Our Impact | StrongMinds
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Our Impact

 

 
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Our Impact

StrongMinds is showing that low-cost, evidence-based depression care can have a significant and lasting impact on people and their families.

Key indicators:

  • Total people reached
  • Direct impact on an individual’s symptoms
  • Indirect impact on household and family
  • Cost-effectiveness
  • Qualitative research and stories

Direct Impact

2 Million +
People

Treated for
depression to date.

$10.55

Current cost to treat one person for depression

74%

Of participants, on average, are
depression-free after therapy ends.

Spillover Effects

Indirect Impacts

For every woman who recovers from
depression, four members of
her family feel the benefits

8 Million

people indirectly benefiting
from household and
community spillover effects

Benefits to Individuals and Their Families

Icon of money
27.8% increase
in people who report not missing work in the past week at 12 months.

Icon parent sending child to school
28% increase
in adolescents who rate their grades as “good”, “very good”, and “excellent” after completing therapy.

Icon group of women
82% increase
in clients who report having someone to turn to for support, up from 63% before therapy.

Icon - food
+0.5
additional meals per day consumed by children of therapy participants (1.8 → 2.3).

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Reaching More People, More Efficiently

As StrongMinds has scaled, the number of people treated for depression has grown every year, while the cost to treat each person has steadily declined. Together, these trends show that our model doesn’t just grow, it gets more efficient as it grows, allowing us to reach more people for every dollar donors invest. See this impact demonstrated below in Figure 1. 

Depression Symptoms Reduction

Using the PHQ-9, the standard clinical measure of depression severity, StrongMinds clients start therapy in the moderate to severe range, averaging 15.3. Within two weeks of completing treatment, that average drops to 3.3, essentially symptom-free, and it holds steady at 3.1 and 3.2 at six and twelve months later. This shows that our therapy doesn’t just relieve symptoms in the moment. It produces relief that lasts. See this impact demonstrated below in Figure 2. 

Subjective Well-Being

The Cantril Ladder doesn’t just ask whether depression symptoms have eased; it asks people to weigh their whole life against their own idea of the best one possible. After therapy, StrongMinds clients report a level of well-being well above the national average, a gain that holds a full year later. This shows that our therapy doesn’t just treat an illness. It restores a sense of possibility.

Government Partnerships

StrongMinds scales through government partners like the Ministries of Health and Education across Uganda, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Malawi to embed depression treatment into the public systems communities already rely on, rather than building parallel programs.

Through our district-led mental health integration program, this approach goes even further, with district governments taking full ownership of delivery, weaving depression care into services like antenatal care and HIV treatment, and reporting progress into national systems. The result is treatment that can scale from a single district to a national program, and continue long after our direct involvement ends.

We provide the training, technical guidance, and quality assurance governments need to deliver our therapy model themselves, integrating treatment into existing health and education services, and setting their own targets.

Building Connection and Personal Agency

Transforming lives and livelihoods

Three people smiling Play

“Before therapy, I didn’t have a direction at all. I did random jobs with no thought of ever being able to have my own business. But, the therapy group gave me a chance to engage with great minds. Because of my experiences in the group, my mind-set totally changed. With the savings I made, I was able to start my own business six months after finishing therapy. It’s funny to know that it doesn’t even take that much capital to start up if you have the right advice.”

TAKE ACTION

If you’d like to help expand this impact, visit our Philanthropy & Partnerships page.
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