Tag Archives: Mental Health and Happiness

Inside the Impact Board: How Katya Hancock Supports Youth Wellbeing in the Digital Age

July 11, 2024Business, Health, Innovation, StartupsChildrens Health, Digital Health, Health Moonshot Impact Board, Health Moonshots, Impact Board, Innovation, Katya Hancock, Logan Plaster, mental health, Mental Health and Happiness, mental wellness, non-profit, nonprofit, Teen Health, wellness, Young FuturesNicole Kinsey

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This week on StartUp Health NOW, we explore youth wellbeing in the digital age with Katya Hancock, Founding Executive Director of Young Futures and a member of StartUp Health’s Health Moonshot Impact Board.

After 10 years as part of the StartUp Health executive team, Hancock brings her experience to this innovative non-profit focused on helping young people thrive online. We’ll move beyond the “screen time villain” narrative and explore real solutions for navigating the digital world’s tensions. We’ll discuss Young Futures’ first million-dollar funding challenge, tackling loneliness, social connection, and wellbeing. Inspired by the Surgeon General’s call to action, they’re empowering youth-led efforts alongside established organizations.

Focus on Youth Wellbeing: Young Futures aims to improve youth wellbeing and mental health, especially in marginalized communities. The organization seeks to shift the narrative from focusing on challenges to providing practical solutions.
Innovative Support for Nonprofits: The organization hosts funding challenges to support innovative nonprofits working to improve youth well-being. The first challenge, called The Lonely Hearts Club, focused on addressing loneliness and social connection.
Building a Collaborative Ecosystem: Like StartUp Health, Young Futures brings together grantees in an ecosystem to collaborate and support each other. This approach helps create a stronger network of organizations working towards common goals.
Real-World Applications: Examples of supported organizations include Hip Hop Into Learning, which helps kids express themselves and find community through hip hop, and Sesame 3G, which connects seniors, teens, and preschoolers for mentoring and social-emotional learning.
Challenges and Opportunities: Hancock emphasizes the importance of addressing the digital tension young people face and providing them with the tools to navigate the digital world healthily. She also discusses the need for nonprofit leaders to adopt practices from the for-profit startup world, such as long-term goal setting and effective communication with funders.
Supporting StartUp Health: Hancock expresses her commitment to ensuring young people are part of the conversation in healthcare. She appreciates StartUp Health’s model and media presence, which can help raise awareness about youth mental health and integrate it into broader health discussions.
Personal Insights and Future Goals: Hancock shares her personal journey and how her work with StartUp Health and Young Futures has influenced her views on technology and parenting. She envisions Young Futures becoming more of an entertaining media company to engage and support young people effectively.

Join us for a dive into the future of youth and technology!

If you’re interested in the latest on how to help teens thrive in the digital age, follow the Young Futures Newsletter and their LinkedIn page.

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This Startup Uses Global Workforce Arbitrage to Make Mental Healthcare Accessible

May 17, 2024Business, Health, Innovation, StartupsAccess to Care Moonshot, Emilio Goldenhersch, Health Transformer, Logan Plaster, mental health, Mental Health and Happiness, mental wellness, MindCo, Moonshots, telemedicineNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:51 — 23.4MB)

This episode explores how MindCo Health, a company in the StartUp Health community, is leveraging “psychologist arbitrage” to make mental healthcare more accessible. Join us as we chat with Health Transformer Emilio Goldenhersch, CEO & Co-founder of MindCo Health to find out more about how his company is making mental healthcare more affordable with global talent.

You’ll learn about:

How MindCo connects patients with highly-trained therapists from Latin America.
The role of AI in making therapy affordable and efficient.
Why “global workforce arbitrage” could be the key to unlocking telemedicine’s potential.
How MindCo is breaking down barriers to early intervention mental healthcare.

This episode is for you if:

You’re interested in the future of telemedicine.
You’re looking for affordable mental health resources.
You’re curious about innovative solutions in healthcare access.

Tune in to learn how MindCo’s fresh approach can breathe new life into telemedicine!

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Gamification in Healthcare: How Two Founders Are Using Games to Heal

January 12, 2024Business, Health, Innovation, StartupsArcade Therapeutics, eddii, Farhaneh Ahmadi, Farhaneh Ahmadi PhD, Health Moonshot, Health Moonshots, Health Transformers, Innovation, mental health, Mental Health and Happiness, Raj Amin, T1D, T1D Moonshot, Type 1 Diabetes, Type 1 Diabetes MoonshotNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (27.2MB)

This week, we’re talking about gamification in healthcare. Gamification has been a popular buzzword in tech and in health, but it just means using elements we associate with games in non-game contexts. It means capitalizing on the motivations we find in games through things like progress updates and level-up badges to change behaviors and get us to do things that are going to be good for our health.

Today on the show, we’re talking to two founders who are gamifying the healthcare experience in two unique ways.

The first conversation is with Raj Amin, CEO & Co-founder of Arcade Therapeutics, a company that has been in the StartUp Health community since TK. They are a science-first game studio developing games that act like medicine, focusing on mental health. We’ll hear exactly what they’re building and why clinical research is key to their approach.

Then we’ll hear from Farhaneh Ahmadi, PhD, CEO & Co-founder of eddii, a company that is part of our T1D Moonshot. She and her team are using mobile gaming elements to help young people with their Type 1 diabetes management. Her company uses a character named eddii that talks to the user, tells them stories, and plays games with them – making it more relatable and more enjoyable to manage diabetes.

Listen in to learn more about these innovative approaches to improving health.

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Neolth Teams Up with NBA Star Kenny Thomas to Bring Mental Health Tools to Kids

November 2, 2023Business, Health, Innovation, Startups, UncategorizedChildrens Health, Health Moonshot, Health Transformer, Health Transformers, Katherine Grill, Kenny Thomas, Logan Plaster, mental health, Mental Health & Happiness, Mental Health and Happiness, mentalhealthawareness, NBA, Neolth, Teen HealthNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (33.8MB)

According to some estimates, out of the HHS, nearly 50% of kids have experienced some kind of mental health challenge. And not just anxiety about an upcoming test or depression over a breakup, but persistent feelings that interfere with daily activities.

Health innovation companies have been on the case for years, including many from the StartUp Health community. They’re tackling the science – like what’s the best way to treat mental health challenges in teens – and they’re also tackling engagement. You can have the best tools in the world after all, but if a young person doesn’t want to get help, it’ll never go anywhere.

Enter Katherine Grill, PhD, CEO & Co-founder of Neolth, one of our guests on this podcast episode. She’s taken her doctorate in behavioral neuroscience and her experience as a clinician, combined with hundreds of interviews with young people, in order to build a platform that meets kids where they’re at – offering self-guided mental health support in a variety of forms and flavors.

Joining the podcast with us is former pro basketball player, Kenny Thomas. After spending 11 seasons in the NBA, Thomas became an entrepreneur and community advocate, with a focus on youth experiencing financial hardship via his own foundation. And now he’s throwing his influence behind Neolth in order to help young people, particularly those involved in sports, gain access to mental health services.

On this StartUp Health NOW episode, we’ll cover the ins and outs of the Neolth platform as well as some of Dr. Grill’s strategy behind working with a brand ambassador, which is somewhat unique in the world of early-stage health startups.

Let’s get into it.

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Want more content like this? You can subscribe to the podcast as well as other health innovation updates at startuphealth.com/content.
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Looking to break down health barriers? If you’re an entrepreneur or investor, contact us to learn how you can join our Health Equity Moonshot.
Passionate about Type 1 diabetes? If you’re an entrepreneur or investor, contact us to learn how you can join our T1D Moonshot.

Unpluq Helps People Get Off Their Screens and Back into Life

May 3, 2023Business, Health, Innovation, Startups, UncategorizedDigital Health, Health Moonshots, Health Transformers, Innovation, Logan Plaster, mental health, Mental Health & Happiness, Mental Health and Happiness, mental wellness, Wellbeing, wellnessNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:10 — 22.1MB)

Our StartUp Health NOW guest this week is Caroline Cadwell, the CEO and Co-founder of Unpluq – a Dutch company that joined StartUp Health in 2021.

Unpluq is on a mission to empower people to change their digital habits and improve their wellbeing.

Cadwell and her team have designed a consumer-facing device and platform that helps people regain control and intentionality with their time. They’re pushing back against a world where attention span is eroding, which has contributed to lower feelings of wellbeing and a decline in executive function.

Listen in to hear how they’ve tackled the problem.

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