The focus on mental health and wellness has become increasingly more prevalent in recent years. But not only can it be extremely difficult to find the right resources as a patient and a provider, there still exists stigma around the act of seeking help. Mental wellness network Frame seeks to fix that, and not a moment too soon during the pandemic.
<p>In this installment of<em> </em><em>dot.LA Dives In</em>, we talk with Kendall Bird and Sage Grazer, the co-founders of Frame, a mental wellness network that seeks to help people find a form of therapy and a therapist. </p><p>When Kendall moved to New York City after college, she found herself struggling to adjust to her new life. Identifying a therapist to help her work through those issues was not an easy task, but when she found the right person, she realized how powerful that relationship was. </p><p>When she returned to her hometown of Los Angeles, she found herself again struggling to find a therapist. She reached out to her childhood friend Sage Grazer, a therapist herself. Sage was grappling with her own set of challenges trying to run her own practice without any business training.</p><p>"I was sharing with Kendall how difficult, as a new therapist, it is to get clients, and she was sharing with me how hard it was for her to find a new therapist. And this was something that me and my colleagues were all experiencing, so Kendall proposed that we build our own platform," says Grazer.</p><p>Having started a company before, Bird emphasizes how critical it was to find the right founder fit.</p><p>"It was important for me to partner with someone that had a very different perspective, and was also an expert in the field in her own sense," says Bird. "We thought about all the other services that were out there and identified what we felt like was missing. And so we built this unique experience which is now Frame."</p><p>What started as an app to connect users with therapists has evolved into a platform to match potential clients with therapists, a "business in a box" to help therapists grow their practices, and as 30-45 minute digital discussions run by licensed therapists that introduce potential patients to the basics of therapy and help dispel the stigma around mental health and wellness. </p><p>"What we're trying to do with the discussions is really show you concrete examples of how therapy can be applied in different scenarios," says Bird. "The more we tell those stories, the more people will hear them, and understand how (therapy) is relevant in their specific life and situation."</p><p>As remote care becomes more common during the pandemic, Frame has leveraged its toolbox to help clients adapt by making it easier to connect virtually. Not only are they providing training for therapists that have been forced to run their practices remote, but the digital discussions have provided a path for the founders to give back to the community.</p><p>"Our digital discussions have been a real gift as a part of Frame to be able to give during this time when people are in lockdown," says Grazer. "Maybe they can't get to a therapist, maybe they can't afford a therapist because they lost their job. So we are able to offer these free workshops and give people actionable tools that they can start putting into play immediately."</p><p>While you might think launching a startup during a pandemic would be tough, the co-founders credit Los Angeles as setting them up for success. With how spread out the city is, Frame was already built to be Telehealth-oriented before COVID hit.</p><p>"Starting in L.A. really set us up for success when this whole pandemic happened, because we were already built to sustain Telehealth and people being able to work remote," says Bird.</p><p>Watch the full interview to learn more - in this conversation, we dive deep into Frame's history, talk about their experiences during the pandemic, and discuss what companies can do to create a more inclusive environment when it comes to mental wellness.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c258dd813d20fb58c49428241ff12596"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/77kO4J5pA30?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">dot.LA Dives In: Frame Co-Founders Discuss How They Built the Mental Wellness Network</small>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77kO4J5pA30&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
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<em>Kelly O'Grady runs video and serves as the chief host & correspondent for dot.LA. Find her on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/kfogrady" target="_blank">@kfogrady</a> and email her at <a href="mailto:mailto:kelly@dot.LA">kelly@dot.LA</a>.</em></p>
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COVID-19 created a new normal that has upended work, life and finances and the reality is that everyone is just going to have reshuffle how we live, recalibrating employee expectations and creating more space for family.
That's the takeaway from dot.LA's strategy session on Tuesday with clinical psychologist Crystal Clements, Advekit chief executive and cofounder Alison LaSov and venture capital firm Crosscut Venture's managing director Brian Garrett. The panelists admitted they have all suffered from some anxiety due to the economic downturn and have found themselves reprioritizing their lives and looking for comfort in routines.
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They have all found hope in connecting remotely with friends, family and in the generosity of others — whether that's founders taking pay cuts, or merely realizing that everyone is in this together in Italy, England, New York or Los Angeles.<br/>
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"Accepting this is half the battle, this is our new normal," LaSov said. "I know a lot of founders I speak to are really hard on themselves because they can't quite figure out how to make the adjustments quick enough. But I think the more that we can remind ourselves that we're doing the best that we can. This is unprecedented for all of us, this global anxiety that we're all experiencing, so just having some self compassion and acceptance during this time it's really important."<br/>
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Clements said that because the crisis is still new, many of her clients are in triage mode figuring out what to do about money, their kids who are at home, and their own businesses as everyone is forced to stay home to avert the spread of the deadly disease. But, Clements said as the new reality sets she would advise people to find peace in their spirituality and look inward for direction during a very uncertain time.
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"This period might last a few months. It might last — who knows, but there will be an end," she said. "You want to figure out who you want to be during this time, what are your values, what are you standing for, and strengthen them."
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Garrett, whose Santa Monica-based firm is in the process of deploying $125 million in its fourth fund, said he isn't pushing as hard to raise funds now and is instead working with his portfolio companies and founders to weather the storm.
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"My philosophy has been 'go with the flow and get as much done as I can but also realize right now'," he said. "Nothing else matters in my business world, in more than just taking care of my portfolio companies, taking care of those founders and trying to support them in any way I can."
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Garrett could be an exception. Some managers react just the opposite, micromanaging their remote employees, fearing their productivity has dropped. Meanwhile employees are nervous they are going to lose their job, as <a href="https://dot.la/california-unemployment-numbers-surge-2645550864.html" target="_self">unemployment skyrockets</a> <a href="https://dot.la/coronavirus-recession-ucla-prediction-2645502115.html" target="_self">in the midst of the recession</a>.
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"It's been very stressful for some people," Clements said. Mangers and their employees should be talking about what they need and in the meantime, she said, be a bit more forgiving.
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"It's natural for an entrepreneur to potentially micromanage the situation or believe that they need to stay more on top of things (but) at the end of the day I don't think that's what employees want," Garrett said. "I think they want to believe that their bosses trust that they're contributing to the best they can to the success of the business."
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While working from home can be a dream come true for some, it has also lengthened the work day for some.
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According to NordVPN, a personal virtual private network service provider, U.S. workers have seen their average workday grow by 40%, adding an extra three hours to their days, or the largest jump worldwide. Meanwhile, the UK, France, Canada and Spain have seen a two hour increase in the length of their workdays.
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Garrett said that it's key right now to for employers to be leaders and "facilitate a culture of trust" and empower their workers — "know that they're busting their butts" trying to do the best in this brand new world so that business can continue. He also recommended leaders be more empathetic to the fear and anxiety employees are facing and, as a leader, communicate what efforts are ongoing to extend runway and talk with investors.
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"I've seen over the last week or so executive teams making a decision to take pay cuts across the board with a spirit of, 'we're all in this together so let's suffer slightly through our current income to get by, but not have to cut jobs, not have to give up X percent of our headcount,'" Garrett said. "And so we'll all suffer together to still try to achieve the goals."
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<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="36f5c94c650ac9673854d2f50ac81de4"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pvYAchRSQts?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Strategy Session: Coping During Quarantine</small>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvYAchRSQts&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
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<em><em>Do you have a story that needs to be told? My DMs are open on Twitter </em><a href="https://twitter.com/latams" target="_blank"><u><em>@latams</em></u></a><em>. You can also email me at tami(at)dot.la, or ask for my Signal. Follow Rachel Uranga on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/racheluranga" target="_blank">@racheluranga</a>.</em>Check back. We'll upload the video from this even shortly.</em>
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During the discussion, Brian Garrett, managing director of Crosscut Ventures,
<a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17CRGY8IRTAq525_Hl_WEwO7_xpXL4Ch19ZCK2yyha08/edit?pli=1#gid=0" target="_blank">shared a spreadsheet of free mental wellness offerings</a> that individuals and companies can take advantage of.
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Headspace raised $93 million in debt and equity as the Santa Monica-based mindfulness company aims to fend off competition from rivals like Calm by growing globally as it pursues ambitious plans to launch the first FDA-approved meditation app.
The company, which is riding the wave of wellness as everyone from Wall Street traders to school teachers embrace meditation for health, announced Wednesday that it will pump funds into their direct-to-consumer business, where revenue has doubled year-over-year from 2017 to 2019.
<p>Headspace projects this sales growth will continue as it faces steep competition from rivals such as Waking Up, Personal Zen and Calm, another meditation app that claimed unicorn status last year. It will also use the fresh round of financing announced Wednesday to beef up its international presence. Last year, the company launched localized versions of the app in French and German, and appointed former Apple executive Renate Nyborg as Head of Europe. It's also debuted a Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese version, and continues to expand its presence in Asia.</p><p>"As we think about the next ten years and beyond, we are focused on harnessing this power and applying it to other areas of our members' lives to help them create healthy routines that last a lifetime – whether that is through our Headspace consumer app, the work we currently do with hundreds of employers, or with healthcare providers as we look to deliver better access," said Richard Pierson, chief executive and co-founder of Headspace. </p><p>The company reported that the group of investors was led by blisce/, with participation from Waverley Capital and Times Bridge – the global investments and partnerships arm of The Times Group of India – and existing investors The Chernin Group, Spectrum Equity and Advancit Capital. The fundraising included a debt package of $40 million from Pacific Western Bank.</p><p>This year, Headspace announced a flurry of deals that will bolster the meditation app's profile including an agreement with Starbucks that provides employees a free subscription to the app that runs $69.99 for new users. It struck a similar partnership with Hyatt Hotels Corp. that gives guests access to the app. It's also launched a "Barbie Wellness" collection with El Segundo-based toy manufacturer Mattel Inc. that is supposed to introduce kids to the benefits of self-care. The focus includes a Barbie's meditation offering on YouTube that is led by Eve Prieto, who is the female voice of Headspace.</p><p>The relatively recent push into corporate partnerships comes as companies are looking for cheaper ways to invest in employee wellness and productivity, while offering perks to attract talent.</p><p>But the company's biggest push has yet to be realized — providing FDA-cleared proof of the claims that meditation bolsters health and overall wellness in regular users.</p><p>Headspace has engaged in evidence-based research studies since 2015, regarding the meditation app's impact to medical issues including cancer and asthma, with an additional focus on pain management and sleep.</p><p>In 2018, Headspace established Headspace Health, a wholly-owned subsidiary, to look into delivering a prescription meditation app for health professionals and their patients, as early as 2020. </p><p>It's unclear what the status of its efforts to obtain FDA clearance for its meditation programs to treat a range of "chronic" disease is as a company representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.</p><p><em>This story has been updated. Rachel Uranga contributed to this report. </em></p>
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