Hope Guardians is an initiative offering free online one-to-one mental health therapy (once a week) for young adults aged 18-27 in their own language and cultural context with true professionals.

If you need help, are perhaps feeling anxious and/or depressed, aged 18-27, and cannot afford to pay a private therapist’s fees or have not been helped when you approached a government facility, then yes, Hope Guardians is for you.

  • If you are unemployed or
  • Employed but earning less than R10,000 per month (South Africa) or your annual household income is less than £20,000 (United Kingdom)
  • you qualify for free therapy via one of the professionals signed up with Hope Guardians

Various types of therapists have signed up to give of their time weekly; psychologists, psychiatrists, counsellors, social workers and more. As a client you will be matched to a therapist best suited to help you personally. Each therapist is duly licensed by their relevant industry body and each is verified before being matched with a client

Each of the above mentioned industry bodies issues their own Code of Conduct and/or Ethics. These Codes prescribe a set of norms, standards, rules and responsibilities associated with proper and ethical conduct that every professional member must follow. Follow the links below to view the Codes:

United Kingdom

  • BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions- https://www.bacp.co.uk/events-and-resources/ethics-and-standards/ethical-framework-for-the-counselling-professions/

South Africa

Hope Guardians is a free service, there is no cost to the client asking for help. It is therefore reserved for people who cannot afford other forms of help

Of course you don’t have to use video conferencing but please consider it as the professional therapist needs to use your facial expressions, body language and physical demeanor to better assess your psychological state.

Yes it certainly is, and it means we can connect clients and therapists who live in different cities and suburbs. It also means no travel costs incurred for the client, they only need a secure internet connection.

In many ways they are both very similar. They both require an appropriate level of social etiquette and a certain amount of preparation from both parties. All therapists are subject to the same professional standards and regulations irrespective of where and how the therapy session takes place.

Please make sure you cancel at least 24 hours prior to the start of your session. Once you have been assigned a therapist and a day and time for your sessions has been agreed upon by both parties it is up to you (the client) to communicate with your therapist directly to cancel your session. Rescheduling will be difficult as the therapist commits to that day and time upfront.

If you miss your session, and do not cancel at least 24 hours prior, the therapist will contact Hope Guardians directly to let us know. Hope Guardians will then reach out to you (the client) to find out what happened and if everything is ok. Missed sessions will not be taken lightly, both you and the therapist are making a commitment to each other and yourselves, you cannot simply miss a session. If the reason is not deemed valid enough by Hope Guardians your therapist will unfortunately be reassigned to a client in need of help

A typical therapy session lasts one hour. If one hour does not suit your schedule you are welcome to discuss directly with your assigned therapist.

When you request help via the website you are required to input your first name, however you are welcome to use a pseudonym (false name) if you wish to. Your information is safe with us and will not be shared with any third parties.

Hope Guardians will check in with clients after their first session and on an ad-hoc basis throughout their treatments. It is very important to us that clients are comfortable with their assigned therapist, so please do not be shy, let us know if it isn’t working and we will try match you again with a better suited therapist

Hope Guardians is an initiative offering free online one-to-one mental health therapy (once a week) for young adults aged 18-27 in their own language and cultural context with true professionals

At the moment we accept applications from the following types of  therapists:

  • Psychiatrist
  • Psychologist
  • General Practitioner
  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapist
  • Psychiatric Nurse
  • Counsellor
  • Social Worker

Each therapist must be duly licensed by their relevant industry body and you will be verified before being matched with a client.

Please get in touch directly should you be one of the following therapists and want to offer your time:

  • Clinical psychologist
  • Clinical social worker
  • Counselling psychologist
  • Educational psychologist
  • Holistic counsellor
  • Occupational therapist
  • Organisational psychologist
  • Psychometrist
  • Specialist wellness counsellor
  • Wellness counsellor

Each of the above mentioned industry bodies issues their own Code of Conduct and/or Ethics. These Codes prescribe a set of norms, standards, rules and responsibilities associated with proper and ethical conduct that every professional member must follow. Follow the links below to view the Codes:

United Kingdom

South Africa

Hope Guardians is an initiative offering free online one-to-one mental health therapy (once a week) for young adults aged 18-27 in their own language and cultural context with true professionals.

Various types of therapists have signed up to give of their time weekly; psychologists, psychiatrists, counsellors, social workers and more. As a client you will be matched to a therapist best suited to help you personally. Each therapist is duly licensed by their relevant industry body and each is verified before being matched with a client.

Hope Guardians is a free service, there is no cost to the client asking for help. It is therefore reserved for people who cannot afford other forms of help.

  • If you are unemployed or
  • Employed but earning less than R10,000 per month (South Africa) or your annual household income is less than £20,000 (United Kingdom)
  • you qualify for free therapy via one of the professionals signed up with Hope Guardians

When the initial call (from a member of Hope Guardians) is made to the client, before matching them with a therapist, a few key questions are asked; the client’s home address and an additional contact name and number are requested. These questions are asked to gather information that will help Hope Guardians should they need to send medical assistance or struggle to contact the client. Hope Guardians then saves this information in the client’s profile, and does not make use of the information unless necessary.

Yes it certainly is, and it means we can connect clients and therapists who live in different cities and suburbs. It also means no travel costs incurred for the client, they only need a secure internet connection.

In many ways they are both very similar. They both require an appropriate level of social etiquette and a certain amount of preparation from both parties. All therapists are subject to the same professional standards and regulations irrespective of where and how the therapy session takes place.

Ben Tuttle was a tourist from the UK who chose to stay in Cape Town last year (2020) because of lockdown. While here, he realised the need which exists for better access to healthcare, especially for the youth. He decided to launch Hope Guardians in the UK and South Africa and base his team in SA, as operating costs are lower than in the UK. We hope to be able to expand into other countries when the time is right.

Ben (founder of Hope Guardians) has suffered from mental health issues himself, most of his life, and was inspired to start Hope Guardians by a newspaper article citing global statistics on mental health. Hundreds of millions of young people worldwide suffer from mental health issues, many with little to no way to get help.

It comes at a price, and is therefore usually only available to those who can afford to use private professionals, with very limited government intervention available.

Ben believes we need to make sure all young people get the best possible mental healthcare so that they can become happier, more fulfilled, and high-functioning members of the community. We are therefore starting by targeting young adults, ranging from 18 to 27 years, based in the UK and South Africa.

The donation you make today goes straight to Hope Guardians, there is no target to be reached before funding is released. Every day is an opportunity for HOPE to be given to a person in need of it, the team at Hope Guardians work daily to help clients in desperate need of therapy. Help keep the HOPE alive, no matter how small your donation, every bit helps

Payments are made in a highly-secure environment. We use industry leading technology (such as SSL) to keep your information safe and encrypted

Hope Guardians is an initiative offering free online one-to-one mental health therapy (once a week) for young adults aged 18-27 in their own language and cultural context with true professionals.

Various types of therapists have signed up to give of their time weekly; psychologists, psychiatrists, counsellors, social workers and more. As a client you will be matched to a therapist best suited to help you personally. Each therapist is duly licensed by their relevant industry body and each is verified before being matched with a client

Hope Guardians is a free service, there is no cost to the client asking for help. It is therefore reserved for people who cannot afford other forms of help.

  • If you are unemployed or
  • Employed but earning less than R10,000 per month (South Africa) or your annual household income is less than £20,000 (United Kingdom)
  • you qualify for free therapy via one of the professionals signed up with Hope Guardians.

When the initial call (from a member of Hope Guardians) is made to the client, before matching them with a therapist, a few key questions are asked; the client’s home address and an additional contact name and number are requested. These questions are asked to gather information that will help Hope Guardians should they need to send medical assistance or struggle to contact the client. Hope Guardians then saves this information in the client’s profile, and does not make use of the information unless necessary.

Yes it certainly is, and it means we can connect clients and therapists who live in different cities and suburbs. It also means no travel costs incurred for the client, they only need a secure internet connection.

Thank you for expressing an interest in Hope Guardians. We are working hard to achieve our goal of thousands of free online 1-to-1 therapy sessions with mental health professionals. In the meantime, let us know how you’d like to help, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!

Give help

First Name
Please upload the following documents — 1. Your Qualifications 2. Membership of Regulatory Body and 3. Proof Of Insurance. NOTE: Only PDF, JPEG, PNG and DOC Files Types Allowed (Max 10mb each). If you are not ready to upload your documents, simply email us at hello@hopeguardians.com and we'll remind you.
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Thank you for expressing an interest in Hope Guardians. We are busy recruiting therapists to join Hope Guardians in order to ensure the highest quality of therapist for you. Feel free to send us your details below but please understand we cannot assist you just yet and will be in touch as soon as we can!

First Name(Required)
Which of these feelings, if any, have you had in the last 2 weeks
I cannot afford to pay a private therapist’s fees and have not been helped when I approached a government facility.
I would like to receive updates on professional mental health advice.
terms and conditions(Required)
Your can find them here: terms and conditions | privacy policy
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