_{Family photo credit: #frontstepsprojectdarien @rtpictureworks Bambi Smith Riegel}

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth aged 10 through 24.  It’s a frightening statistic that is only getting worse; the rate of suicide among youth of this age group has grown by 56% in the past two decades. (Sources: Washington Post and PBS)

Countless mental health studies on youth confirm that our children are growing up with increased anxiety, depression, ADHD, and other mood disorders.  

• According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly one-third of all adolescents aged 13 to 18 will experience an anxiety disorder
• Between 2005 and 2017, incidences of major depression among youth increased 52% between 2005 and 2017, and by 63% for young adults aged 18 to 25

Unfortunately, today it takes an average of 10 years to properly diagnose a mental health condition and get treatment.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that only 20% of youth suffering from a mental health disorder receive treatment.  There are negative impacts from this delay or lack of treatment that can last a lifetime, including continued negative mental and physical health outcomes, a decrease in earning capacity, and a decrease in life expectancy of 10 – 20 years.

Despite these alarming trends, there has been no tangible improvement in the paper-based mental health screener provided at well-child visits to their pediatrician in over 10 years.

Current methods still have limitations like the lack of breadth and depth from traditional 5-point scales, human error, lack of automated tracking, time, and cost of current scoring systems.

...futuresTHRIVE has designed a revolutionary mental health screener that combines with the latest technology with wisdom and heart to provide pediatricians with an affordable, easy-to-use diagnostic tool.

Early intervention is the deciding factor in how much a person will suffer, how long the person with mental illness will live, how productive and successful a person will be, and how costly the ripple effects of unaddressed mental health concerns will have across the many sectors of a community. Given this reality ...futuresTHRIVE aims to identify signs as early as the get of 4 and reduce the incidence and severity of illness, thereby reducing the financial and emotional ripple effects.

The screening technology we are developing will be effective for children beginning at age 4, regardless of race or ethnicity, and will take into account both verbal answers as well as body language.

We are at the beginning of a three-phase development plan to get the …futuresTHRIVE screener into pediatrician’s offices throughout the country.  We have made it through the first phase of the application process for a grant from the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and need to make progress on our proof of concept to be considered for a federal grant of up to $1.5 million.

Our proof of concept will include validating the question set which will be used in the screening tool.  This is a critical first step for our technology and for changing the nature of youth mental health diagnostics.

Please consider an investment of any size.  This is a large problem and we need a community of support to solve it.  

...futuresTHRIVE was born out of a personal mental health crisis that Wendy Ward lived through with her family. This propelled her to spend the last decade researching opportunities in the landscape of mental health and building a team to affect change so that no family has to suffer the devastating consequences she and her family experienced. While talking to entrepreneurs, health practitioners, and families, it became clear that despite the considerable press and societal panic, the crisis was worsening and barriers to treatment were growing.

Paula Prentis, LMSW, CWP

As a licensed social worker and certified wellness practitioner with a master's degree from NYU, Paula represents the clinical liaison for the team. Paula has published and presented extensively on youth mental health and identity development.  

Rick Stevenson, PhD, Author

Rick has twelve feature films and hundreds of hours of television to his credit.  He is the Founder of The School of Life Project. He holds a doctorate from Oxford University and a master’s degree from The London School of Economics.

Greg Wright, Director of AI Development, Design & Data Security

A graduate of the University of Washington, Greg is the co-inventor of StoryQ™  and a professional project manager who has overseen its development since 2010. He is a developer of patented information management systems and has a passion to change the landscape of mental health.

Max Losee, Director of Technology & StoryQ Development Lead

A graduate of the University of Utah, Max's tech development for social-purposed visionaries delivers revolutionary products that change lives. He has a background in product development and extensive experience working with youth.

Funding us today will allow us to develop a proof of concept, which we will use in the next phase of our application for The National Science Foundation. This money will also help us as a contender for institutional funding.

...futuresTHRIVE's new advancements in technology can provide:

• The nation’s largest mental health data set criteria
• First-ever personalized mental health baseline for youth
• The only high quality actionable data-driven results that do not eliminate the doctor 
• First-ever individualized assessment screener designed for youth 
• Fastest data processing on the market
• Revolutionary and new validation scale
• 21st-century method to reduce cultural barriers, human bias and clinician burden
• One combined screener for anxiety, depression, ADHD, emotion regulation capacities and disruptive behavior disorders