Est. 2008 · Sec 18A PBO · South Africa

An African solution
to a global
mental health crisis.

We train people with lived experience to become recovery coaches — then deploy them to improve treatment outcomes worldwide.

Fund the Work See the ROI
Active in 🇿🇦🇬🇧🇳🇱🇺🇬🇿🇲🇨🇦🇦🇺

Section 18A PBO — Tax-deductible donations

Licensed clinical facility — 24-bed detox · 21-day rehab

17 years — Founded 13 November 2008

University of Zambia — Active research partnership

CPD certified — Accredited training programmes

The model

Three pillars. One outcome.

The U-ACT model takes people with lived experience of addiction and transforms them into credentialled recovery professionals — then measures the impact in hard numbers.

01
Pillar one

Train

The CLERO framework — College of Lived Experience Recovery. A CPD-accredited pathway that turns personal recovery into professional practice. Built on the Ubuntu philosophy and the Collins Window methodology.

London Recovery Coaching Campus →MAUNi Training App →
02
Pillar two

Empower

Trained LEROs — Lived Experience Recovery Organisations — deployed into communities, workplaces, and programmes. Aligned with the UK Harm to Hope strategy and the Dame Carol Black report.

We Do Unfiltered Lives →We Do Community →
03
Pillar three

Treat

The Foundation Clinic — a licensed, insurance-covered residential treatment facility in Johannesburg. Biopsychosocial model. Medical detox. Technology-enhanced outcomes.

The Foundation Clinic →Training Community →
The evidence

Recovery Capital. The return on investment.

Every pound, rand, or dollar invested in recovery does more than change a life. It reduces the burden on criminal justice, health systems, and social services — measurably.

$4
saved on the criminal justice system for every $1 invested in recovery capital
$3
saved on the health system for every $1 invested in recovery capital
$7
total social return on every $1 invested — the case for funding recovery

Source: US Surgeon General's Report on Alcohol, Drugs and Health — Facing Addiction in America, 2016

The network

Born in Africa. Operating globally.

U-ACT is not an international organisation that works in Africa. We are an African organisation that has taken our model to the world.

🇿🇦
South Africa (HQ)
The Foundation Clinic · Johannesburg
Clinical · Training · AI & VR research
🇬🇧
United Kingdom
We Do Unfiltered Lives CIC
Harm to Hope · London Recovery Coaching Campus
🇳🇱
Netherlands
Virtual reality treatment research
The Foundation Clinic NL
🇺🇬
Uganda
Community facilitation
LERO programme delivery
🇿🇲
Zambia
University of Zambia partnership
HR & programme operations
🇨🇦
Canada
LERO facilitation
Community of practice
🇦🇺
Australia
Corporate relations
Global CSI partnerships
🌍
Growing
The LERO model is replicable anywhere people have lived experience and the will to change their community.
"I am because we are."
Ubuntu — the philosophy at the heart of everything U-ACT does

Fund the work that saves seven times what it costs.

U-ACT is a Section 18A registered Public Benefit Organisation. Donations are tax-deductible in South Africa. We are B-BBEE CSI qualifying for corporate partners. All funds go directly to training, treatment, and community deployment.

Get in touch →

How would you like to partner?

🏛️
Grant fundingFoundations, trusts, and institutional funders
🏢
Corporate CSI / B-BBEESA companies · B-BBEE qualifying · Section 18A tax benefit
🤝
Individual donationTax-deductible · Section 18A PBO
🔬
Research partnershipUniversities, public health institutions, government