Friendship Bench

The Mission

Improve mental health.

How It Works

Friendship Bench pioneered a model where lay people deliver cognitive behavioral therapy from a dedicated spot—the “bench.” They identify community members at risk of depression, then train and supervise local “grandmothers” and government health workers to deliver 1–6 sessions of adapted talk therapy. Patients can also join opt-in, self-run support groups.

The Dream

All Zimbabweans have easy access to quality mental healthcare delivered by government health workers and paid for by government.

Why We're In

Friendship Bench’s solution is backed by rigorous evidence —they have great results even six months after the “bench” sessions. And while there’s a dearth of research on depression in Africa, making it hard to understand how the results compare to natural eb and flow, we're enthusiastic about what we've seen so far. We think it’s persuasive and so does the government — Friendship Bench’s approach is beginning to scale via the public health system. They're testing ways for government health workers—like nurses and community health workers—to deliver this model (or an adapted version of it) across Zimbabwe. They're also testing out what happens to impact outcomes and costs if they shorten the number of sessions a patient receives. We think they're on the right track, testing the right stuff and are eager to support the journey.