The Mental Health Kidney Foundation (MHKF) is dismantling outdated models of kidney care by making mental health non-negotiable. For those living with chronic and rare kidney disease, the pain runs deeper than lab results. It’s the weight of uncertainty, isolation, medical trauma, and the quiet grief of a life abruptly altered. These experiences often go unseen, unspoken, and unsupported.
MHKF was created to change that by providing no-cost, kidney-informed mental health care, individual therapy, support groups, and community education shaped by the voices and needs of patients themselves.
We are not adding mental health to kidney care, we are rebuilding the foundation to include it. Because for people facing kidney disease, emotional survival is part of medical survival. And every person deserves care that sees the whole story, not just the symptoms.
MHKF is reshaping traditional kidney care. We are advocating for equal value on the mind, the body, and the human experience behind every diagnosis. We reject the outdated notion that mental health is optional. It’s not a supplement to care, it’s the engine that drives better outcomes, deeper engagement, and more equitable treatment for all kidney patients.
MHKF isn’t just filling gaps, we’re redesigning the system that created them. We center patients who are too often overlooked in kidney care, delivering mental health support that reflects their culture, context, and reality. Equity for us means more than access, it means belonging, trust, and care that actually fits.
MHKF is stitching together an ecosystem of partnerships that reflects the real lives of kidney patients that extends beyond hospitals and exam rooms. We collaborate patient advocates, grassroots organizers, and kidney-focused organizations. These collaborations are built by trust, lived experience, and a shared refusal to let anyone face the mental health challenges of kidney disease in silence.
