Free Social Anxiety Treatment for 50 EAs (Sign-up here)

By John Salter @ 2023-07-12T10:11 (+29)

Arguably the most important factor in being happy and impactful is one’s social connections. Anxiety makes them harder to form and maintain. Graded exposure is the gold-standard treatment. We're offering it for free to all EAs. Here’s how it works:

1. Arrange a chat with one of our head coaches. They'll help you figure out if this is right for you and, if so, pair you up with a suitable coach.
2. Meet with your coach (can be via email/text initially). Explain your situation. 
3. Construct a hierarchy of fear (see below for an example)
   
   
4. We'll help you work through the tasks, teaching you relevant skills along the way. 
5. By approaching rather than avoiding anxiety-provoking tasks, you break the loop that perpetuates social anxiety.
   
    
    

Meta-analyses suggest you can get an effect size of ~1.0 with this approach. It takes two to three months of weekly sessions, each around 45 minutes long.

Click here to sign up 

Questions You're Too Socially Anxious to Ask

• Why is it free?
  • We're a charity, and our coaches are either donor-funded or volunteers
• What evidence is there that you can execute?
  • We've seen 100+ EAs over the past 9 months or so with a wide range of different issues. Our start-to-end retention is ~70%  (50% is considered good), and feedback has been unanimously positive.
• I don't want other EAs to find out I do this. How can you ensure anonymity? 
  • I'm the only EA who'll see that you've signed up. Our coaches aren't themselves effective altruists. Only your coach will have access to notes about your session. You're free to use a fake name and alias email if you'd like.. 
• What if I don't like my coach?
  • Email me and I'll assign you a new one (john at overcome dot org dot uk)
• What if I'm done early or I need more sessions?
  • If early, great! You won't be pressured to keep attending.
  • If you need more, we'll consider extending it for free. Otherwise, it'd be $40 per session. Historically, 90% of people have found the free sessions adequate to address the problem they came to us with.
• I'm too anxious to talk via video. Are there any other options?
  • Yes. We can also do email, texting, or voice-only.
  • We'd expect you to progress from email/texting towards being comfortable with video calls as the program goes on.
• What if I sign up and someone who needs it more is thus denied a place?
  • It’s unlikely. We prioritise based on need & likelihood of success.
• Don't you usually focus on LMICs? Why are you offering services for EAs? 
  • It costs me nothing to use my coaches' spare capacity on services for EAs. So long as I have spare capacity, I'll offer it to EAs.

 Click here to sign up 

 Any other questions, post them in the comments below!