Deliver mental-health outcomes similar to 1:1 psychotherapy—at scale, at zero cost to your university

By carysj, Rengin @ 2025-12-09T12:11 (+8)

Hi all —
I’m Dr. Rengin Isik Akin, Program Manager at Rethink Wellbeing, a non-profit developing evidence-based, scalable peer-support programmes for mental health and productivity.

Over the past three years, our flagship programme — The CBT Lab — has shown improvements in wellbeing, resilience, and productivity similar to those observed in 1:1 psychotherapy. The programme is grounded in Third-Wave CBT and behavioural science, but implemented in small, peer-led groups, making it highly scalable and extremely cost-effective.

In 2026, we aim to partner with 2–3 universities to run a structured extra-curricular pilot. We’re particularly interested in campuses with a strong interest in evidence-based wellbeing initiatives, experimentation, or social impact.

What is the CBT Lab @Campus?

An 8-week, online, peer-led programme where 5–6 students meet weekly to learn and practise evidence-based wellbeing and productivity tools based on the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) approach. Student facilitators are trained in facilitation skills and supervised by our clinical team. Participants receive a structured workbook and access to an online community for accountability and support.

Between 2023-2025 (with 160 participants), we replicated size and significance of improvements in all primary measures of our CBT Lab program: 

• 20–30% reduction in anxiety and depression symptoms
• ~0.9 point improvement in personal wellbeing
• 6–8 additional productive hours per week
• 85–95% program completion and participant satisfaction rates

(Full details and methodology in the slide deck)

What universities gain

Participating universities can meaningfully expand their wellbeing provision without adding counselling workload or cost. Benefits include:

• Training students in facilitation, moderation & social skills, plus in coping skills
• Offering an intervention with clear evidence of impact and high scalability
• Supporting students who rarely access traditional counselling services
• Increasing community and belonging through structured group interaction

The pilot is designed to integrate smoothly with existing university curriculum or support systems — typically as a course, a practical project, extra-curricular wellbeing initiative or a student development opportunity.

What we ask from university partners

No cost and only minimal support for the pilot study. The programme is delivered and supervised by Rethink Wellbeing. From universities, we ask only:

• Support with student outreach and onboarding (e.g.,send our invitation to the program via mailing lists, clubs/societies)
• A point of contact for minimal coordination (estimated ~1 hour per month of staff time during the pilot)
• Optional collaboration from faculty/staff interested in evaluation or implementation research

We would be most happy to offer it as part of the curriculum, e.g., I could train a group of psychology students within a similar or practice project they have to do anyway. I am open to your ideas on how this might fit your curricula. 

Who should reach out?

• Students studying Psychology or a related field
• Researchers/Faculty focusing on student mental health and prevention
• Staff involved in student support, student success offices, or wellbeing initiatives
• Leaders or members of EA campus groups

If you’re unsure whether your university would be a good fit, feel free to message anyway — we’re happy to talk.

Get in touch

If you’d like to discuss the pilot or explore whether your university could participate, you can schedule a brief call here. Or you can comment below.

If you know someone at your institution who might be interested, we'd be grateful if you passed this along.

Why we’re posting here

Many EA university groups and academics have a deep interest in scalable mental health interventions and evidence-based student support. We hope to create a small, well-evaluated pilot that could serve as a model for wider, cost-effective impact.