The Friendship Bench

The powerful story of a psychiatrist in Zimbabwe partnering with grandmothers in his community to offer lifesaving mental healthcare via a revolutionary model based in simple human connection

• Dr. Dixon Chibanda was one of only a handful of mental health professionals treating the more than 15 million people of Zimbabwe when he began working with the strong-willed grandmothers of his community to develop the model of the Friendship Bench
• A stepped-care psychological intervention based on principles of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), the model has shown effectiveness through three randomized controlled studies, with the results published in JAMA, and has now helped more than half a million people around the globe
• The author’s TED talk, “Why I Train Grandmothers to Treat Depression,” has been viewed over 3.2 million times, and a documentary about his work will premiere in fall 2024
• Includes a “Friendship Bench in a Box Tool Kit” — a DIY kit enabling anyone anywhere in the world to start their own Friendship Bench. When Dr. Dixon Chibanda lost a patient to suicide, he began a soul-searching journey that eventually led to a mental healthcare revolution. As one of only five psychiatrists in all of Zimbabwe, a country traumatized by decades of conflict, Chibanda quickly realized that millions in his community were suffering from depression, substance abuse, and mental illness with no hope of receiving care. He saw that the only way to narrow this care gap was to leverage existing resources in the community, and one such resource was the compassion, empathy, and wisdom of grandmothers. With fourteen strong-willed grandmothers as partners, Chibanda’s group pioneered the Friendship Bench program, a community-driven initiative addressing loneliness, depression, and suicide by fostering intergenerational connectedness. Since then, more than 500,000 people around the world have sat on a park bench to share their personal stories with an empathic grandmother. More than just Chibanda’s story, The Friendship Bench is a primer on how human connection forms the bedrock of our resilience. It gives readers the building blocks to facilitate transformative moments for healing, personal growth, and forgiveness by reaching out to those who are struggling and disconnected from their communities. It’s a case study of how interventions supported by robust scientific evidence can be simplified and made accessible for all. This global movement is expanding to El Salvador, London, Washington, DC, New Orleans, and other major cities. Ultimately, it’s a celebration of the collective wisdom and knowledge of those anchored in their communities and how their profound ability to foster belonging and purpose can bring healing.