A Charlotte startup is determined to help increase access to mental health care for college students.
Co-founded in January by Christine Nicodemus and Erik Murphy, Wayhaven is an online platform and mobile app that gives students 24/7 access to a chat-based mental wellness coach that's powered by artificial intelligence. All of the conversations are reviewed by clinical psychologists for model accuracy and improvement. It aIso partners with universities, equipping college leaders with real-time insights on mental-health trends to strengthen student well-being.
"We're both like a dispatcher to various existing resources on campus as well as a personalized mental wellness coach that's available for students," said Nicodemus, CEO of Wayhaven.
Nicodemus started Wayhaven after battling with her own mental health while studying college abroad in Scotland. She suffered with major depressive disorder in her sophomore year but lacked access to U.S.-based mental health resources. She said she decided to take a semester off of college and went through cognitive behavioral therapy.
Nicodemus eventually returned to school her junior year at Wake Forest University after taking time to better her mental well-being.
"I think taking that first step in seeking help can be the hardest one," she said. "Our target is to make that first step as low barrier of entry as possible. It's pretty intimidating believe it or not."
Wayhaven aims to enable students to have those initial conversations and gain support from their own private environments such as their dorm rooms.
The startup has co-piloted its app at the University of Arizona; the University of California, Davis; Baldwin Wallace University; Furman University; and Georgia Tech. Nicodemus said the company is also in talks to launch the app at universities in North Carolina.
Wayhaven was founded after receiving $850,000 in funding, well over its initial target of $700,000. The funding round included participation from a group of Charlotte-based investors and those who invested in Ascend, an edtech startup co-founded by Nicodemus.
She launched Ascend in 2019, and in February 2021, it merged with another local edtech company, Aperture. In May 2022, the combined company was sold to Alpine Investors, a private equity firm based in San Francisco.
Nicodemus has also worked at other Charlotte companies including Red Ventures and Passport. Additionally, she takes pride in being an investor at several venture capital firms including Charlotte Angel Fund and CreativeCo.
"The first stage is so difficult to get funding," she said. "I care about opening up that door for more people, especially from folks that might not have the social capital to be able to support raising that initial round from friends and family."
Now, Wayhaven is working to grow its team and partner with more universities. The startup recently hired a new vice president of psychology to help it further improve its mental health offerings.
