The Problem
Over 600 million people globally experience anxiety and depression every year, creating one of the world’s largest disease burdens.
To resolve this crisis, we need to deliver effective and low-cost mental health interventions to as many people who need it as possible.
This is why Tend exists.
9 million
adults in England are living with a common mental health condition such as depression or anxiety.
1.8 million
of those adults were referred to NHS Talking Therapies in 2023/24.
670,000
of those referred completed a full course of treatment, just 37%.
337,000
completing treatment reliably recovered - just 18% of those referred.
Across the UK, economic inactivity due to long-term sickness has reached record levels. Mental health conditions are the most commonly reported health problem among those unable to work, with over 1.35 million people citing depression, bad nerves or anxiety. The crisis is hitting young people hardest: between 2015 and 2024, the number of 16-to-34-year-olds with work-limiting health conditions rose by 77% – driven primarily by mental health.
NHS Talking Therapies - the principal treatment pathway for depression and anxiety in England - referred 1.83 million adults in 2023/24. Yet fewer than four in ten completed a full course of treatment, and only 18% of everyone referred ultimately moved to recovery. For the millions who fall through the gaps, the human cost is compounded: unemployment, isolation, and conditions that worsen without intervention.