StrongMinds

Our goal is to end the depression epidemic. StrongMinds is the only organization working to scale a solution to depression.

To end the depression epidemic, our goal is to treat two million people by 2025.

In the next three years, 2017-2019, we will treat 100,000 women as well as proving our two scaling pathways:

1. Partnering and replicating our model with international non-governmental organizations (INGOs)

2. Virally expanding through our Peer Therapy Group model.

StrongMinds implements an innovative, simple, and cost efficient approach to treat impoverished Africans who suffer from depression. Our model is based on group interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT-G) and is facilitated by lay community workers. IPT-G is a proven technique, supported by clinical trial success in Africa, which focuses on improving the interpersonal relationships of depressed group members.

These groups are led by Mental Health Facilitators. These facilitators are lay workers hired and trained by StrongMinds and supervised by staff mental health experts. MHFs work in the community to find, diagnose, and recruit depressed women into talk therapy groups. They conduct numerous concurrent StrongMinds Therapy Groups per week. At full capacity, an MHF treats approximately 350-450 depressed women annually.

In addition, StrongMinds is proving two scaling pathways:
1. Partnering and replicating our model with international non-governmental organizations (INGOs)

2. Virally expanding through our Peer Therapy Group model

Partnering & Replicating with INGOs:

In this pathway, large INGOs adopt our StrongMinds Therapy Group model for depression. There are two options for adoption:

1) INGOs pay StrongMinds to implement group talk therapy for the INGOs' vulnerable populations (pay for service), or

2) INGOs pay StrongMinds to train INGO staff to deliver the group talk therapy model themselves (train the trainer).

We focus on pursuing partnerships with INGOs since they already serve high-volumes of depressed women in their core development work, yet most of these women go untreated for their mental illness.


Viral Expansion:

In the second pathway, StrongMinds Therapy Groups lead to the formation of a new model of depression groups which are both self-perpetuating and self-replicating.

These Peer Therapy Groups are led by volunteer graduates of our original StrongMinds Therapy Groups. These volunteer women are called Peer Facilitators (PFs). PFs are identified and trained in an adapted IPT-G curriculum by StrongMinds, and they also receive initial supervision from StrongMinds. Once trained, these volunteer facilitators identify and enroll their depressed peers into group therapy and continue to lead groups in their community on an on-going, self-perpetuating basis.

Self-perpetuation (or continuation) is defined in this context as StrongMinds' trained volunteer PFs who continue to operate subsequent depression groups--treating numerous patients over the long-term. Self- replication (or expansion) is achieved when a volunteer PF independently trains a member of her own Peer Therapy Group to become a Peer Facilitator who, in turn, treats more patients in an expanding fashion.

StrongMinds is operated by a dedicated staff team, led by Sean Mayberry, Founder and Executive Director, Dena Batrice, Executive Director, Uganda, and Frank Harle, Executive Director, Zambia.

Sean's experience includes more than a decade of work in Africa and Asia where he designed, planned and successfully implemented a variety of community-based health and anti-poverty programs for USAID, DFID, The Global Fund and other donors, all with strong monitoring and evaluation components. He was the Population Services International country director for both the Democratic Republic of Congo and India, during which he was responsible for implementing health programs with an accumulated budget of more than $50 million. He is also the former COO for VisionSpring and CEO of FXB International.

Dena Batrice is a mental health professional with a decade of experience working with individuals and groups suffering a variety of mental illnesses. In addition to her mental health experience, Dena brings to StrongMinds international development experience in program and financial management from her time at FXB International and as the Deputy Country Director in Lesotho for ICAP/Columbia University. Since 2018, her first full year leading StrongMinds Uganda, Dena has fostered new relationships with both INGOs and various Ugandan government ministries. Dena holds a bachelor's degre

Frank Harle possesses nearly 15 years of international development experience and is keenly adept at operating country programs focused on improving the wellbeing of impoverished populations. He has strong experience working with INGO and MOH partners in South Africa, Tanzania and Ethiopia. Before joining the StrongMinds team in 2019 as the Country Director for Zambia, he spent four years as a Country Director in South Africa and a three years as Deputy Director in Tanzania for Restless Development. Frank holds a bachelor's in Arts in History from the University of Sheffield.

StrongMinds' Mental Health Advisory Panel provides expert technical oversight with representatives from diverse backgrounds in psychiatry, psychology, academia and global mental health.

Additionally, StrongMinds receives technical guidance and support from Dr. Lena Verdelli and Dr. Myrna Weissman.

Dr. Verdelli is an, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director, Global Mental Health at Columbia University.

Dr. Weissman is a Professor of Epidemiology and Psychiatry Columbia University and is one of the founders of Interpersonal Psychotherapy.

Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy has been proven and validated by numerous randomized control trials including a 2002 study conducted in Uganda through Columbia and John Hopkins Universities.

StrongMinds has developed a solid and diverse funding basis, despite fundraising challenges for mental healthcare in Africa. We have the support of a number of foundation partners, individuals and multilateral grants that sustain our program and operations.

In the five years since we commenced field work (2014), StrongMinds has treated almost 43,000 women suffering from depression.

Our current monitoring and evaluation shows that 80% are depression-free at the completion of therapy with similar results sustained at six-months and two-years post our intervention.

A key accomplishment yet to be achieved is the establishment and funding of an externally-conducted randomized control trial that measures the impact of our interventions longitudinally, against a control population.