Hide table of contents

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)

    Assessment and Treatment of Social Phobia | Semantic Scholar
  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.
    Anxiety – reversing the vicious cycle
     
     

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!
 

29

0
0

Reactions

0
0

More posts like this

Comments1
Sorted by Click to highlight new comments since:

Gratitude I'm Enough Socially Confident to Express:

Thank you

Curated and popular this week
Relevant opportunities