Higher Standard Society

💡 Root Cause Insight: Rethinking the Mental Health Crisis

After years of volunteer coaching and walking alongside individuals through their most difficult seasons, we’ve come to a critical realization: many people are not experiencing a mental health crisis rooted in internal dysfunction; they are experiencing a life crisis masked as depression.

What we’re witnessing is not simply chemical imbalance or emotional instability, but the heavy toll of economic injustice, unrelenting debt, and unmet basic needs. The inability to pay rent, keep food on the table, or provide for one's family creates a persistent state of stress that mirrors and often triggers clinical anxiety and depression.

The truth is, many people are not mentally ill — they are overwhelmed, under-resourced, and unsupported. The cycle of working harder yet falling further behind has created a quiet epidemic of hopelessness, especially among those who are doing their best to survive in broken systems.

We believe the solution must address both the practical and spiritual roots of this crisis. That’s why we are committed to creating spaces where people can access community-based support, shared resources, and Spirit-led generosity — to not only meet their emotional needs but also to remove the burdens that cause the distress in the first place.

The Higher Standard Society-Share & Serve Network is a modern-day expression of the Acts 2 Church, a faith-based community where members freely exchange gifts, skills, time, and resources to ensure no one is left in lack. Our mission is to create a needs-based economy rooted in generosity, unity, and radical love.

✨ Our Vision

To see barter communities pop up across the globe, where the love of Christ is made tangible through shared meals, exchanged services, answered prayers, and radical provision, all without the limits of currency.