This is the Masawa Minute — mental wellness, social impact, and impact investing snippets on what we’re pondering + where you can get active.
Are you ready to welcome spring into your lives? We know we are! In our first springish newsletter, we focus on the accessibility of mental health and the positive disruptive change brought about by individuals and organizations in the mental wellness ecosystem. Hope you learn something new!
Masawa Thoughts
Spring, at least the hope of spring, brings feelings of renewal, rejuvenation, and refreshment.
But let’s not sugarcoat the situation as we close in on a year of the viral pandemic, lockdowns, and a surge in loneliness, anxiety, and depression. It’s been bloody hell, as the Brits would say, and COVID’s mental health-related effects on society and the economy will be long-lasting. And that’s okay.
Even for a mental wellness impact fund like Masawa, it’s not been a walk in the park (another euphemism that means easy). As we’ve discovered, we’re breaking ground by developing a systematic approach to using capital for blended financial and social returns while focusing on founders’ wellbeing. A pioneer always walks uphill. And that’s okay.
So let the promise of spring and the hope of a more balanced future inspire you to engage in disruptive change, but know it’ll never be easy. And that’s okay.
Attend
Build Better Habits, Starting Today
All of us have a variety of habits — both good and bad. And certain bad habits, like putting yourself under constant pressure for success, not eating well, or using harmful coping mechanisms, can negatively affect our mental health without us noticing.
In this webinar Lisa W. Coyne, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a senior clinical consultant at McLean Hospital, will talk about how habits contribute to our wellbeing, what makes a good habit and how we can continue adding positive practices to our daily lives. Lisa will be happy to answer all your questions about where to start and why the effort is worth it. See you there!
What we’re reading…
📢 Psychedelics are disrupting the mental health care
It’s been a while since we’ve brought up the benefits of psychedelics, so we came across this article right on time. There is a lot of research and evidence supporting the use of psychedelic pharmaceuticals in treating mental health disorders, contrasting with stark critique for the traditional medication that is often not very effective, known to induce unpleasant side effects and sometimes highly addictive. Participants in the psychedelic studies have consistently reported few or no adverse side effects, such treatments have been discovered to have a low potential for dependence and proven to be effective on at least two thirds of trial patients.
According to Bloomberg, the worldwide mental health market is currently estimated to be worth $70 billion globally, and psychedelics have the potential to earn a sizable share of this market. However, there’s also another side to this story. Developing enough to treat a billion or more people for a wide range of mental health issues is no simple feat. It’s expensive and complicated to isolate the active ingredients and it’s never been done on a large scale due to the technological and logistical challenges as well as the limited knowledge. Even if it’s more accessible now, some researchers still struggle to access any legal supplies and those that do pay on average $7,000-$10,000 per gram of pharmaceutical-grade psilocybin.
Luckily, some biotech innovators are accepting the challenge of producing psychedelic compounds on an industrial scale to increase their availability to researchers and to develop their own treatments. For example, London-based Compass Pathways has developed and patented a new method of isolating psychology through chemical synthesis, allowing them to generate it without having to cultivate any mushrooms. The stakes are high, especially because the “set” and “setting” of the treatment is as important as the holistic and integrated treatment approach, and clear regulatory guidelines are needed to ensure proper distribution. But now we have the science part of the equation that can make this fast-developing disruption in the mental health industry happen on a transformative scale.
The case for mass producing psychedelic pharmaceuticals
💁 Mental health providers struggle to meet demand
It’s a known fact that more than half of people in the US alone aren’t able to access the mental health support and treatment they need, but in the pandemic, the situation is becoming worse. People are being turned away due to some mental health providers not accepting more patients, not having the expertise to help them or simply being unreachable. Affordable options are also tough to find.
But according to some therapists, the problem isn’t exactly new. As Dr. Vaile Wright, the senior director of health care innovation at the A.P.A, put it, there has always been a shortage of mental health providers and the pandemic is simply bringing this problem to the surface. This situation provides ample opportunity for online therapy platforms and other companies providing mental health tools like MDLive, Talkspace or BetterHelp to step in and the demand for their services has notably increased. Mindy Heintskill, the chief growth officer of MDLive, has observed their services growing fivefold compared to the previous year. These services alone, however, cannot tackle the deep-seated inequities and provider shortages.
To make the best out of the situation of limited mental health care short term, one could ask busy mental health professionals or the primary care providers for referrals, trying to reach a clinician in training, contacting licensed social workers or turning to online communities and resources. To address the issue in the long term, more funding should be allocated towards increasing the supply of mental health services and tools, which should become more accessible to everyone regardless of their insurance or social status. And that’s the change we hope to see.
‘Nobody Has Openings’: Mental Health Providers Struggle to Meet Demand
🎉 Modern Health hits another milestone
With mounting investor interest in behavioral health, there are many success stories in the sector. Modern Health is one of them — the company just closed a $74 million series D investment round. With this investment, Modern Health’s total funding has risen to $170 million, bringing its valuation to $1.17 billion. This achievement makes the platform the fastest entirely women-founded company in the U.S. to reach unicorn status.
Founded in 2017, Modern Health is a global mental health benefits solution for employees. It offers a range of mental health support options like licensed therapists, coaches, and various digital resources, available in 35 languages. According to their research, 47% of members with depressive-related symptoms have experienced clinical improvements in their mental wellbeing, as did the members that completed four or more coaching sessions.
During the last year, Modern Health tripled the number of their employees, while the customer base has doubled, attracting companies like Pixar, Udemy and Zendesk. They plan to direct the latest funding towards meeting the ever-growing demand, scaling its platform and offering accessible and targeted mental health support tools to workplaces worldwide.
Mental health startup Modern Health valued at $1.17B after series D funding round
🤹 How are startups tackling the mental health access problem?
While at the moment the demand for mental health services is still notably exceeding supply, there’s evidence of the positive change. More and more startups are working to bridge this gap while battling the stigma and grappling with the understanding that in the present-day circumstances the poor mental wellbeing is likely to persist. As a result, the mental health market is larger than ever.
In 2020, the US funding for mental health-focused startups has reached nearly $1 billion and $328 million worth of investments have already been made since the beginning of 2021, which has surpassed the total for all of 2018. According to Marc Schröder, managing partner at early-stage venture capital firm Maschmeyer Group Ventures, 2020 was merely a beginning and the booming market will only continue to grow, as it’s brimming with opportunities.
As to the future of mental health, startup founders said they are aiming to bring in a lot of options for accessing healthcare and mental health support: delivery to large employers, direct to consumer, employee assistance programs, and managed behavioral health care. As Mark Frank, co-founder and CEO of Denver-based SonderMind, has put it, the healthcare system should also leverage data and technology better at the point of mental health diagnosis. But for successfully incorporating machine learning and artificial intelligence into the process, an immense amount of data is needed. Fortunately, the sector offers ample opportunity for growth and innovation. We can’t wait to see what happens next!
Access To Mental Health: Startups Tackle Sector’s Complexities As Investors Go All-in
🧿 The mental health industry is changing for the better
While the problems do exist, there are also some positive changes happening in the mental health industry that will have a long-lasting positive effect. Firstly, the stigma has notably decreased. The pandemic has brought on many challenges, like deteriorating behavioral health and economic adversity. However, facing similar struggles has made more people become more aware of the importance of mental wellbeing as well as more inclined to share their experiences with others. Employers are also getting more serious about supporting their teams’ wellbeing, possibly due to the increased number of conversations on the topic and mounting proof of a range of benefits for the organization, including increased financial gains.
Furthermore, the mental health industry is becoming more data-driven. Increasingly more payers and employers are prioritizing data about clinical outcomes and cost savings rather than anecdotal evidence. The industry is waking up to the importance of tracking outcomes, as behavioral health diagnostics can be challenging and the professionals in the field still often rely on self-reported information. New regulations, such as improved reimbursement for telehealth services and lifting some restrictions on prescribing medication are having a positive impact too and are making mental health care more accessible.
With decreasing stigma and steady progress in making mental health support accessible for more people, it’s clear that a big change is happening not only in the sector but also in the society’s mindset. It also confirms that the work we’re doing is important and the timing is right, which is why we’ll continue to do our part to transform global mental wellness further.
In Closing
Like the Masawa Minute? Show your support by sharing it with someone else or tell us what you think! Or both.
Give someone a big [virtual] hug today + take care of each other! 🤗😘
Gabija works as a Marketing & Communications Coordinator at Masawa. She lets her vision of a more just, sustainable, equitable world guide Masawa’s story and inform the work towards transforming global mental wellness to make it accessible and accepted.
