

Lancet Young Leader for Global Mental Health - USA

Lian Zeitz is a young mental health advocate with lived experience working to make sure all people are supported with dignity.  Lian has worked with therapeutic programs for struggling youth in 15 states in the US to identify pathways for young people to play a greater role in their own care and the development of mental health programs. He has also worked internationally on areas such as youth-led mental health programming, peer-support, creative arts for mental health, suicide prevention, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse in India, Kenya, Colombia, Bhutan, Indonesia, United States, and Zambia. He is passionate about young people’s experiences in therapeutic programs, trauma-focused community development, the intersection of decolonization and mental health, and pathways to successful transitions in life. At citiesRISE, Lian serves as Director of New Initiatives in which he drives international youth activities and works to develop meaningful ways to engage young people in the development, implementation, and evaluation of mental health programs. In this role Lian has supported the design and scale-up of holistic mental health programs and built a network of youth leaders passionate about mental health across the world. Lian earned a B.A. from Quest University Canada, where he focused on public mental health and literature, and a certificate for Leadership in Mental Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. At the end of the day, Lian believes we need to bring Love into global mental health discourse and practice.