The city of Seattle and healthcare startup Joon Care are partnering to provide free online mental healthcare in an effort to increase services to teens and young adults, which as a whole are experiencing a mental health crisis.
The city is providing $50,000 to pay for treatment until the end of the year, with the goal of serving roughly 50 young people. The Youth and Family Empowerment Division of the city’s Human Services Department is managing the partnership. Some 22 city agencies can make referrals to the pilot program.
“The city, to their credit, has been incredibly forward thinking…”
Emily Pesce, Joon Care CEO
Joon delivers online therapy and mental health tools and resources to teens and young adults. The Seattle startup has a team of contracted providers whom it supports with evidence-based care strategies and patient assessments to track progress.
“The city, to their credit, has been incredibly forward thinking in establishing programs to help connect agencies that work with families and young adults to dollars that can support them receiving therapy,” said Emily Pesce, Joon’s CEO.
The arrangement will allow Joon “to serve populations that are underrepresented or marginalized or traditionally wouldn’t have access or be able to afford this care,” added Pesce, who was a finalist for Startup CEO of the Year at the 2023 GeekWire Awards.
According to data from the company, Joon therapy is having a positive impact. Based on standardized surveys collected throughout treatment, 75% of clients recovered from their clinical anxiety and 71% recovered from clinical depression after completing four months of teletherapy with Joon.
The clients using Joon through the partnership with Seattle will likewise take mental health surveys. The anonymized results will help evaluate the program’s value.
“What we’ll see, I believe, is this dollar investment is actually driving better family outcomes, or better employment outcomes, or better graduation rates, or whatever it may be,” Pesce said. “And $50,000 feels like a very limited amount of money to invest in this sort of upstream high impact.”
While the city of Seattle is covering the cost in this situation, mental healthcare can be expensive.
Joon’s initial 50-minute session costs $150. Following sessions cost $125 and include access to mental health apps and a monthly parent check-in. The startup is in-network for Kaiser Permanente Washington, and a handful of other insurers in the states where it provides care. Out-of-network reimbursements can range from about 40-80% of the cost. The startup also offers lower prices based on financial need, and the city of Seattle will pay a discounted rate.
A U.S. survey revealed that the percent of high school students who reported “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness” went from 28% in 2011 to 42% in 2021, steadily increasing and making a jump during COVID. The percent who said they seriously considered attempting suicide went from 16% to 22% over the decade.
Earlier this year, Seattle Public Schools and a second Washington school district sued social media companies for their alleged role in the mental health crisis for youth. In May, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory regarding social media’s negative effects on kids.
At the same time, most schools aren't well equipped to help. The majority of schools say they lack sufficient mental health staff or access to mental health professionals, according to a U.S. survey backed by the Department of Education. Almost half say don't have enough money to address the need.
Given the acute shortage of therapists, Pesce hopes that a program like Joon's — which can demonstrate benefits within three to four months — could make care more efficient and allow providers to serve more youth over time.
Funding for mental healthcare
Beyond Seattle's investment, it appears there's increased interest from the public and private sectors to boost spending for youth mental health.
The federal government in August announced $42.2 million in funding to develop and support school-based mental health programs and services.
The private sector was bullish on online healthcare during COVID's rise, but investments in the field overall have declined in recent quarters. Nearly $800 million was invested in teletherapy startups worldwide in the spring of 2021, according to a PitchBook analysis. That dropped to $143 million by the first quarter of this year.
"Digital health funding has been down significantly this year, though teletherapy has been a bright spot from an investment perspective," said Aaron DeGagne, a PitchBook analyst focused on healthcare. "And we’ve also seen rising interest and [venture capital] investment in adolescent and teen mental health."
Joon launched in 2019, spinning out of Seattle's Pioneer Square Labs. The year after, the startup raised a $3.5 million round.
DeGagne noted that one of the impediments to growth for a company like Joon is the challenge of recruiting more clients.
Partnerships like the one with Seattle could help. And Joon recently launched as a care provider on the Valorant Health platform. Valorant, which is based in Washington and California, is a portal to digital healthcare for underserved communities, such as rural patients and Native American populations.
Joon is its first provider targeting mental health for teens and youth. Valorant is currently serving 80,000 people.
"We're excited every time we impact a life," Pesce said. But the partnerships with Seattle and Valorant have "a little extra oomph behind it" she added, "in the sense of who we're able to target."
