Mumbai: India ranks high on the global depression list: one in 20 individuals suffers from the disease, yet, only one in five people suffering from mental illness seeks professional help.
Mumbai, particularly, has its own set of mental health challenges: “A high pressure environment with multiple high-stress industries,” says psychiatrist, Dr. Amit Malik. The city, however, has an advantage when to comes to mental health services. “It is an urban area, and therefore at a stage of evolution where stigmatisation is less of an issue.”
The city provided Dr. Amit Malik and fellow psychiatrist Dr. Shefali Batra with the ideal setting to start a venture providing mental health services. Dr. Batra had spent her entire life in the city, so working in a familiar environment had its advantages. The two of them joined hands to form TheInnerHour, an online portal providing psychiatric aid -- the first of its kind in the city.
The two were acquainted with each other just a few years ago, and called their collaboration “a meeting of minds.” For them, choosing to go digital with their venture was a no-brainer. “The main aim was to provide comprehensive psychiatric support,” says Dr. Malik. They viewed stigmatisation and access as the two main issues surrounding psychiatric help and considered the internet to be an untapped medium through which they could make a difference. “When we met, we realised we both had similar aspirations in providing better healthcare. We’re both attracted to a paradigm where we can bring about actual change.”
The need to connect
Started in early 2016, TheInnerHour is a platform that provides therapeutic services by connecting its customers to psychologists, who are a combination of their own in-house doctors as well as independents associated with the organisation. The psychologists are specially trained in the nuances of online therapy and customers are encouraged to provide feedback after every session, ensuring quality control.
Dr. Batra and Dr. Malik have both been practising psychiatrists for over 15 years. Dr. Malik, previously based in the United Kingdom, was on the board of various institutes such as the Royal College of Psychiatrists, London and The European Federation of Psychiatrists. He realised that when it came to addressing problems of stigmatisation and access, nothing much had changed. Government policy and intervention can only do so much, he says, and change needs to come from the ground up.
He began his foray into online counselling when as commercial director of the National Health Service, he helped create an online presence for other psychiatrists. Choosing to follow the path of online psychiatry, he secured an MBA at London Business School to better understand the nuances of setting up a business.
Dr. Batra holds an MBBS degree, a postgraduate training in psychiatry as well as a Leadership Certificate in Healthcare Management from UCLA. She was one of the first people in India to venture into online counselling with MINDFRAMES, a wellness organisation which connected patients with healthcare professionals across the globe through video and telecommunication techniques.
Challenges
Starting out, awareness was the biggest challenge they had to overcome. “We weren’t getting enough traction. A lot of people just didn’t realise that they needed help.” Further, Dr. Malik explains the challenges associated with awareness: “There are two levels to awareness – one is to know that a condition exists, that is, conceptual knowledge, and the second is self-awareness. The challenge for us existed on both levels.”
To combat the problem, they created proprietary assessments to provide users with the means to understand what they were experiencing, and then connecting them with their respective psychiatrists based on their test results. They also thought there would be difficulty in assembling a capable team, but they were surprised at the quality on offer. Both founders take pride in the team they have put together. “I’ve been in management a long time and it’s very hard to find a group of people who are intrinsically motivated,” says Dr. Malik. “There’s a lot of belief in what they’re doing.”
Increasing awareness
Most of the people who use the platform suffer from depression or have marital difficulties. Their users come from a mixed background, with most of them being corporate employees.
The hope is that through the website, awareness for the need of psychiatric treatment will improve. “There are around 150 million people in the country who need psychiatric help, but how do you make them aware and translate that awareness into demand? Even if things are going well for people, they don’t realise they need help. The earlier you get good psychiatric help, the likelier it is for you to get better and stay better”, says Dr. Malik.
Through the online assessments, they founders can gauge the number of users who require psychiatric treatment and those that actually opt for it through their site. “Around 80% of our traffic is generated through these tests. What’s really motivating is to see a high rate of repeat,” he says, stressing the importance of engaging with psychological therapists repeatedly over a period of time. “Therapy is not a one-time thing.”
Future Plans
Currently testing a platform for working individuals, the company’s main focus is to tie up with organisations. “We plan on creating a separate proprietary platform for companies which will have a lot of exclusive content such as assessments built into it. We’re also going to work with educational institutions so we will have a platform for them as well.” Their aim is, as much as possible, to work in partnerships with other service providers in the clinical health and wellness space.
Also in the works is a mobile application to help people engage with and understand their mental condition more often if they are unable to speak with anyone. By creating a unique algorithm they plan on helping individuals identify their problems.
Considering that they have been in this field for so long, do they read each other’s minds? “We’re both psychiatrists, but that’s probably where the similarity ends between the two of us!” says Dr. Malik.
Founders: Dr. Shefali Batra, Dr. Amit Malik
Founded: 2016
Main funders: Batliwala & Karani Securities India Pvt. Ltd, Venture Works $450,000
Employees: 80
Web: www.theinnerhour.com
