Tom Osborn: Decolonizing Mental Health

Welcome to The Whole Point: The Human Behind The Mission. Tom Osborn, our second guest, is a distinguished social entrepreneur and mental health innovator based in Nairobi, Kenya. As the founder and CEO of Shamiri, Tom has created one of the world’s most cost-effective models for youth mental healthcare and centers his work around the idea of “decolonizing the mind.” Now providing mental health services across Africa, Tom and Shamiri are building a movement that recognizes the importance of local knowledge and strengths-based solutions to improve mental health outcomes. As a 2026 Elevate Prize winner, Tom joins a global community of fellow nonprofit leaders and perfectly embodies our Whole Leader philosophy: investing in one’s own mental health and wellbeing to, in turn, invest in their communities and collective resilience. He joins Elevate Prize Foundation CEO Carolina García Jayaram for the Whole Point, the new Elevate Studios podcast that explores the origin stories, life’s work, and wellbeing practices of some of the world’s most inspiring changemakers. 0:00 Introduction 2:43 Mental Health in Africa 6:20 Mental Health Interventions For Youth 13:15 Tom Osborn's Viral Ted Talk 16:10 How To Create Hope for Youth ABOUT US: The Elevate Prize Foundation is a global non-profit on a mission to Make Good Famous, bringing visibility to the work of changemakers, creating a fanbase for good, and inspiring action on an international scale. In 2025, we launched Elevate Studios, a transformative initiative that positions storytelling at the heart of cultural and social change. Follow Elevate Prize:   / elevateprize     / elevateprize     / elevateprize