It's not just about pay. Even if it was 100% affordable there's a shortage of mental health workers compared to demand. See the NYT Article from a few days ago [1]. The solution we have right now couldn't scale.
I'm not saying that an app, or technology in general, can fix everything, but surely we can drum up some sort of support tool that doesn't leave people high and dry, and doesn't rely on an impossible scaling up of a limited supply of skilled professionals doing 1:1 therapy. I'm not saying you can ever replace 1:1 therapy or even in-person therapy, because I don't think that's how we've evolved to need care, but I know that there is research to support that meta-level awareness of your own mental health is an important step.
There's (probably) not a silver bullet tech solution out there, and I think it's frankly a minefield and a losing battle for most startups, but definitely for investor-backed startups. I think this space really needs open standards and privacy-first solution that keeps people in charge of their own data, while also giving better tools to the experts who are out there now, and enables at least a minimal level of several options for therapy (self-led, group, facilitated, etc) for the varying levels of need, to free up 1:1 sessions for those in the greatest need rather than just the highest bidder as capitalism often favors.
I'm not saying that an app, or technology in general, can fix everything, but surely we can drum up some sort of support tool that doesn't leave people high and dry, and doesn't rely on an impossible scaling up of a limited supply of skilled professionals doing 1:1 therapy. I'm not saying you can ever replace 1:1 therapy or even in-person therapy, because I don't think that's how we've evolved to need care, but I know that there is research to support that meta-level awareness of your own mental health is an important step.
There's (probably) not a silver bullet tech solution out there, and I think it's frankly a minefield and a losing battle for most startups, but definitely for investor-backed startups. I think this space really needs open standards and privacy-first solution that keeps people in charge of their own data, while also giving better tools to the experts who are out there now, and enables at least a minimal level of several options for therapy (self-led, group, facilitated, etc) for the varying levels of need, to free up 1:1 sessions for those in the greatest need rather than just the highest bidder as capitalism often favors.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/12/16/well/mental-h...