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About Us

Our Story

We ensure the well-being and effectiveness of responders worldwide. ​

Responders succeed when we are there to help.

At the forefront of increasingly complex and dangerous environments, global responders often risk their health and safety to assist victims. However, a growing number of brave individuals are overwhelmed by the psychological demands of working around-the-clock among the shocked, injured, and displaced.

We believe those who sacrifice the most deserve the most support. The Headington Institute is a 501(c)3 nonprofit team of psychologists that partner with responder organizations worldwide before, during, and after deployment in order to ensure the wellbeing of their staff. 

After more than 20 years of this work, we understand the toll that responding to crises takes on frontline staff. Many struggle from burnout, addiction, and stress impairment or PTSD as a result of what they have seen and heard. And the work is growing more dangerous. 

We bridge cutting-edge academic research with practical application at the field level, in order to strengthen the impact of humanitarian response and promote long-term psychological resilience. We want all aid, relief, and intervention personnel to have the resources they need to keep going.

Preparation​

We are resilience builders. Though we can’t prevent disasters from occurring, we can prepare individuals, teams, and organizations to be more effective and to maintain the mental well-being necessary to thrive and succeed in their important work.

Commitment

We never walk away. Since 2001, we’ve strengthened humanitarian response by dedicating ourselves to the well-being of global responders. We are devoted to serving the heroes among us today and into the future.

Innovation

We are always learning and improving. We research and adapt to the needs of both responders and their organizations. In doing so, we continually set the bar for standards of care around the globe.

Our Impact​

We are the largest and most effective organization of our kind. We’ve been making an impact since day one.

Our Research​

We study the foundational protective factors that promote stress resilience and trauma recovery. The Headington Institute Resilience Inventory (HIRI) was developed to gain a new understanding of what most directly helps and inhibits the wellbeing and resilience of global humanitarians. At the time of its release in 2017, the assessment had been validated with data from over 3,000 participants and 130 countries. Each year we add another 1,200 participants to our expanding pool of data. We learn more every time someone takes the assessment.

The Headington Institute was established in 2001.

Founded on the vision of Drs. James D. Guy and Timothy Headington, we’ve made it our mission to care for caregivers worldwide. From the beginning, we’ve believed in a proactive model of holistic care and healing, one that addresses the mind, body, and spirit.

We are a group of people passionate about helping and supporting those who change the world for the better. Through our work, we have discovered that the humanitarian impulse moves people to serve not only in far away places, but also in our own backyard. From 2013–2020, we invested in emergency responders based in the United States. Beginning in 2016, we initiated pilots with homelessness intervention sites around LA County. We are currently expanding our work with disaster relief agencies that blur the lines between domestic and international aid.

We serve humanitarians wherever we find them, whether in aid work, disaster relief, or community intervention.

Support Our Mission

Together we can prepare responders to be ready when we need them, remain at their best during a crisis, and recover sufficiently to keep serving.