Brazil launches free youth mental‑health platform “Pode Falar”

Brazil’s Ministry of Health, together with UNICEF, has opened the free online mental‑health service “Pode Falar” for young people aged 13 to 24. The platform begins with a chatbot that offers simple information and, when needed, connects users to human counsellors – graduate and postgraduate students in psychology, medicine and education supervised by faculty. It can handle about 11,000 sessions per month, roughly 15 individual contacts each hour, and operates Monday to Saturday from 08:00 to 22:00 Brasília time.

“Pode Falar” complements, but does not replace, care provided by the public SUS system and its CAPS centres. The service was created in response to World Health Organization data that one in seven adolescents worldwide lives with a mental‑health disorder, with depression, anxiety and suicide among the leading causes of disability and death in this age group.

The initiative aims to broaden early detection and support for Brazilian youth, offering anonymous, confidential assistance alongside existing public health resources.