Among U.S. teenagers, the number of individuals suffering from depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts is rising rapidly.
A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control found that almost one in three girls seriously considered suicide, and a significant number, 13%, actually attempted it.
Psychologists have different theories about the causes of mental crises in teenagers.
Some blame increased use smartphones and social mediawhile others imagine that isolation during the pandemic played a significant role.
Although the root causes of adolescent mental health problems are not well understood, the greater challenge now is finding ways to deal with the growing problem given the nationwide shortage of mental health professionals.
Jake Sussman, who was one of the 4 co-founders Headway’s unicorn-sized mental health networkbelieves his latest startup will help address the deepening crisis by offering online group therapy for children in grades five through 12.
After leaving Headway two years ago, Sussman decided to try something completely different. He became a fifth-grade English teacher at a Brooklyn charter school. This experience not only gave him the opportunity to show children how one can write essays, but also gave him a front row seat to why mental health care for children is broken today.
Sussman’s school had one counselor, but despite that person’s best efforts, he was often unable to get students help in a timely manner, he added.
“[Counselors] they are not clinicians. They have a huge caseload,” Sussman said. “The best they can do is give families physical PDFs of the clinics, which all have long waiting lists.”
He told the story of Jamelia, an orphan who became depressed after her best friend left school. Because Jamelia was covered by Medicare, she had to attend three months to see a therapist.
Sussman realized that one method to address the shortage of mental health professionals was to supply group help.
“Group care has been around for a long time,” Sussman said. “They have been thoroughly examined. And they work.”
Although research has shown that group therapy is like effective as individual therapyany such treatment is hardly offered by mental health professionals.
Even though therapists in private practice can make extra money from group sessions, in line with Sussman, group therapy is not popular among behavioral health professionals because it presents a huge administrative challenge. “You’re not going to find 10 kids, coordinate 10 schedules, and verify 10 insurances. It’s too much work.”
For logistical reasons, online group therapy may additionally be more practical than in-person treatment, in line with Sussman.
“If you have two groups, one of them is 17-year-olds with anxiety and the other is 17-year-olds with anxiety who are Latina and identify as LGBTQ, then that second group is equal, it will be much, much more effective because it’s more detailed,” Sussman said. “The second group couldn’t be cast in person. How will you find 10 people who meet these criteria within commuting radius of the group location?”
Project Marble, which Sussman began late last 12 months with fellow Headway co-founder Dan Ross, claims it may solve the logistics of organizing group treatment while helping many more students without sacrificing quality of care. On Friday, the startup comes out of hiding and pronounces that it has raised $5 million in seed funding from Khosla Ventures, Town Hall Ventures, IA Ventures, and with participation from Daybreak Ventures and Lorimer Ventures.
Sussman said Marble’s major competitors are school-based teletherapy startups Hazel, Dawn AND Cartwheel, which work directly with school districts. “Schools have budgets for student mental health care, but they are variable and quite small,” Sussman said, adding that schools pays for as much as six private therapy sessions, but that will not be enough to treat students.
Marble’s approach is different. Sussman said the company works with school counselors who have the authority to make referrals.
Instead of charging school districts for Marble’s services, the company works with insurers, including Medicaid.
Sussman explained that Marble’s approach is economically feasible because Medicaid can pay at least $20 per child for a group session. “When there are 10 kids in a group, we can make $200 an hour, which means we can pay the therapist a competitive rate and still have enough money to actually build a business,” Sussman said.
Mable tested this approach in one school in New York City and will use the latest funding to work with an additional 15 school counselors in New York City in the next school 12 months. “Counsellors see the magic of not having waiting lists,” Sussman said. “They realize this is much better than what they are currently using.”
While the company is starting its services in New York, it plans to expand to other states.