Lennie Carter has always believed in the benefits of therapy. It's why he started his company TruCircle in 2016 – to destigmatize mental health and get help to those who need it.
TruCircle, an alum of the UpTech accelerator, aims to provide affordable, easily accessible mental health resources through licensed professionals to underserved communities. Patients can sign up, select the services they need and connect with therapists either in-person or online.
Since the start of the pandemic, TruCircle's 25,000 therapists have conducted thousands of hours of therapy sessions. The business has seen an increased demand both in people signing up for therapy and therapists joining the platform. Overall, TruCircle has grown more than 300% over the last 10 to 12 weeks.
"The demand for mental health services and clients requesting appointments has more than doubled," Carter told Cincy Inno.
Carter told Cincy Inno that many therapists were hesitant to begin offering virtual therapy before the arrival of Covid-19. They believed the medium presented barriers with body language and relationship building.
Telemedicine has become the norm for a wide range of health care professionals since the rise of Covid-19. Carter added that some therapists initially afraid of the technology have since turned around and embraced it in a big way.
"We continue to hear that a lot of clinicians are excited to be doing more virtual sessions," he said. "Some weren't doing it at all [before the pandemic], and now its 50% or more of their business."
Cincy Inno spoke with Carter early in the month and touched base several weeks later to see the business was coping with a pandemic and sudden increase in demand.
"I no longer believe things are going to go back to the way they were prior to the pandemic."
During that time, TruCircle experienced some growing pains. The company's management team consists of just 10 people. To date, it has not taken on any large venture capital funding. And now, it's trying to scale its platform faster than ever before.
"The biggest struggle we have currently is funding our growth in the process," Carter said in an email. "As we look to expand our services, we have to manage our budget to align with our immediate needs."
Carter also worries about the mental health of his team, which is spread across the country in Cincinnati, California and New York.
"As a health care company, we want to focus on the needs of our team's overall mental health, and that's been challenging with the amount of national grief we are all experiencing," he said.
Of course, anxiety, grief and depression did not start with the pandemic. Carter, a native of the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City, has struggled with depression. He knows others that have battled anxiety, anger, substance misuse and other mental health issues. In communities like Brownsville, Carter said, these issues are sometimes pushed aside or dismissed, leading to problems later in life.
But over the course of the pandemic, he has seen people draw more comparisons between physical and mental health, and he hopes individuals will continue to seek the help of mental health professionals long after the pandemic has ended.
"The experience has provided us with insight into where the industry has been and where it's going," Carter said. "I no longer believe things are going to go back to the way they were prior to the pandemic."
