# Lay group interpersonal psychotherapy

**Intervention ID:** `int_group_ipt`  
**Evidence strength:** strong  
**Causes:** `cause_mental_health_lmic`, `cause_global_health_wellbeing`

## Mechanism

Group psychotherapy by trained lay counselors.

## Organizations in this catalog

- `org_shamiri`
- `org_happier_lives_fund`
- `org_actra`
- `org_strongminds`

## Citations (public evaluator pages)

- https://www.happierlivesinstitute.org/strongminds-comprehensive-summary/
- https://www.happierlivesinstitute.org/charities/

## Evidence notes

HLI rates quality of evidence low–moderate (GRADE-adapted): meta-analysis of 84 psychotherapy RCTs, one StrongMinds-related RCT (limited relevance), and M&E pre-post data (HLI StrongMinds summary).

## Key uncertainties

- Limited relevance of Baird et al. RCT to StrongMinds’ current adult partner-delivered model (HLI StrongMinds summary FAQ).
- M&E pre-post uses synthetic control; potential substantial bias (HLI StrongMinds summary).
- Publication bias and inconsistency in general psychotherapy literature (HLI StrongMinds summary).

## Fungibility notes

HLI reports StrongMinds funding gaps for 2025–2026; figures are organization fundraising targets, not GiveWell-style fungibility adjustments (HLI StrongMinds summary).

## Cost-effectiveness notes (do not treat as verified without citation_urls)

HLI StrongMinds ~40.37 WELLBYs/$1000; ~$24.77/WELLBY.

Agents must look up `data/claims_index.json` and cite `citation_urls` before stating numbers.

## Provenance

See `docs/evaluation-provenance.md` and `data/graph/evaluations_graph.json`.

_last_reviewed: 2026-10-01_