Living with chronic or rare kidney disease means navigating a demanding and often invisible routine: strict dietary restrictions, complex medication schedules, ongoing fatigue, and frequent medical appointments. Add in hospital stays, physical limitations, and the constant uncertainty of disease progression and the mental health challenges becomes impossible to ignore.
Yet, it often is.
Insurance restrictions, stigma, and a lack of kidney-informed therapists create barriers at every turn. Even when help is available, many mental health professionals aren’t trained to understand the complex challenges that often accompany kidney disease.
What we need is a new standard, one that treats mental health as essential, not optional. One that’s informed by both science and lived experience. And one that recognizes emotional well-being as a critical part of healing and a core part of what it means to survive, and thrive, with kidney disease.
An estimated 35.5 million Americans have CKD. People with CKD and RKD are up to 3 times more likely to experience depression and anxiety than the general population.
➡️ Mental health struggles begin early in the disease, even before dialysis or transplant and only intensify over time.
➡️ 1 in 3 patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESRD) experiences clinical depression, with even higher rates of anxiety, trauma, and emotional distress.
➡️ Fewer than 10% of kidney patients receive mental health care of any kind. The vast majority go untreated despite clear signs of emotional suffering. Mental health symptoms don’t just affect mood, they impact outcomes.
➡️ Untreated depression and anxiety are linked to:
✕ Poorer treatment adherence
✕ Lower transplant eligibility
✕ Higher hospitalization rates
✕ Increased mortality
Our goal is to ensure that all adult kidney patients have access to mental health services, regardless of their ability to pay.
The Mind to Thrive is a bold, groundbreaking response to a long-ignored crisis in kidney care: the lack of dedicated mental health support for people living with chronic and rare kidney disease.
As the first program of its kind in the U.S., the Mind to Thrive is uniquely designed to meet the emotional and psychological needs of kidney patients by integrating kidney-informed, evidence-based mental health care directly into the real life experiences of patients.
Launching in California as a pilot, this promising model offers:One-on-one therapy with clinicians trained in kidney-related mental health in addition to vital services such as therapist-led support groups focused on shared experiences, wellness workshops and outreach that reflects the diverse communities most impacted by kidney disease.
Mind to Thrive isn't just a program, it’s a starting point for reimagining what real, compassionate kidney care can be. And we're just getting started.
