From Zimbabwe to Athens County: A Community Builds Connection Through Friendship Bench

Friendship Bench
2 days ago
3 min read

When communities face challenges around mental health, sometimes, the solution is much simpler: creating more spaces where people feel heard.

That is the idea at the heart of Friendship Bench.

Founded in Zimbabwe in 2006 by Dr. Dixon Chibanda and a group of 14 trusted community grandmothers, Friendship Bench is built on a simple belief: communities already have people who understand them, know their challenges and can offer support when they are given the right skills.

Years later, that idea is being adapted by many communities including in Athens County, Ohio.

Finding a Community-Based Response

After the COVID-19 pandemic, the Athens City-County Health Department was looking for ways to strengthen mental health and resilience across Athens County. The county’s 2020 Community Health Assessment identified mental health as a primary concern among residents. In response, the Health Department began searching for community-engaged approaches that could bring support closer to where people live and connect.

A partnership with Ohio University created an opportunity to explore Friendship Bench.

In May 2022, Friendship Bench trainers from Zimbabwe travelled to Athens to introduce the model. With support from the Ohio Health Improvement Zones Pilot Project, the Athens Friendship Bench launched in November 2022. The programme brought together public health, higher education and community spaces around a shared goal: creating more opportunities for people to talk, problem-solve and feel supported.

Bringing Friendship Bench Closer to Home

In Athens County, Friendship Bench is delivered by local Community Health Workers who are already connected to the communities they serve. They bring their own understanding of Athens County and the people who call it home. Through Friendship Bench training, they developed practical skills to provide mental health support. Today, conversations take place across eight community locations, including public libraries, community spaces and the Athens City-County Health Department.

The settings are intentional. Friendship Bench is designed to meet people where they already feel comfortable, in the everyday places where communities gather.

The Impact of Listening

Since launching in November 2022, the Friendship Bench programme in Athens has recorded 850 listening sessions. During each visit, Community Health Workers ask Visitors to rate how difficult their situation feels on a seven-point scale before beginning problem-solving, and again after the conversation. More than 80% of Visitors reported an improvement in emotional intensity after their Friendship Bench visit. Beyond individual conversations, the programme also focuses on building a wider culture of support.

In 2025, two Friendship Bench trainings brought the total number of community members trained to 75.

When Listening Creates Wider Change

The impact of Friendship Bench can extend beyond the bench itself. For Evelyn, one of the Athens Friendship Bench’s Community Health Workers, listening to community members strengthened her commitment to addressing the challenges people shared with her. As an elected village council member, she brought, bringing community concerns into local government conversations. She was also considered for a mayoral race in her village.

Another example came from a local library where young people spend time after school. A high school student arrived visibly struggling after a difficult day. Another student asked whether they wanted to talk about it on the “Acquaintance Bench” - a less formal expression inspired by Friendship Bench. For the Athens team, this moment represented something important: the skills of listening and supporting one another were becoming part of the wider community.

A Model Built Through Partnership

One of the strengths of Friendship Bench is its ability to adapt while keeping its core principles intact. The programme has attracted interest from other communities wanting to learn from Athens’ experience.

"Loneliness is as harmful to our bodies as smoking 15 cigarettes a day," says Olivia Degitz - a public-health framing that captures exactly why our founder, Dr. Dixon Chibanda, built this model around empathy and connection.

One visiting partner organization put it more simply after touring the Athens sites: the Chauncey librarian told them the Friendship Bench has been "transformative."

For Athens County, the journey continues.

The goal is not only to provide conversations on a bench, but to strengthen a community where people feel more able to listen, and support one another.

From grandmothers in Zimbabwe to Community Health Workers in Ohio, Friendship Bench continues to grow through a powerful idea: Every community has people who can listen. Every community has the ability to create safe spaces.

Interested in bringing Friendship Bench to your community?

Through the Friendship Bench In A Box toolkit, Friendship Bench Global supports organisations around the world to adapt and implement the model in ways that respond to their local context. Many partners in the US and other countries, are already using the platform to strengthen community mental health.

Explore Friendship Bench In A Box to learn more.

Celebrating 20 Years of Friendship Bench