Meetup, the platform that connects people at events for shared interests, can improve mental health according to new insight from therapists, those that use Meetup, and studies. Unlike most social platforms, Meetup has been recognized to beneficially impact mental health. Embracing this news, the company has announced today, on the first day of Mental Health Awareness month, that it has launched a mental health initiative including original content with expert advice and a resource page found at https://www.meetup.com/lp/mental-health-community.
Meetup has heard from members and mental health professionals on how the platform has improved well being. A study found that 80% of people who go to Meetup events feel more connected to others, 72% report an increase in friendships, and those using Meetup to organize events say it has made their lives better (74%) and increased impact on their self-confidence (78%). (Source: ImpactED, University of PA).
"I've long recommended Meetup to clients," said Matt Shaffer, LCSW. "It's not only the immediate upside of gaining that positive social result, but more importantly, attending Meetup events helps people think and feel differently about the challenge of forming connections. Rather than it seeming like an insurmountable obstacle, they find that all is not lost and there are pathways through this challenge. My clients have been able to break their inertia and form social connections."
Community has the power to change lives. In an 80-year study, researchers at Harvard found that community has a profound impact on mental and physical health (source). Having close personal relationships delays aging and prolongs happiness.
Meetup's newly launched mental health initiative includes experts, therapists, and psychologists providing actionable advice on everything from finding happiness, to creating adult friendships, and how to live a meaningful life. Additionally, Meetup's podcast, blog and Meetup Live programming will honor mental health throughout May featuring daily, weekly, monthly mental health practices, lessons from Harvard's happiness study, and more. As a longtime leader in building connections and community, Meetup has captured the attention and interest from Rosie Acosta, author of You Are Radically Loved and a mindfulness teacher, and Jay Glazer, author of Unbreakable: How I Turned My Depression and Anxiety into Motivation and You Can Too and National Football League (NFL) Insider for FOX NFL Sunday. Each will be guests on Meetup Live May 2nd and May 23rd at 3:00 P.M. respectively.
"We know that attending or organizing Meetup events regularly makes people feel good and that's why we do what we do," said David Siegel, CEO of Meetup and host of the Keep Connected podcast. "We are pleased to know that healthcare professionals are recommending Meetup as a solution to supplement therapeutic treatment, and that reaffirms our commitment to ending the loneliness epidemic while also connecting a lot of cool and fascinating people along the way."
One Meetup organizer who has seen tremendous improvement is David Good. He explained, "As someone with Aspergers and treatment-resistant depression that has had career setbacks because of illness and injury, Meetup helped me figure out the world of people and gave me new purpose and meaning in life. Serving others by running groups in cities worldwide has been the greatest treatment I've found for my depression."
Mr. Good organized his first Meetup group called, West Michigan Geeks in the summer of 2014, and it has grown in popularity to have 4,712 members. With that success, he launched a Meetup Pro network called International Friend Connection with the mission of connecting people for friendship and understanding. This Meetup network hosts multiple in-person and online Meetup events each week, and has 41 Meetup groups across the U.S. and 20 countries with 28,231 members, collectively.
Meetup is the social media platform for finding and building communities of people who meet about common interests. Established in 2002, the company remains true to its mission of helping people grow and achieve their personal or professional goals through authentic, human connections. Meetup has more than 60 million registered members across 330,000 groups active in 193 countries and 10,000 cities around the world.