We.Care makes online therapeutic solutions accessible for those who need it the most
Linisha Palm is the CEO of the growing company We.Care. In this story, she shares how it has been to start and run a healthtech company in a pioneering country like Denmark within the digital health industry .
Therapy-as-a-service
"At the moment we have two products: Our SaaS product is a licensing-model to independent psychologists for their own clinics and their own clients, where security and GDPR compliance is paramount. The second product is our own psychological treatment program based on our own team of therapists where clients enter on a monthly subscription basis. Since the therapy is online, we are able to better cater to the clients’ needs when it comes to timing and availability. If you have a mental problem, it can be very distressing to have to wait several days before your therapist has time to see you. But given our online flexibility, we are able to offer responses from our therapists within 24 hours."
"At the same time, being online provides us with a layer of data and technology which makes it much easier for both the therapist and the client to gain a continuous overview of the progress in their treatment."
"From a tech entrepreneur perspective, we started by building relationships between patients and their therapist and now we are moving therapy into a new space, by adding intelligent technology to that relationship. Taking care of your physical condition is a very common thing today, but caring about your mental health isn’t at the same stage yet. We are aiming at doing to the mental health what all the gyms and all the training apps have done for people’s physical health. The market is still maturing, but we all know that caring for our mental health also has a positive effect on the body and everything else in our lives."
A wave of digital health inspiration
"For us, Denmark is a bit of an international pioneer when it comes to digital health. Lately, The Ministry of Health has rolled out several digital services which has made the public aware that interaction with a medical professional can happen digitally. This makes it easier for us to convince people to try online therapy. We find similarities in the fintech sector, where you see companies pushing trailblazing, digital products to replace analog processes. We also create new synergies by putting the marketing team, the psychologists and the technical team in the room together to share knowledge among different practices."
Bringing more comprehensive solutions to mental health
"During the spring 2020 and the COVID-19 measures, we were obviously pleased to have a product that allowed many therapists to stay in touch with their patients and provide the help which many people were seeking under this very stressful situation. Denmark is nonetheless a challenging market because it’s relatively small, and patients tend to rely on local solutions for their healthcare. Sweden or Norway have much greater distances between cities and people, which is an obvious incentive for people to use online solutions."
"Currently, we have a runway for a great amount of time and we are careful to keep a balanced focus between growth and tech development. Most health tech and mental health apps have quite a narrow focus with a killer-feature approach. They provide only one methodology, one solution. But mental health is not a silo and there are no quick fixes. In the future, we aim to bring more comprehensive solutions to patients, to work together with providers of multiple solutions so that we approach mental health in its complexity."
