In recent years, about one-in-two adults in America reported experiencing loneliness. And that was before the COVID-19 pandemic cut off so many of us from friends, loved ones, and support systems, exacerbating loneliness and isolation.

Trauma, especially trauma that is experienced in early childhood, can have a significant and lasting impact on an individual's emotional, cognitive, and social development. It can disrupt the natural progression of attachment, self-concept, and understanding of the world and interpersonal dynamics. As a result, this can set unhealthy patterns of relationships…

The main goal of mental health services is to help individuals achieve better mental and emotional well-being. If you bracket for a moment the assumption that all such services need to be provided by licensed professionals according to a medical model including diagnosis and treatment including medication (which are not necessarily super effective in many cases), Cafés do many of the things that therapeutic mental health services do — and for some people they even work better than conventional, evidence-based interventions. They can also be catalysts and gateways to accessing professional mental health services.