The Inuka Method™

Inuka co-founder Prof. Chibanda co-founder is a  psychiatrist and a professor in London and developed the InukaMethod™. He was one of 12 psychiatrists in Zimbabwe, a country of 16 million. He went radical by training grandmothers to make mental support available widely.

Now, by training coaches across Africa he helps 100.000 people each year, with problems ranging from depression, trauma, to stress.

Problems are a normal, predictable part of life and negative emotional and physical symptoms are cues for change.

The Inuka Method is focused on changing how you feel, by helping you change what they do to help you enact sustainable, positive behavioral changes.

Here are some of the benefits you’ll experience working with an Inuka coach: 

• Improve your ability to identify what’s triggering you, what problems are causing you the most emotional distress
• Improve symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress
• Helps you cope with difficulties by teaching you how to proactively solve problems
• Directly work on life’s challenges by taking small steps and actions.
• Helps with a wide range of problems like reducing depression, managing anxiety and stress and solving work and life relationship problems
• Manage negative effects of stressful events: overwhelm, inadequate coping skills, lack of self-efficacy
• Helps you reach personal goals, like losing weight, running a marathon 

Inuka is the only intervention designed for the people who need it before it is too late – by keeping it simple.

Our coaches come from a diverse set of backgrounds, and can relate to where you are. Many have been through the same or similar challenges as you. 

You can choose your coach and session based on a personal description of the coach, their rating by other coachees, and the language you feel most comfortable expressing yourself in. Right now, we offer over 9 different languages including English, Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Dutch, Romanian and Kiswahili. 

All our coaches are first vetted by us, and then trained and certified through the Inuka Academy in the Inuka Method, a simplified coaching version of Problem Solving Therapy (PST). This therapy is a type of cognitive behaviour therapy that helps people become more resilient in dealing with challenges in life. Inuka coaches receive over 300 hours of education and training, and have to do an exam with a licensed therapist in order to become certified. 

Coaches are continuously supported and quality checks are done by experts, such as highly experienced coaches, licensed therapists and psychiatrists. 

Good question! We have 5 ingredients to ensure high quality, consistent service from our coaches:

Solid Training – All coaches have completed an in-depth training on the proven InukaMethod, and only were allowed to start coaching after they did an exam which is checked by our team of experienced coaches, licensed therapists and psychiatrists. 

Strict quality control – After the exam our quality checks don’t stop! With the use of technology and regular feedback from our team of therapists we ensure all our coaches provide top-notch support. Yet you got the bad luck to run into a coach you are not happy with? No worries you can change coaches anytime!

Careful selection – Our coaches are carefully screened and selected by us. They have to have a history of social engagement, have to be highly motivated and compassionate and of course pass our strict training and exam. 

Inuka Coaching Method – Coaches are trained on a proven problem solving method, the InukaMethod, which builds your skills to effectively deal with challenges or stressful events you face in life. As opposed to many offers of therapists or counsellors, on the Inuka service all coaches work with the same method to ensure you get a similar high quality service, every session.

Solid research & development – We have tested the quality of our coaches’ problem solving method by tracking the progress and feedback of 63 people who received 4 chat-sessions on our Inuka app. We saw great results: for 82% of participants, mental distress symptoms went down with 42% and 91% of participants reported they ‘definitely’ would come back if they would seek support from a coach again.

Note that it depends per type of challenge how many sessions are needed for results. Also, although Inuka is designed to get you to a better place, it is NOT a medical service, and in case you are in crisis or need medical support, we recommend you seek medical treatment. 

Each session lasts between 60-90 minutes. 

Your coach is there to listen to you and help you feel comfortable to genuinely share whats on your mind.  With your coach, you will systematically identify your stressors and build the coping skills and strategies to manage them in healthy, positive ways on your own.

Here’s what else you can expect:  

• A personalized wellbeing plan for you to follow between sessions
• Quick referral in case additional care is required.

Each session takes the following format: 

1. Map out your life across all areas to help you identify all your problems and opportunities for change

Every session begins with the coach listening to you and what you’re going through in the context of your daily lives — your problems, your mindset, your stressors — whether it is related to work, emotional, relationship, financial, physical or spiritually related. Together, you’ll come up with a ¨things to tackle list.¨

If it is a return session, the session begins with evaluating whether the action plan worked.

2. Focus on one specific problem & goal

The coach then helps you find out the most pressing issue on the list and helps them focus on what they can influence. Together, you pick a problem that is important and also feasible to be addressed.

3. Make a plan

Together, you and your coach set a goal. This is the first moment you’ll get pulled towards positive thinking, and behavioral change. Together you brainstorm a range of possible and impossible solutions, pick a solution and make a SMART action plan. The session ends with a short scheduling of the next session.

Each person reacts differently to this support, depending on the issues they face, but we have two reasons to believe this can work for you:

1. Evidence-based guidance method. All Inuka guides are trained in a method which is grounded in problem solving therapy. This method has been found to be effective for a range of problems people face.

2. We tested it. 63 people received 4 guidance sessions from Inuka guides, trained in our problem solving method and saw the following results:

a) For 81% of participants, mental distress symptoms go down by an average of 42% (mean from M=12 to 7 out of 20 on screener for depression, anxiety, stress and sleep challenges)

b) 69% said Inuka helped very much in dealing better with their life’s challenges

c)The quality of the program was rated by 67% as ‘excellent’

d)If a friend was in need, 84% would ‘definitely’ recommend Inuka
e)In circumstances where they may need help again, 91% would ‘definitely’ come back to Inuka

Based on a study with a prototype. Results may differ with the current solution. Different life challenges may require varying numbers of sessions. Typically, 4-8 sessions are needed.

We wrote a great blog about this; 9 Lessons Learned from Supporting Remote Workers through Covid-19. 

Counseling and psychotherapy are services offered by medical experts. Counselors and psychotherapists go through extensive training to understand human psychology and learn a range of different types of therapies. These experts can therefore treat people who face various challenges in their lives, whether it is serious addiction problems, being unable to sleep, and mental health disorders. They often explore in-depth your history, family situation and personality. 

In contrast, our coaches are trained in one specific method which is grounded in ‘problem-solving therapy’, the Inuka Method. Created by leading experts, it takes some of the most-used tools in coaching and therapy, (known as ‘Cognitive Behavioral Therapy’) but it only focuses on helping you deal with challenges, not on deeper underlying issues. Therefore it is very useful for helping you to make changes in life, and cope with challenges you face in life, but not to resolve larger underlying issues such as addiction, a serious mental disorder or trauma. 

It is important to note that although this service is designed to help you cope with a range of issues you face in life, Inuka is not a medical service. If you feel you are in crisis, or you may hurt yourself or others, you should seek professional help. Please scroll down to find resources for professional help.

Sessions are available in the following languages. We are constantly adding new languages, as they are requested. Feel free to reach out to us if you are missing some!

English – French – Spanish – German – Hindi – Dutch – Romanian – Kiswahili – Shona