Candlelit: Virtual Therapy Clinic for Black Moms

(mobile app mockup)

MEET CANDLELIT

Candlelit Therapy is a digital mental health company focused on providing Black and multicultural families with at-home mental health screening and counseling sessions. When moms feel off balance mentally and emotionally, it can feel easier to suffer in silence at work or home than to seek help from mental health professionals.

That's where we enter! 

We help women discover, book and maintain therapy from the comfort of their home.

Are you or do you know a new mom considering therapy, but not sure where to start? Beginning Fall 2020, our mobile app will provide free virtual screenings to learn about individual risk, mental health check-ins and access to culturally-competent therapy.

THE PROBLEM

Depression is a leading health complication during pregnancy and after childbirth with short- and long-term impacts on women and families, however more than half of women at risk never receive treatment. Despite federal recommendations to screen all adults for depression in February 2019 by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a national study in 2017 found that less than 5 percent of adults were screened in primary care settings.

Risk factors for untreated depression include individual or family history of mental illness, abuse, unplanned pregnancy, stressful life events or gestational diabetes, and cost society an estimated $14.2 billion in failed interventions and lost productivity over the span of five years.

MEET OUR FOUNDER

Candlelit was created in August 2017 once I saw a lack of access to culturally-competent mental health screening, education and support when I became a mom eight months after getting married. I developed preeclampsia and felt overwhelmed after an emergency delivery of my son, but I was never screened or asked about my emotional well-being and I’m not alone. Less than 10% of women who screened positive for postpartum depression received treatment in the following six months.

Building on my personal and professional experiences as a Black mom, public health researcher and journalist, I’m using my voice to shed light on unique challenges and health complications experienced by Black women when screening is absent. 

Whether you're thinking about having kids, currently pregnant or recovering from childbirth, it’s hard to find time, energy or space to practice self-care. My goal is to help women practice self-care, which I define as listening to your intuition and responding to yourself as fast as you respond to your emails. I didn’t know where to search for mental health support or resources, so I created Candlelit Therapy. 

As a Black female-founded team, we're committed to elevating voices of Black women and families. We're here to lift you up and help you shine throughout your pregnancy and your little one's early years. 

OUR MISSION

Black families deserve access to quality, culturally-competent postpartum care. Nearly two million millennial women of color give birth and enter postpartum periods each year in the U.S. with a majority of families entering parenthood largely unprepared, unsupported and under-treated when they need it most. 

As behavioral health professionals grow scarce in the U.S., we plan to make it easier for hospitals and health systems to identify patients who benefit most from counseling intervention while helping women advocate for themselves at each doctor’s visit. 

Did you know ...

Black moms account for 42.8% of maternal deaths from pregnancy and childbirth complications compared to 13% of white women in the U.S.* 

Black families spend an avg. 20% of their household income on healthcare costs as compared to 11% of household income by white families.

But, guess what?

60% of U.S. pregnancy and childbirth complications are preventable.*

So while tragic, we're joining national efforts to reduce disparities and save lives.

OUR SOLUTION

At Candlelit, we know you deserve better. That's why - we're building a new standard of care rooted in cultural competence, evidence and technology. By combining machine learning technology with culturally-competent therapy, we’re making preventative screening and counseling accessible to approx. 61 million women of color in the U.S., so they don't have to navigate a bias-ridden health system alone. 

Typical 6-week postpartum visits aren’t enough, so we’re building something 100x better.

Screening women for social, physical and mental risk factors that increase vulnerability to complications prior to, during and after labor is critical. Unfortunately,  no accurate, scalable screening process to identify individuals at-risk for perinatal depression is available, so we're building one to make it easier for healthcare professionals to determine patients who will benefit most from counseling intervention. 

 Not another ‘match me with a therapist’ app.

Our mobile app will be free to download and offer access to at-home mental health screening, virtual check-ins with licensed therapists and support from other moms with similar risk profiles. 

(mobile app mock-up)

WHY CROWDFUND?

Every two minutes, a woman dies from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth worldwide. This means earlier intervention is critical. Through amazing volunteers, bootstrapping personal funds and deferred payments to the talented women who've supported our mission from the start, we've been able to bring Candlelit to this point. If being in therapy for nearly a year has taught me anything, it's knowing when to ask for help. We've spent nearly a year testing an early prototype to prove our concept. Now, we're ready to develop a digital health platform, so that you can have an easy access to mental health support and education at your fingertips. All support will directly go toward research and software development of our product to ensure we can deliver a bias-free talk therapy experience for you. Interested in partnering with Candlelit? Contact me at [email protected].

How Did We Get Here?

2017 - Present: Referral-driven, peer-based mental health support via a subscription box

Spring 2019: Conducted customer interviews, research and built mobile app wireframes

Summer 2019: Invited by U.S. National Science Foundation to submit SBIR grant proposal

Fall 2019: Built a functional prototype with Calendly + Typeform

January 2020: Launched prototype with a cohort of local therapists

February 2020: Held first Candlelit Therapy mental health pop-up event in NYC

March 2020: Started building custom AI

Summer 2020: It's time for us to grow and deliver our support to every woman of color.

Supported By

21 Ninety

Founder Gym

Startup Boost NYC

Grasshopper Bank

Black Girl Ventures

Tacklebox Accelerator

All Raise Seed Bootcamp

MATTER & Parkview Health 

National Science Foundation

Johnson & Johnson | JLabs

Founding Team Members 

Development: Victoria Henderson

Data Science: Pooja Umathe

Marketing: Ivie Igbere 

Funds raised on IFW will be used to build a first-ever virtual therapy clinic.

THANK YOU

We cannot thank you enough for your support. We believe deeply in our mission and can't wait to create a world of that provides women of color with quality, culturally-competent emotional and mental healthcare, with you by our side. We are an ode to each woman in our lives who continue to light our flame. We’re here to light yours.

Join our journey! 

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*content source:  CDC/National Center for Health Statistics; Premier Study