An Umbrella Review of the Effects of Single-Session Mental Health Interventions
Schleider, J. L., Zapata, J. P., Rapoport, A., Wescott, A., Ghosh, A., Kaveladze, B., Szkody, E., & Ahuvia, I. L. (2025). Single-session interventions for mental health problems and service engagement: Umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 21, 279–303. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-081423-025033
Introduction
Despite a growing global mental health crisis, most individuals in need of care receive none, or just one session. This stark reality underscores the need to maximize the impact of that first, and often only, encounter. Schleider and colleages (2025) offer a rigorous umbrella review that synthesizes 24 systematic reviews, including 415 trials, evaluating single-session interventions (SSIs) for mental health and service engagement across age groups.
Methods
The review team systematically searched five major databases (e.g., MEDLINE, Cochrane, PsycINFO) for systematic reviews and meta-analyses of SSIs, defined as structured psychosocial programs designed for completion in a single encounter. Twenty-four reviews met the inclusion criteria, comprising 415 trials and over 40,000 participants spanning childhood through adulthood.
Each review was double-coded, and methodological quality was assessed using AMSTAR 2. Effects were synthesized using both narrative methods and a second-order meta-analysis. Interventions ranged from therapist-led to self-guided digital formats and covered diverse outcomes including anxiety, depression, substance use, and service engagement.
Results
Across 20 of the 24 included reviews, SSIs showed significant positive effects on at least one outcome. The overall standardized mean difference across 12 meta-analyses was −0.25, suggesting small but consistent benefits. Effects were particularly strong for anxiety and externalizing problems, and were evident across delivery formats and age groups.
Some findings suggested that SSIs can match or exceed the effectiveness of multisession treatments in certain contexts, such as alcohol use interventions in low-resource settings. Shorter follow-up periods (0–2 weeks) were associated with stronger outcomes, though some studies reported effects lasting up to a year.
Discussion
This umbrella review offers compelling evidence that SSIs can deliver meaningful mental health benefits, especially when longer-term care is inaccessible. Their adaptability—across problems, populations, and delivery modes—makes them highly scalable. The findings challenge traditional notions of dosage in psychotherapy and emphasize that even a single encounter, when well-designed, can spark measurable change.
Yet gaps remain: few reviews addressed long-term implementation, and some lacked preregistration or detail on funding transparency. Still, the evidence base is robust and growing, suggesting SSIs are a pragmatic tool in expanding global mental health access.
Implications for Mentoring Programs
SSIs’ flexibility and proven short-term efficacy align well with the goals of youth mentoring programs, especially those in schools or community organizations. Training mentors to facilitate or refer mentees to self-guided SSIs could provide timely, stigma-free support. Moreover, their potential to improve service engagement aligns with efforts to connect young people to sustained care. Embedding SSIs within mentoring relationships could serve as a low-barrier, high-impact mental health strategy.
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