Background: Findings from systematic reviews indicate a high treatment gap for major depressive disorders, with high-income countries facing a 77% treatment gap, rising to 92% in lower- and middle-income nations. Suicide is another major public health problem, with more than 700,000 completed suicides worldwide every year. Increased stigma and lack of knowledge about these mental health conditions negatively influence the access and utilisation of mental health services by service users. This presentation will address evidence and best practice based on EAAD related research conducted over the past two decades across different countries. Methods: The EAAD Best 4-level community-based intervention approach recognises and targets individual, system-related, and structural factors contributing to the treatment gap. An umbrella review was conducted including systematic reviews over the past ten years. Results: Systematic reviews have indicated that a multicomponent intervention, such as the EAAD Best approach, is more promising than individual intervention approaches. For example, the barriers to mental health treatment could be attributed to individual factors, such as stigma, poor knowledge and understanding about mental disorders, or poor help-seeking behaviours, as well as financial difficulties to meet treatment expenses and lack of family and community support. Additionally, system-related and structural factors, such as the lack of availability and accessibility of specialized mental health services, inadequate mental health manpower, poor services, and delays in availing appointments and treatment, also contribute to the treatment gap. To improve the treatment gap, interventions are required at multiple levels. The EAAD Best 4-level community-based intervention works towards improvements and impact on multiple levels. Stigma and poor mental health knowledge are tackled through public mental health awareness programmes. The lack of mental health resources is addressed by training general practitioners in primary care. Early identification of mental disorders and community participation are addressed through training community facilitators and non-specialist healthcare workers. Lack of accessibility and availability of mental health services is addressed by training general practitioners and providing online self-help training tools like the iFDtool. Conclusion: EAAD’s multi-level approach has demonstrated a consistent track record of producing favourable outcomes in depression management and suicide prevention across various European countries. Keywords: Depression and suicide; EAAD Best; Stigma; help-seeking; community mental health.