There is no health without mental health
Water Yourself provides mental health support and education that are accessible, affordable and scalable across all sectors, leaving no one behind.
Mental Hub · Antananarivo
The realities we work to change
These are the realities mental health support has to meet, in Africa and beyond. Every program we run is a response to one of these numbers.
People worldwide live with a mental health condition. 80% are in low or middle-income countries with little to no access to support.
In under-resourced settings, one mental health professional serves one and a half million people.
Suicide is the leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 28. Most had no access to any psychotherapeutic help.
In emergency settings, one in five people lives with a mental health condition.
Working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety, costing $1 trillion in global productivity.
Projected annual cost of mental illness worldwide by 2030 if nothing changes.
Our approach
Access to mental health care shouldn't depend on where you live, how much money you have, or who you are. At Water Yourself, we believe everyone deserves access to real, dignified, and culturally grounded support. Our approach is comprehensive and scalable. Through four interconnected pillars, we design, deliver, and grow mental health solutions that are community-rooted, evidence-informed, and built to last across diverse contexts, languages, and realities on the African continent.
We design and evaluate programs and interventions aimed at preventing, detecting, and managing mental health conditions in low-resource settings. Every solution we build is grounded in real community needs, local context, and emerging evidence.
We believe the most powerful healers are often already inside your community. We design training programs and equip young people, teachers, community leaders, and peer educators with the skills, tools, and certification to deliver evidence-based mental health support within their own communities.
We bring mental health support and education directly into existing systems, which are accessible, scalable, and culturally responsive like schools, universities, businesses, and rural communities.
We actively engage individuals with lived experience and the broader public to shape and strengthen everything we do. And we go further, advocating at national, continental and international levels for mental health to be recognized and treated as a fundamental right, not a privilege.
Who we work with
We promote positive mental health through a variety of programmes and activities. We offer a safe, secure place where we can train, talk and support each other. We offer an inclusive environment for anyone that needs us.
Young people are at the heart of everything we do. We partner with schools and universities to bring mental health education, peer counseling, and safe support spaces directly into learning environments.
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We reach the people who need mental health support the most and have access to it the least. Rural communities, populations displaced by disasters, marginalized groups including LGBTQ+ individuals and people with disabilities, and communities navigating challenges like HIV and women's health.
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We partner with companies to assess employee wellbeing, design tailored mental health programs, and train HR teams and managers to recognize and respond to mental health challenges at work.
Discover the program →Water Yourself, in its selection of thematic areas, has also taken into consideration the SDGs No 3, 4, 5, 8, 13 and 16, and contributes directly to the following, through the various interventions.
Good Health and Well-being
Quality Education
Gender Equality
Decent Work & Economic Growth
Climate Action
Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions
Our impact
We measure what matters: people reached, partners committed, and the quality of follow-up over time. Honest numbers, no inflation since 2021.
People reached
Through workshops, trainings, Mental Health Hubs and community outreach. Each person counts once.
Peer counselors trained
Across businesses, educational institutions, NGOs and community centers.
Programs delivered
From half-day workshops to multi-month follow-ups.
Mental Health Hubs
Implemented in educational institutions and partner organizations.
