TNP314 The 14 Grandmothers and The Friendship Bench with Dr.Dixon Chibanda

If you've enjoyed discourse on this podcast about the barefoot doctor approach, community-based and culturally-relevant mental health initiatives and disability justice, as well as how ritual and spiritual literacy helps weave a stronger collective nervous system and increases community resilience, then you need to read, The Friendship Bench: How Fourteen Grandmothers Inspired a Mental Health Revolution by Dr.Dixon Chibanda. It's about a mental health program of elder lay counsellors who deliver mental health support from neighbourhood park benches, and the 100+ published studies on its efficacy in measurable improvements to individual patients and public health. Dr.Dixon Chibanda is a medical doctor, a practicing psychiatrist, and a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, as well as at the University of Zimbabwe. He is also director of the African Mental Health Research Initiative (AMARI). His TEDx Talk about the Friendship Bench has over 3 million views. Referenced in this episode The Friendship Bench: How Fourteen Grandmothers Inspired a Mental Health Revolution FriendshipBench.org Friendship Bench-in-a-Box Dixon's socials and podcasts: Instagram and FriendshipBenchGlobal InstaFacebookTwitter YouTube/Podcast TikTok LinkedIn Join us in The Numinous Network for some Contact Nutrition Sign up for my newsletter to be notified when pre-orders open for my next book: How to Connect: Build Deep Connection and a Strong Bond Through Contact Nutrition (No Matter Your Attachment Style, Trauma History or Neurotype)

You can listen to TNP314 The 14 Grandmothers and The Friendship Bench with Dr.Dixon Chibanda online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

TNP314 The 14 Grandmothers and The Friendship Bench with Dr.Dixon Chibanda is an episode from The Numinous Podcast by Carmen Spagnola.

This episode is 64:34 long.

This episode was published on May 7, 2026.

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