Minds Matter, So Do Rights
Where the law meets psychology
If you are facing divorce, violence, or a fight to protect your child, you should not have to choose between a lawyer and a counsellor. At The Balance you get both. They work together. It costs you nothing.
Get Help Confidential. Free of charge. In Addis Ababa, at home, in prison, or by phone.
You never get one without the other
We are the first centre in Ethiopia to fully bring together family law, trauma-informed psychological care, and human rights advocacy. Every person we work with has a lawyer and a psychologist on the same team.
Legal help
- Human rights protection and litigation
- Family law representation
- Divorce mediation and conflict resolution
- Legal advocacy for survivors of gender-based violence
- Child protection and custody advocacy
Why both
A legal victory without healing is not justice. Healing without legal protection is not safety.
So we do not separate them. Your lawyer and your psychologist plan together, meet you together when it helps, and stay with you through the whole process.
Psychological care
- Individual trauma-informed therapy
- Couples and family therapy
- Therapy for children
- Treatment for developmental trauma disorder
- Care for ongoing mental health conditions
We work with people who are…
Going through divorce or family breakdown
Mediation, representation, and support for you and your children through the change.
Read more →Living with or recovering from violence
Legal protection and trauma-informed care for survivors of gender-based violence.
Read more →Trying to protect a child
Custody advocacy, child protection, and therapy designed for children.
Read more →In prison, or supporting someone who is
We come to you. Legal help and psychological care inside prisons.
Read more →A sex worker who has faced violence or abuse
Your rights are the same as anyone's. We help you use them, without judgement.
Read more →Living with developmental trauma or a long-term mental illness
Ongoing care, and a lawyer when your rights or safety are at stake.
Read more →
We meet you where you are
- At our office in Addis Ababa
- A quiet, private place to talk. We give you directions when you book.
- In your home
- If travel is hard for you, for any reason, we can come to you.
- Inside prisons
- Our lawyers and psychologists visit people in prison and work with them there.
- By phone, outside Addis Ababa
- Our hotline is for people who live elsewhere in Ethiopia. It is answered during office hours.
Where the law meets psychology
The Balance Organization is an Ethiopian non-profit based in Addis Ababa. We were founded on a simple observation: people who come to a lawyer are often carrying trauma, and people who come to a therapist are often facing a legal fight. Treating one and ignoring the other leaves people half-helped.
We built one centre where both kinds of help live under one roof, and where human rights advocacy grows from what we learn.
Keep this work free for the people who need it
Every lawyer's hour and every therapy session we provide is free to the person receiving it. Donations and volunteer professionals make that possible.