India is home to 20% of the world's youth population, many of whom are faced with multiple psychosocial adversities that cumulatively increase the risk of developing and sustaining depression. At the same time, there is a scarcity of mental healthcare professionals, making timely support for depression challenging. In response to this care gap, METROPOLIS is dedicated to addressing the needs of young individuals with depression in resource-limited university settings. Focused on Delhi NCR, this study evaluates the effectiveness of two brief psychological counselling programs—problem-solving and behavioral activation—administered by trained peers acting as counsellors. By training university students as peer counsellors, the project aims to improve the scalability and accessibility of brief counselling programs.  

Collaboration with a diverse group of young people with depression is the cornerstone of design and implementation of the METROPOLIS project. These youth advisors are involved in all stages of the project, advising, supporting recruitment, co-designing interventions, delivering these interventions, analyzing data, and disseminating findings.