Author: Sandra Leong

Look no further than minime for a startup that’s helping patients and therapists build a more interactive relationship. Founded by Paul Schneeweiß, a practicing cognitive behavioral therapist, minime was built with psychologists’ needs in mind. The CEO came up with the name for his startup on the train to the hospital where he still works today. “The idea just came to me,” he confessed. “I spoke it out loud and wasn’t really searching for a name, but I thought, Why not? It fits.”

The platform’s name serves as a metaphor for reflecting one’s inner thoughts and feelings— for example through the components that make up the SORC (Situation, Organism, Reaction, Consequence) Model and other self-monitoring strategies in psychology.

What does this model entail? We’ll get to that shortly. For now, we’ll reiterate that the idea behind this innovative mental health startup is for therapists to help patients more efficiently create their own “mini-me.”

A Cutting Edge Approach: Digitizing Paper Logs

Through Schneeweiß’s work in the psychotherapy field, it became clear that there’s a lot of homework involved for both patients and practitioners—generally using paper logs, which have become outdated. “It became obvious we needed to digitize things,” explained minime’s CEO. “To make complex concepts more tangible.”

According to Stella Römhildt, User Experience Director at minime, the worksheets patients complete between sessions is super-complex, and the paper logs aren’t particularly nice to look at. “This is the reality,” she said. “Not just in one setting, but in psychotherapy settings all over Germany.”

So Schneeweiß created a card game—the basis of the startup’s MVP—and integrated it in therapy sessions before developing a digital version. Ask the founder to describe his product, and he’ll cite the many different layers involved.

“On the one hand, we have paper logs,” he described. “And on the other, we have specific self-monitoring strategies.” 

In line with the SORC Model, these strategies consist of four layers. These include the client’s: Thoughts, Feelings, Body sensations, Observable behaviour.

By offering a playful take on these four layers—including their triggers and consequences—Schneeweiß and his team have created a digital framework for overcoming challenging behaviours. The platform is essentially a toolbox therapists can use to distribute exercises to patients: creating them, sharing them, and ultimately, analysing them.

Mental Health Treatment Challenges and COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unique opportunities for minime—and a unique set of challenges.

“Therapy changed a lot because [therapists] were so non-digital, and suddenly they had to be [digital],” said Römhildt.

While some therapists continued to work with patients in person—wearing masks to ensure safety—there was an overwhelming disconnect, given the lack of visibility into both parties’ facial expressions. And then, with telehealth appointments, therapists could no longer distribute paper logs. (Unsurprisingly, scanning, printing, and emailing the documents wasn’t an efficient alternative.) While the startup is still in its early stages, minime is offering a solution that transcends digital and in-person therapeutic models. And it comes at an appropriate time—as mental health issues have become more prevalent during the ongoing public health crisis.

“I think with COVID-19 and all these regulations, we were forced to behave unhealthily,” confessed Schneeweiß. “And by unhealthily, I mean reducing your regular contacts, and relying on activating behavior patterns.”

Layoffs, lockdowns, and the financial challenges resulting from the pandemic have only compounded the stress so many of us face—yet we’ve also become more aware. According to Schneeweiß, patients have begun scheduling sessions with the goal of no longer coping in unproductive ways. Some people, for instance, began drinking excessively to deal with the monotony of COVID-19—and many patients want to adopt healthier behavioral patterns instead.

Per the SORC Model, and with minime, they can do just that. The mental health startup has launched at an ideal time, as more and more people begin to advocate for greater transparency.

“The awareness of mental health, and being able to talk more openly about it these past few years, has been a great development,” said Nina Hackenbroich, Full-Stack Developer at minime. “This will always be an issue people face, and society and humanity will improve with this increased visibility.”

The novel coronavirus, and the challenges billions of people around the world have experienced as a result of the pandemic, revealed that everyone has struggles. From this point forward, mental health startups like minime will continue highlighting the benefits of open discussion.

A strong team with a joined mission

The founding team at minime only recently connected on LinkedIn. And while they just added a fourth employee to their roster – the UX/UI & Marketing Expert Rafael R. Da Silva – they have a number of goals toward which they are still working.

Schneeweiß’s objective is simple: “Having therapists who not only like this idea, but who use it and deeply integrate it into their therapy,” he said. “And by ‘deeply,’ I mean, ‘I don’t know how we ever did it using paper logs.’”

Hackenbroich added, “Hopefully we will be in as many therapy practices and hospitals as possible in Germany, and really supporting the patient-therapist relationship.”

As a developer, she’s confident that digital tools like minime will be quite popular in other countries as well. In the next year or so, Römhildt projects a huge number of therapists overcoming their fear of adopting digital tools. “I want minime to really encourage patients to communicate their thoughts and feelings over the week,” she said. “Helping even just some people would be a huge win.”

The mental health startup’s MVP will be ready at the end of August 2021—at which point the team plans to have their first therapist and clients onboarded.

Team minime’s secret weapon for all the progress they’ve made? Römhildt believes they’ve conquered this early stage in large part due to effective communication. “I like to compare it to a romantic relationship,” she said. “Honesty is the most important thing for us. We were honest from the start about our beliefs and struggles. That way we know about everyone’s history and can cut some slack if needed.”

She shared that the founding members regularly check in with one another—asking how things are going—to ensure everyone can speak freely. There are no complex power dynamics, and there’s a sense of openness and integrity that’s integral to the team’s well-being and overall success.

So, what does the path forward look like? Only time will tell—but minime is slated to be a huge hit among therapists looking to securely digitize their paper logs.

“What I’ve learned is that we are used to doing things again and again—to learning patterns,” said Schneeweiß. “If you are doing new things, it comes with a lot of uncertainty that could lead to frustration or a search for short-term solutions. Even building up a company, being aware that uncertainty is okay is key.”

As a therapist and a founder, it’s no wonder that minime’s CEO has mastered the uncertainty so many of us fear. The mental health startup acknowledges that we have to reflect on our anxieties and frustrations, and then accept and release them in order to move forward.

Born in 2018, ALMA fuses design, anthropology and technology in their bid to create a cultural revolution in the area of female intimate care. ALMA is a collaborative practice that connects professionals from all around Europe. Their team comprises of Giulia and Isabel who utilise design and anthropological methods in creating solutions, Tommaso and Ryo who are scientists materialising ideas into products, Tauras a graphic designer, Anjali a data scientist, Alice their design intern and their to be onboarded software developer.

Here in Berlin, they are represented by founder Giulia and Tauras, who have been busy developing a wearable biosensor that monitors the pH in vaginal fluids, setting up a global community platform and completing a book about female intimate care innovation.

ALMA Universe: Creating Cultural Change in Female Intimate CareThrough Education and Technology

Lovingly known as “ALMA Universe”, ALMA’s work sits at the praxis of science, technology and culture. It draws inspiration from the very community it seeks to empower, and to date, they have run numerous workshops exploring the hearts and minds of more than 400 participants across the world.

Their website showcases the extensive work they have done surrounding female intimate health, with aesthetics that echo a Sofia Coppola film. For ALMA, design and aesthetics are political.

“The depiction of female intimate care in society is typically very medical. We want to show the normality that comes with it and with that, of course, the beauty that goes together with it – because it should attract and be something that inspires people to want to engage and know more.”

In designing a wearable sensor, it is not simply designing something beautiful and feminine. Rather, there is a need to ensure a level of comfort for their users. Not just in wearability, but in how it presents on the person. They question everything, including the traditional notions of femininity, its’ aesthetics and the role it plays in the stigma and politics that surround the issue of female intimate care.

“The stigma and silencing behind female intimate care come from a problem within the system, within culture. Our solution in addressing this is to bring awareness through technology and education. To gain profit from spreading awareness sounds like a joke to us. In an industry that is primarily still profit-driven, we are like white flies.”

Throughout their time at the incubator, ALMA has struggled to articulate their complex vision within the strictly enforced 4 minute timed pitch sessions. This is in part due to their unconventional approach to innovation. Essentially their mission is not just the development of a wearable sensor, the technology or the innovation. Rather, ALMA is already looking three steps ahead towards the cultural change their work will bring as their end product.

White Flies of the Femtech World

In Italy, the white fly is the one that stands out as different from all the others. That’s ALMA, who are developing an entirely not-for-profit, non-medical, community platform based on user experience. Inspired by their workshop series ALMA meets Flora, they are aiming to build an inclusive, crowd-sourced community platform around female intimate health.

ALMA sees the value and wisdom of the female body and the sum of their experiences. Building this platform is the first step towards fostering a movement of awareness– a movement that seeks to see individuals empowered and in control of their health through a holistic approach. This platform would serve also to allow open dialogue to take place in a safe space. Dialogue is of great importance, considering the culture of silence that blankets this field. Giving a voice to their target demographic allows for the normalisation of female health issues and the breaking of stigmas and taboos. It also allows for the advocacy of female intimate health that is still regretfully, greatly underrepresented in modern medicine.

“There are so many areas that still fall short in modern medicine when it comes to female bodies. It is such a shame that we are flying to Mars, but still so much is to be known about what’s happening in the female body.”

Language, Community and Co-Creating Knowledge

Throughout their time at the incubator, ALMA have been able to better align with their core values. They are seeking impact investors, perhaps even partnerships where there can be a co-creation of knowledge. Their book, which acts as an introduction to their platform, will be completed in September.

ALMA’s methodology is based on user diaries that describe their current experiences searching for information regarding intimate health. This has comprised of a survey where users’ preferences in terms of features were explored and participatory workshops in different cultural contexts. Data of which has been used to design the platform.

When asked what gets them up in the morning, Giulia speaks about her constant inspiration to bring about this change. For Tauras, it is the realisation that the clock is ticking and there is still much to be done.

Participants who are interested can now access the survey they have recently launched. Here, ALMA invites participants to take on an active role in co-designing the Atlas.

In honor of Pride month, Vision Health Pioneers Incubator is taking the opportunity to give prominence to issues in the healthcare industry experienced by our friends in the LGBTQ+ community.

The Call For Inclusive Healthcare

Despite the many advances in healthcare today, access, representation and inclusivity in healthcare remain an issue of contention for the LGBTQ+ community. They continue to face significant challenges when accessing healthcare while also suffering a greater burden of particular health issues: depression, isolation, suicide, HIV/STIs and cancer.

The healthcare industry strives to inspire hope and to their best of their ability provide patient-centered healthcare. However, LGBTQ+ and minority patients continue to report experiences tainted by stigma, hate-violence and discrimination. Surveys have reported experiences that range from refusal to be seen, addressed with harsh or abusive language and misgendering amongst a disturbing list of other harassments and humiliations when seeking care.

This has unsurprisingly discouraged LGBTQ+ people from accessing healthcare. While LGBTQ+ community health centres and services do exist, they are not as widely available or easily accessed. There remains as well, a distinct lack of knowledge amongst healthcare providers on the correct anatomical language to create a safe space for all. As providers struggle to describe bodies and patients outside of gendered terms, this gap in communication has left a demographic of people feeling entirely unseen and unheard.

These barriers in accessing healthcare is a trauma in itself. Inadvertently, it contributes to the vulnerabilities and health risks of LGBTQ+ people who opt out of seeking medical attention for fear of being othered.   

A majority proportion of national health surveys that do not collect information on sexual orientation and gender identity poses as a furthered form of discrimination. Again, while there have been improvements and greater attention in recent years, there remains a distinct health data gap for LGBTQ+ people, with their specific health risks being left out entirely in what informs public healthcare.

Undoubtably there is a need for enhanced awareness amongst healthcare providers and greater community consciousness. In looking towards health innovations that could help fill the gap in healthcare for this community, digital health tools are emerging as essential.

In an era where digital communication is preferred, mental health innovations that allow for support via text and calls are providing a much needed space for people to reach out digitally in a moment of crisis. The increased anonymity through digital applications as well, allows for a wider spread and hopefully more inclusive demographic that will seek out support. Meet a few organisations that inspire:

Online platforms allow individuals to access culturally competent healthcare and come together in a digital safe space. For instance, sites such as Violet and EmptyClosets that allow members of the community to connect.

Also read more here on Foxl Health, the direct-to-consumer health startup designed with LGBTQ+ patients in mind and how other digital health startups are driving the change towards more inclusive healthcare.

Closer to home within our incubator, our Batch #2 team minime have been working on a self-monitoring Cognitive Behavioural Therapy tool. It serves to introduce greater flexibility and ease of access in therapy and allows patients to self-monitor between sessions in a fun way.

Our Batch #2 team ALMA recognise the value of connection, education and dialogue. They are working on creating a community platform to tackle the stigmatised and often silenced issue of female intimate healthcare

A long road is still ahead

This shift towards digital health tools prioritising health education in an open, culturally relevant environment is an encouraging step towards greater inclusion in healthcare. While much work remains to be done, there is hope that the future holds improved healthcare prospects for the LGBTQ+ community.

To all the founders out there: KEEP THE NEEDS OF THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY IN MIND AND CREATE INCLUSIVE SOLUTIONS THAT EMBRACE ALL PATIENTS NEEDS.