Nurturing Mental Wellbeing at Scale
Mental resilience is crucial for clear thinking, productivity, and relationships - all of which allow for agency and the flourishing of humankind.
Our mission is to spread mental resilience and wellbeing at scale.
To do so, we use engaging, proven, and low-cost programs tailored to the needs of communities.
People who are well make others feel well.
People who are well do good better.
We aim to impact the present and future of humanity.
That is why we tackle the communities of people who do good first, starting with the Effective Altruism community.
High-impact individuals struggle with mental wellbeing.
Many people who try to do the most good struggle with productivity and mental resilience - both crucial to helping others effectively. Based on Our World in Data (2021) and the Slate Star Codex Survey (2020), a likely 15% to 30+% of people in the Effective Altruism community suffer from mental health issues. Also, unstructured and otherwise highly demanding working environments might limit their flourishing.
There is a lack of adequate support opportunities.
Most existing solutions are not tailored to specific issues people face when tackling the world's most important problems, and therefore will lack effectiveness. Therapists and coaches familiar with Effective Altruism are often expensive and hard to access. In 2023, 74% of the community members affected by mental health issues reported an at least partly unmet need for treatment, with >50% asking for peer support groups.
Support can make the movement much more impactful.
With around 35% productivity loss for individuals affected by mental health issues (e.g., Beck et al., 2011), the movement loses 5% to 10% of its impact. With 7.400 high-impact individuals, this reflects a workforce loss of 400 people. Imagine how much more good they could do if the productivity of not only those with mental health issues but everyone is increased by tailored, proven interventions.
Our First Mental Health Program
The CBT Lab is a peer-guided mental health program. With us, you can become a happier and more effective version of yourself and share that journey with like-minded high-impact individuals. Join us once a week for 8 weeks with a group of 4 to 6 members of the Effective Altruism Community with the same goal, guided by a trained facilitator. Share personal experiences, learn with and from each other, and hold each other accountable.
Together, you will boost your productivity and well-being by applying proven psychological techniques that help increase resilience, productivity, and quality of life while reducing and protecting against anxiety, depression, and stress—or even symptoms of ADHD.
Our content is bespoke to community members’ needs, problems, and preferences. Overcome perfectionism, procrastination, existential dread, and other psychological burdens that come with attacking the world’s most pressing issues.
More than 300 people have applied to the program already. In our pre-post effectiveness study on 42 members of the effective altruism community, we saw statistically and practically significant improvements in psychological wellbeing, productivity, and mental health. Both, participants and facilitators rated the program very highly.
You can find out more on our service and science subpages or in our EA Forum post here.