Venture:
Shamiri Health
Founders:
Tom Osborn and Jianing Tu ’25BUS ’25SEAS
Industry:
Health care
Venture Type:
For-profit
What is the social or environmental issue being addressed?
Globally, mental health issues have reached epidemic levels, affecting around 1.4 billion people and causing devastating impacts on lives, livelihoods, and quality of life. In many low- and middle-income countries, mental health problems are the leading cause of disability. Two main barriers prevent people from getting help: access and affordability. Access is limited due to a scarcity of mental health caregivers, with only one therapist for every 100,000 people in Africa, and just 34 per 100,000 in the West. Affordability is also a significant issue, with conventional mental healthcare often costing 60 to 100 percent of annual per capita health expenditures in under-resourced regions. We aim to solve these access and affordability challenges.
Innovation:
We’ve built a platform that makes affordable and effective mental health care accessible to everyone, based on three key pillars:
- Community: Building on decades of research show that mental health begins with community, we’ve built a platform that fosters support networks and makes mental health a relevant topic within these communities.
- Low-touch Therapy: Unlike traditional, lengthy psychotherapy sessions targeting specific issues, low-touch therapy involves brief interventions focusing on broader human functioning. Delivered by lay providers, self-guided digital tools, or bite-sized content, low-touch therapy is effective and accessible.
- Tiered Caregiving: Our platform personalizes care based on clinical severity. Users can be matched with lay providers, social workers, or therapists, depending on their needs.
Read More:
- A New Way to Help Young People With Their Mental Health
TED
August 2021