MIT Solve

Step 2

Our Solution

Global Therapy

Our solution's stage of development:

Pre-Seed

Our solution:

The goal of this solution is to provide crisis support for those who have no access to services

Our pitch:

Connecting people in crisis with people who want to help.

Mental health is the greatest unmet and essentially unaddressed health problem across the world. This is largely because of insufficient funding, lack of trained personnel and, in many cases, societal ambivalence about the problem. There is no evidence to suggest that these factors are going away. The proposed solution bypasses these issues by providing a safe, easy and free means to connect people. Those who want to help will be given simple training/rules to provide the most basic help and resources. Those in need will be able to reach someone to talk to/communicate with in a manner that assures their safety and anonymity while not being left adrift and alone.

This solution does not propose to fix the world's mental health problems but to provide a support network that allows people a positive outlet at times of crisis. It builds on a background of organizations such as the Samaritans and various crisis hotlines, albeit with the differences of (1) global reach to communities with no/minimal support services, akin to a virtual Médecins Sans Frontières, and (2) use of varied communication modalities (primarily centered around cell phones). This is to ensure that as many people as possible can access the service.

Following pilot studies to refine the process in defined geographies it is expected that expansion would be global in scope. Provision of a crisis safety net would provide a novel resource that tangibly demonstrates to those in need that others care . At the individual level it may provide a helpline that allow them to get past a crisis, at the societal level a message is sent that people's emotional well-being matters.

The problem:

1/3 of people will suffer from a significant mental illness, more will have less severe events. There are not enough specialists for the need, even in wealthy parts of the world. It is unlikely that resources will increase sufficiently. A solution that does not require significant resources is urgently required.

Traditionally, the individual’s community should provide the support but people in crisis may not be able to turn to family, friends or community leaders/members for a variety of reasons e.g. fear, geography, social stigma etc...

This solution provides an accessible and relevant alternative for people in need.

Why our solution will solve the problem:

Gould & Kalafat’s review of the evidence for crisis hotlines (Oxford Textbook of Suicidology and Suicide Prevention, 2009) supports benefit in reducing callers’ crisis and suicidal states. The NIHR research report on the Samaritans (Pollock et al.,2010) reported challenges but also that the majority of users found some benefit, similarly, Stack’s article “Crisis Phones - Suicide Prevention Versus Suggestion/Contagion Effects” of 2015. Other reviews in the public domain, though limited and hampered by lack of controlled data, appear to support the role of crisis helplines in potentially reducing suicides and crisis intensity. Would areas with no support networks benefit more?

Who recommended you to Solve - or - how did you find Solve?

A colleague

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