Mental Health Awareness Month: Founders Reflect on their Journeys to Well-Being

Mental Health Awareness Month falls in the month of May every year. But, given the rapid shifts across the tech sector, a focus on mental health and well-being might be especially important in 2023. 

Rebecca Lundquist, Senior Director of People Operations and Culture at 500 Global, said situations within companies can be especially difficult right now if employees are asked to do the same or more work with smaller teams and fewer resources. 

“Ensuring everyone can bring their best self to work and is empowered to do their best work is more important than ever,” Lundquist said. “A tired, overworked employee who is struggling with balancing work and life and maybe more complex mental health issues is not able to bring their best self to work nor do their best work.” 

In the startup world, there’s long been tension between wanting to move fast and burning out. But as Lundquist sees it, “you can actually achieve more milestones by working smart and with a clear head.” 

“I always think of the Abraham Lincoln quote, ‘Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax,’” she said. “It’s just as true now as it was in Lincoln’s time.” 

At 500 Global, we’ve invested in several companies in the mental health space, and recently, we caught up with a few of their founders as a part of Mental Health Awareness Month. 

Here’s what they had to say about their own personal journeys towards well-being and why they started companies in the space:

Andrea Campos, CEO of Yana

Tell us about your product. 

AC: Yana is a mental health app that provides emotional support to millions of Spanish-speakers worldwide through a chatbot. We believe that through that day-to-day emotional management, we could dramatically reduce affective disorders in the world.

Can you talk about your own journey with mental health? 

AC: I’ve been battling with depression since I was a kid. I used to think that feeling down and lonely was just who I was, like I was born broken or something. It took me ages to realize that it was an actual illness that needed professional help. 

For years, I tried all sorts of therapies — traditional, non-traditional, public, private — all the while keeping it secret because of the stigma. It wasn’t until I hit my twenties, after finally finding Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and meds, that things started to change.

Why did you start Yana? 

AC: Around the same time, I was diving into programming and coding. And it hit me—I could create a tech solution to support me during my dark times. What started as a personal project soon turned into something bigger as I shared my idea with others who could relate. And that’s how Yana was born. 

I’m aware that the tools we’re building are NOT a replacement for therapists. Still, sometimes Yana is all people have to help. 

Jonathan TranPham, CEO of Reflect

Tell us about your product. 

JT: We believe Reflect is the best place to find the right therapist. 

One of the most important factors in successful therapy outcomes is what’s called therapeutic alliance, which is the fit between you and your therapist. There are different styles, different orientations, different specialties, but at the end of the day, it’s about that trust that you build with your therapist. 

So, we really dissected — what does that trust actually mean? And we’ve identified over 50 different variables that factor into making a match. 

Can you talk about your own journey with mental health? 

JT: I worked in consulting and marketing for seven-plus years. But I woke up one day and realized I was burned out and probably have been stressed my whole life. It really was this ‘aha moment’ that I just needed to talk to somebody.

I started looking for a therapist and my six months search added even more stress to my life. I didn’t know where to go, I didn’t know what to look for, and I felt even more alone. For me, it was like, this shouldn’t be so hard.

Why did you start Reflect? 

JT: As I talked to more friends, I realized it was really hard for a lot of other folks to find a therapist as well. There was this opportunity to really bring these two parties together (patients and therapists) in a more tech enabled way. It seemed like a very logical opportunity for a marketplace.

Martin Becerra, CEO of Pura Mente 

Tell us about your product. 

MB: Pura Mente is a meditation app for Spanish speaking people around the world. The product is meant to help people adopt the practice of meditation and to relax. It’s one of the most downloaded so far in the space in Latin America. 

Can you talk about your own journey with mental health? 

MB: I was attending meditation retreats and trying to go deep in learning and practicing some traditions of meditations. But I realized, where I lived in Argentina, there weren’t options to learn how to observe your own mind. That was the inspiration for creating a really simple product to do so. 

Why did you start Pura Mente? 

MB: We are in a very difficult context globally in terms of mental health, and it’s getting worse. So having some tools to help with that, it’s critical. 

It’s proven meditation can change the mind. It’s like evolving another muscle of the body. There are different kinds of meditations that will help some to develop more love, more empathy, and more compassion. Other techniques will help us to live more presently, more clearly. 

It’s an exercise. That’s the trick. You just need to repeat it.