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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Politicians are people! They deserve good mental wellbeing.

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




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.