About
Give an Hour is a national nonprofit founded in 2005 by Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen that harnesses the skills of volunteer licensed mental health professionals to provide free care to people affected by human-made trauma. Originally focused on the military community, the women-led organization today serves veterans, active duty service members and their families alongside survivors of financial fraud, interpersonal violence, justice-impacted individuals, and rare disease communities, while training peers and community members to support one another's mental wellness.
Mission
Creating resilient individuals and communities by improving mental health and emotional wellbeing, one hour at a time. Give an Hour notes that in the U.S. there is only one mental health professional for every 340 people in need of mental health services, and its model asks providers to donate an hour of care to close that gap.
What they do
- Free, individualized mental health care delivered by a network of volunteer licensed providers
- Weekly peer support groups for financial fraud survivors and their loved ones, interpersonal violence survivors, justice-impacted individuals, and military members, veterans, and military families
- Training programs, including trauma-informed peer support and wellness check training
- Public mental health education, including the Five Signs of Emotional Suffering campaign
- Programs for specific communities, including rare disease communities and workforce resilience initiatives
Approach
Give an Hour uses an evidence-based, customer-informed model built on four pillars: Listen (journey mapping), Lean In (informed response), Learn (continuous improvement), and Lead (creating resilient communities), with an emphasis on lived experience.
Scale and impact
Figures published by the organization:
- More than 380,000 hours of care donated by its network of licensed mental health providers since 2005
- A network of approximately 4,000 mental health providers, with 5,600 providers reached beyond the core network
- 2.44 million people impacted by its services
- 960 Wellness Ambassadors and about 800 groups, organizations, and corporations engaged through its public mental health campaign
- An estimated 75 million people reached with the Five Signs of Emotional Suffering
- Client mix has included 30 percent veterans and 45 percent active duty service members
Financials
According to IRS filings compiled by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, Give An Hour Nonprofit Corporation (EIN 61-1493378, Maryland) reported total revenue of about 2.1 million dollars and total functional expenses of about 1.9 million dollars for fiscal year 2023.