Exploring the Mental Wellbeing of Political Leaders

The Apolitical Foundation has undertaken a first-of-its-kind exploration of the mental wellbeing of politicians. Mere Mortals: the State of Politicians' Mental Wellbeing and Why It Matters was launched on 6 December, 2023.

Why we care about politicians’ mental wellbeing

To address 21st century policy issues like the climate crisis, growing polarization and inequality, we need politicians performing at their best - their decisions affect us all.

Being a politician is a difficult job. Threats and abuse are on the rise. We will not get the effective and representative politicians we need to run for and stay in office if we don’t address this.

There is significant fear and stigma around discussing mental wellbeing in politics and among politicians. The topic is under-researched and there is a lack of support resources.

Politicians are people! They deserve good mental wellbeing.

Our report on the state of politicians' mental wellbeing and how to support it.

Read Mere Mortals

Contribute to our research!

Are you a current or former elected leader? You can contribute our first-of-its-kind research in just 15-20 minutes by taking our anonymous survey.

We’ve finished our initial data collection ahead of the November 2023 report launch but will keep the survey open to continue building the evidence base on this topic.

Take the Survey

Advisory Council

Amishi Jha

Professor of Psychology

University of Miami

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James Weinberg

Lecturer in Political Behavior
University of Sheffield

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Winnie Odinga

Member of Parliament

East African Legislative Assembly, Government of Kenya

Ashley Weinberg

Senior Lecturer in Psychology
University of Salford

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Kelly Dittmar

Associate Professor of Political Science

Rutgers University - Camden

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Christina Haswood

State Legislator
Kansas House of Representatives, D-10

Rey Padit

Regional Program Manager

Konrad Adenauer Stiftung

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Courtnee Melton-Fant

Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Systems Management and Policy
University of Memphis School of Public Health

Victoria Ann Hasson

Parliamentary and Democracy Expert, Founder
The Silent MP

Our Team

Aaryan Salman

Policy and Research Fellow

Amanda Mitchell

Special Projects Coordinator

Rebekah Ison

Head of Content and Communications

Kimberly McArthur

COO and Project Director

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Want to find out more or have an initiative to share?

Write to us at info@apolitical.foundation

This project is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Global Ideas Fund at CAF America. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of CAF America or the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.