The second YOUTHreach consortium meeting kicked off in Barcelona, a city chosen, as coordinator Thérèse van Amelsvoort jokingly noted, “for the weather.” And while a storm raged outside, with Barcelona’s beach officially closed due to high waves, the YOUTHreach consortium focused on creating waves of a very different kind indoors.

Day 1 began with a delicious shared lunch and a warm welcome by our coordinators Thérèse van Amelsvoort and Sophie Leijdesdorff (Maastricht University). The consortium was especially pleased to welcome several members of the Advisory Board, who joined both in person and online, setting a collaborative and engaged tone for the days ahead. The programme opened with Work Package 2 (Clinical work), where the team highlighted the impressive progress achieved through close and committed collaboration across partners. Ethical approvals are either already in place or well underway, and training sessions for delivering the interventions have officially started, marking an important step forward for the project. The morning continued with a presentation by our external guest from headspace Denmark, who shared valuable experiences and insights. This was followed by a contribution from the Youth Advisory Group (YAG). Their session opened with a powerful and personal icebreaker: participants wrote a message of hope for youth on a post-it in their own language and reflected on their biggest concern at the age of 17. This set the tone for an inspiring overview of the YAG’s contributions during the first year of YOUTHreach, alongside a clear call to continue and deepen meaningful youth involvement throughout the project. One YAG member captured the essence of the discussion with a striking reflection on the ownership of personal experience: “Not everybody has the right to my story.” A reminder of the importance of respect, agency, and ethics in youth mental health research.

In the afternoon, Work Package 1 presented the overall engagement strategy, highlighting collaboration, communication, and stakeholder involvement across the consortium. This was followed by an update on Health Technology Assessment (HTA) activities, outlining how YOUTHreach will assess the value, impact, and sustainability of its interventions across different contexts. The day concluded with a short update from the Social Advisory Group, emphasising ethical reflection, social perspectives, and responsible research practices throughout the project lifecycle. Day 1 also featured a group photo and a special moment to highlight the many amazing early career researchers involved in YOUTHreach. The evening continued at restaurant Centfocs, where changing tables after each course created plenty of opportunities to connect, exchange ideas, and socialise across disciplines and countries.

Day 2 focused on innovation, management, and future impact. The programme included a presentation on data management and federated learning, followed by a session on prediction models and the potential of AI. While AI is currently often used for diagnostics, the long-term ambition is to predict treatment response (understanding not only what is happening now, but who may benefit from which intervention in the future). Current work focuses on training the AI-models and establishing a proof of concept, laying the groundwork for future research. This was followed by presentations on project management, dissemination, and exploitation, including an update on the monitoring app developed by AB.Acus. The meeting concluded with key messages and feedback from Advisory Board members, bringing two intensive and inspiring days to a close.

A heartfelt thank you goes to Donna van Dommelen and Stella Pielage from Catalyze for their excellent organisation of the consortium meeting. Their behind-the-scenes work ensured everything ran smoothly and created space for meaningful discussions, collaboration, and connection. We also warmly thank PRBB for hosting us in their wonderful building at the shore of Barcelona. And of course…our sincere thanks goes to all our wonderful consortium members for their engagement, openness, and commitment throughout the meeting.