As someone who is fighting constantly—my entire life, in fact—for better mental health, I’ve used this space numerous times over the years to telegraph the connections between mental health, disability, and technology. Although not a disability in the classical sense, it’s nonetheless true mental health can have disabling effects on a person. I know these feelings firsthand. Mental health can be as disabling as any physical condition I have, and as with conventional means of accessibility, technology can prove assistive in treating it in myriad ways.
So it goes for the team at Mavida Health.
The mental health startup, with an app exclusively (for now) on iOS, has its focus on addressing maternal mental health. On its website, the company states its mission as providing “mental healthcare for every mama.” The company offers a wealth of services, including clinical care like group and individualized therapy, guided meditation, support groups, a discussion forum, and more. Membership costs $99 annually after a 90-day free trial, with the aforementioned clinical care available only in California for now. Care is billed at out-of-pocket rates, which is separate from the yearly membership cost. As for in-network coverage with insurance providers, Mavida Health says it’s “coming soon.”
“Frustrated with the current state of perinatal mental health care, I dreamt up Mavida Health as a way to leverage technology to provide increased access to better mental health care during the journey to parenthood,” Dr. Sarah Oreck, a reproductive psychiatrist by trade and co-founder of Mavida Health, said to me this week about her company’s origin story in an interview conducted via email. “By addressing maternal mental health comprehensively, we are breaking down the barriers that prevent mothers from seeking help and providing them with the support they need to thrive in their daily lives.”
Dr. Oreck explained maternal mental health is the number one complication of childbirth as well as the leading cause of maternal mortality, telling me “the problems persist and the solutions are scarce.” Moreover, one in five mothers cope with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, known as PMADs, a figure that reached one in three during the pandemic. Despite its prevalence, Dr. Oreck said, PMADs oftentimes go undiagnosed and untreated for new moms and moms-to-be.
“That’s where we [at Mavida Health] come in,” she said.
Dr. Oreck, along with co-founder Emma Sugerman, a digital health leader, built Mavida Health in part due to their own experiences as mothers. According to Sugerman, the company came to be because “we recognized the need for a new and more accessible approach to perinatal mental health care” that hasn’t received the attention it deserves. Both women told me what sets their company apart from the competition is the holistic approach to care. Perhaps most importantly—and an allusion to what I wrote at the outset—the Mavida Health team is cognizant of the fact a mother’s mental health (or lack thereof) has rippling effects on others like their family and community. This is why Mavida Health talks so highly of villages; just as it takes a village to raise a child, Dr. Oreck told me, so too does it take a village to raise a mother. “Our platform offers a comprehensive suite of services, including personalized therapy, medication management, community engagement, and a wealth of curated content, all from the convenience of a mobile app,” she said.
Indeed, technology plays a crucial role in helping Mavida Health (and its users) achieve their goals. Calling it the “core” of our mission, Dr. Oreck said she and Sugerman sought to leverage technology to “provide increased access to better mental health care during the journey to parenthood.” Owing to technology’s power and ubiquity, Mavida Health is able to reach women wherever they are, on their terms, and give them personalized support. The company uses technology to make care more accessible to all; tech is what connects mothers with licensed therapists, support groups, educational materials, and more. “We’re leveraging technology to make mental health care more convenient, accessible, and tailored to the unique needs of each mother,” Dr. Oreck said.
Asked about the heightened awareness of mental health societally in recent times, Dr. Oreck told me the team has “certainly observed a positive shift in mental health awareness.” She emphasized, however, this awareness is not a mere trend—it’s a “crucial societal awakening,” she said. Dr. Oreck said this awakening can be attributed to a few factors, including most conspicuously the pandemic. Correspondingly, media coverage of the pandemic and its effects on mental health have made it easier for people to share their experiences. This freedom, Dr. Oreck said, goes a long way in dismantling longstanding stigmas associated with mental health concerns. By making conversations on mental health less taboo, mental health is finally being recognized for the bonafide medical concern it is. That epiphany is one of the silver linings of an otherwise dreadful situation in context of the pandemic.
“As a society, we’re recognizing the importance of mental well-being in all aspects of life, including during motherhood,” Dr. Oreck said.
In terms of feedback, Dr. Oreck described customer response to Mavida Health as “incredibly positive.” She noted people are appreciative of the company’s comprehensive, holistic approach to care as well as the fact the services were built by mothers for mothers, adding it’s gratifying for the team to hear mothers share stories of “transformation and relief.” All told, Dr. Oreck said the team has seen firsthand how their product is impacting the lives of others for the better, telling me “the feedback we’ve received underscore the critical need” for such services for moms.
“We are so thrilled by the positive reception and feedback we’ve received over Mavida’s launch,” Dr. Oreck said.
Looking towards the future, Dr. Oreck told me it’s the company’s goal to be a source of community and care for parents as they move along the oftentimes bumpy, emotionally fraught journey called parenthood.
“As we reflect on that overall reproductive journey, we notice that each inflection point—be it puberty, maternity, [or] menopause—is defined by significant changes in a woman’s physical, but also hormonal and psychological health,” Dr. Oreck said. “Those fluctuations lead to moments of acute need that are best served by an [doctor]-led, human-first, wrap-around clinical care model. We’re excited to continue supporting women and birthing people along that path.”
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