Rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts are rising among American teens.
a recent report A study by the Centers for Disease Control found that nearly one in three girls has seriously considered suicide, and a significant number, 13%, have actually attempted it.
Psychologists have various theories about what causes mental health crises in teens.
Some blame its increased use Smartphones and social mediaWhile others believe isolation has played a key role during the pandemic.
Although the primary causes of adolescent psychological difficulties are not well understood, the major challenge now is to find ways to address this growing problem, as there is a shortage of mental health professionals across the country.
Jake Sussman, one of the four co-founders of Unicorn-Sized Mental Health Network Making HeadwayHe believes his new startup can help address the deepening crisis by offering online group therapy for children from classes 5 to 12.
After leaving Headway two years ago, Sussman decided to do something different. He became a fifth-grade English teacher at a charter school in Brooklyn. That experience not only gave him the opportunity to teach kids how to write essays, but also gave him insight into why mental health care for children is currently broken.
Sussman said her school had a counselor, but despite her best efforts, they often couldn’t arrange timely help for students.
,[Counselors] “There are no clinicians. They have a very high caseload,” Sussman said. “The best they can do is give families physical PDFs of clinics, which have very long wait lists.”
She shared the story of Jamelia, an orphan who was depressed after her best friend dropped out of school. Because Jamelia was covered by Medicaid, she had to wait three months to see a therapist.
Sussman realized that one way to solve the shortage of mental health professionals was to offer help in groups.
“Group cares have been around for a long time,” Sussman said. “They’ve been studied thoroughly. And they work.”
While studies have found that group therapy As effective as individual therapyThis type of treatment is not often provided by mental health professionals.
According to Sussman, although therapists in private practice can make more money by running group sessions, group therapies are not popular among behavioral health providers because they are a huge administrative challenge. “You won’t be able to find 10 kids, coordinate 10 schedules and verify 10 insurances. It’s too much work.”
Because of logistics, online group therapy may also be more effective than in-person treatment, according to Sussman.
“If you have two groups, and one is just 17-year-old girls who have anxiety and the other is 17-year-old girls who have anxiety and who are Hispanic and identify as LGBTQ, the second group, all things equal, is going to be much more effective because it’s more specific,” Sussman said. “The second group would be nearly impossible to fill in person. How do you find 10 people who meet those criteria within a commutable radius of the group space?”
marble, which Sussman launched late last year with another Headway co-founder, Dan Ross, claims it can solve the logistics of organizing group treatment and, at the same time, help many more students without sacrificing the quality of care. On Friday, the startup is coming out of stealth and announcing it has raised $5 million in seed funding from Khosla Ventures, Town Hall Ventures, and IA Ventures, with participation from Daybreak Ventures and Lorimer Ventures.
Sussman said Marble’s main competitors are school-focused teletherapy startups Walnut, Dawn And Cartwheelwhich partner directly with school districts. “Schools have budgets available for student mental health, but these budgets are unstable and quite small,” Sussman said, adding that schools may pay for six private therapy sessions, but that’s not enough time to treat students.
Marble’s approach is different. Sussman said the company partners with school counselors, who have the authority to make referrals.
Instead of charging school districts for Marble’s services, the company works with insurance, including Medicaid.
Sussman said Marble’s approach is financially viable because Medicaid will pay at least $20 per child for a group session. “With 10 kids in a group, we can make $200 for that hour, which means we can pay the therapists a competitive rate and still have enough money left over to really grow the business,” Sussman said.
Marble tested this approach with a school in New York City and intends to establish relationships with hundreds of counselors throughout New York state during the next school year. “The counselors see the magic of not having a wait list,” Sussman said. “They realize it’s much better than what they’re currently using.”
Although the company is launching its services in New York, it plans to expand to other states as well.
khosla-backed-marble-built-by-former-headway-founders-offers-affordable-group-therapy-for-teens-techcrunch
