World Mental Health Day 2025: Access to Services – Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies

Friendship Bench
Oct 10
3 min read

This year’s World Mental Health Day theme, “Access to Services – Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies,” couldn’t be more timely.

At Friendship Bench, we have seen how much a simple act of sitting down and sharing stories can mean when life feels overwhelming. A safe space to talk can restore something many lose during crisis - hope.

The escalating frequency of global crises places immense psychological stress on communities worldwide. The need for evidence-based, community-centered solutions has never been more urgent.

The Friendship Bench model was developed in Zimbabwe as a scalable, and culturally relevant solution to bridge the treatment gap at primary care level. Friendship Bench trains Lay Health Workers, community elders affectionately known as Ambuya/Gogo (Grandmothers), to provide talk therapy within their communities. Our Grandmothers, who form the heart of the Friendship Bench, have sat with over 950 000 people through some of their hardest days. They listen, they guide, they share their stories, and they remind each person that no matter how heavy life feels, there is always hope.

The intervention is delivered on a simple wooden park bench, which serves as a symbol of a safe, confidential, and non-stigmatizing space for conversation:

Support is delivered locally, eliminating barriers related to transportation, cost, and physical access to formal facilities.
By utilizing trusted elders, the model naturally minimizes the stigma often associated with seeking mental health treatment.
The low-cost, high-impact training framework allows the intervention to be scaled and adapted for diverse cultural settings.

Rigorous research, including randomized controlled trials, has demonstrated the effectiveness of the Friendship Bench model in reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, providing a clear path to improving mental well-being even in the most challenging environments.

As the world responds to more frequent emergencies, access to mental health care must be part of every community’s foundation. Through the Friendship Bench In A Box toolkit, we are working to make this possible, giving communities the tools to bring the Friendship Bench model to their communities where mental health support is needed most. We believe everyone has a role to play.

Mobilizing for Global Mental Health Access

This World Mental Health Day, we urge all stakeholders and the global community to:

Prioritize community-based solutions: Advocate for the adoption of accessible, evidence-based models such as the Friendship Bench, ensuring that support reaches people where they are, even in times of crisis.
Invest in people: Support the training and supervision of Lay Health Workers, who are essential frontline providers of mental health care in resource-constrained settings.
Cultivate empathy and connection: By fostering empathy and genuine connection within our communities, we create the foundation for lasting mental well-being.

We invite you to partner with us in strengthening the foundation of global mental health, one bench, one community, and one life at a time.

This World Mental Health Day, we also invite you to slow down and check in with yourself, with a friend, with someone who might be struggling silently.

Towards the vision of having a Friendship Bench Within Walking Distance For All.

People need support, with your help we can reach out to more people. We invite you to:

Donate: Your contributions can help us expand our reach and support more people.
Support a grandmother: For $25 a month, you can empower a grandmother to continue this vital work. Our goal is to support 4000 grandmothers in 2025.
Spread the word: Help us raise awareness by sharing with your friends and family.