Sanitas Health Offers Culturally-Relevant Mental Healthcare for Communities of Color
Through peer interaction, personal coaching, and data collection, the Baltimore-based digital platform seeks to address the lack of therapists targeted to BIPOC populations — with the goal of catching those in need before they are in crisis.
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Challenge
For years, there has been a scarcity of psychiatrists and psychologists in the United States. The American Academy of Medical Colleges (AAMC) claims that 150 million Americans live in “federally designated mental health professional shortage areas.” By 2028, this deficit is estimated to widen by another 30% but the need for their services won’t. Notoriously left out when considering how to deal with this impending crisis are communities of color.
Without designated therapeutic support, BIPOC populations are faced with a few glaring issues. First there is the revolving door at emergency rooms. Many communities of color — including many in the Medicaid population — turn to the ER for mental healthcare. The ER often feels like the last, best choice, the only open door in a closed-off healthcare system. But ER staff are generally unequipped to handle long-term mental health challenges, so they send these patients home to wait for an appointment with a therapist. Patients may wait up to six months for a visit with a specialist, creating anxiousness and bounceback visits to the ER. Finally, once an appointment is secured, not enough culturally-experienced therapists and support groups exist to appropriately address the mental health issues this overlooked community struggles with, leading to a sense of isolation and hopelessness.
To top it off, there is a great deal of stigma people of color face within their own communities, making it difficult to manage and get the mental health help they need. While there are many apps on the market focused on mental healthcare, few if any are geared specifically to minorities, and they do not promote peer interaction within those populations to help overcome feelings of loneliness. Many young people of color are at risk of falling through the cracks, leaving institutions committed to supporting the wellbeing of this fragile group desperate for an answer.
How to create an easily accessible, inclusive, and culturally-relevant solution that provides institutions with quality mental health resources to offer those stuck in the public system? What are the ways to ensure the end user truly benefits by addressing them in ways that make them feel safe, heard, and understood?
The founders of Sanitas Health pulled from their own personal experience and rallied to the cause.
Origin Story
Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Rodney Bell understands mental healthcare within communities of color. His fiancé’s twin daughters are bipolar and struggle with receiving the targeted care they need. The former co-founder of another StartUp Health company, Butterflly Health — a telehealth platform supporting women and vulnerable populations — noted that the two 20-somethings went to the ER when in crisis. Although they had private insurance, the care was culturally lacking, and the wait for an appointment was long, creating a void and a feeling of isolation that was difficult to manage, leading back to the ER once again. Bell knew from experience that most ER patients are on public insurance like Medicaid, and many were people of color. If his family was struggling, and he had specific mental health experience, what kind of care were these communities getting?
Bell has surveyed the macro challenge and concluded that what most people need is support from those who understand what they are going through. Within communities of color, there are very few therapists who are part of the BIPOC population and even fewer with cultural experience. There is also a lack of safe spaces where a person can receive peer support. What people need is a “village,” focused on group therapy, coaching, and getting help before they are in crisis. What better way to do that than through telehealth?
Turning attention to the Medicaid community, Bell tapped into his digital health expertise and sought a solution for adults. He and his partners applied to Techstars for funding and resources to expand this vision of a telehealth platform that was peer-focused and offered coaching and therapy matching when necessary. He applied to programs in Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, and Baltimore.
Once word got out in Baltimore that Sanitas was creating an inclusive digital mental health platform that focused on communities of color and that the goal was to work with Medicaid, doors began to open. The Boys & Girls Club of Metropolitan Baltimore approached him, clamoring for support for their youth. Crime in Baltimore is unique, and kids are exposed to it at a very young age, causing serious trauma to the city’s young people that puts them at immense mental and emotional risk.
Bell’s intention was to spend three months in Baltimore and then return to Los Angeles to take the next step with the platform. The city opened to them, however, and Sanitas received extraordinary support from the State of Maryland, Maryland Commerce Department, and more to bring their vision to life. What started out as a three-month fact-finding mission turned into a base of operations. Baltimore is perfectly situated for the platform that requires cultural training for any social workers, coaches, or others who interface with the Sanitas community; and Sanitas is committed to hiring a diverse staff that is both BIPOC and has a living understanding of the populations they serve.
With this focus in mind, Sanitas distinguishes itself from other mental health apps that seem to focus on one of three things: therapy matching, tech-based coaching, and peer groups. The Sanitas platform provides all three with a specific expertise in targeting communities of color and the underserved.
Under the Hood
Sanitas Health is a subscription based, B2B2C platform. Organizations (hospital systems, university healthcare systems, community organizations, etc.) pay a negotiated monthly fee to Sanitas and provide the platform for free to their client/patient population. When an organization identifies a person in need, they set them up on for onboarding to Sanitas’ platform. During onboarding, patients take standardized assessment tests:
The PHQ-9, which is used to screen, diagnose, monitor, and measure the severity of depression.
The GAD-7, which measures the severity of the four most common anxiety disorders: generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social phobia, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) screening, used to look for common childhood traumas.
The scores from all three are combined to determine a baseline, which is then run through an algorithm. They use the subsequent scoring matrix to recommend which group or groups the patient should join. From there, the patient interfaces across three stages.
In Stage 1, patients are teamed with social worker-moderated peer groups composed of other individuals experiencing the same issue to create a sense of community. If it is determined that the user needs a higher level of care, they are escalated to Stage 2.
Stage 2 involves certified coaches available 24/7/365 via Zoom or text — in other words, one-on-one support.
If a therapist is required, Stage 3 is initiated for therapist matching and connection.
In general, roughly 21% of those on the platform have taken advantage of Stage 3, proving that peer engagement and coaching have been effective.
Every conversation conducted on the platform is stored in a database, fed through a natural language processing engine to determine if there are markers and indicators of stress and depression. By feeding this information through the database, the algorithm will learn triggers, key words, and markers, helping it become more preventative over time. Sanitas will then catch patients before they are in crisis and will also have a huge reservoir of data that can inform research and caregivers to make the support they give even more impactful.
Our Take
BIPOC communities are under-represented in both the general and mental healthcare systems. Sanitas Health seeks to change that. The goal within the next six months is to increase platform usage by working within the City of Baltimore and elsewhere. With the proper support, the company believes they will help 10,000–20,000 young people in the city alone.
By providing culturally-sensitive and knowledgeable coaching and peer groups, Sanitas seeks to end the isolation that comes from dealing with depression, anxiety, and feelings of hopelessness that often go unspoken. Going to therapy is not the norm nor is it comfortable. Sanitas offers a safe space to share personal issues, seek assistance in times of crisis, and simply find a shoulder to lean on with peers who can truly relate.
By launching in Baltimore, Sanitas is able to tackle deep community needs from day one and find opportunities for early impact. Sanitas is working with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore, Thread, YMCA of Central Maryland, and the Enoch Pratt Free Library to offer more meaningful mental and emotional resources to the young people of color they service and to make them feel truly seen, heard, and valued.
Rodney Bell and the Sanitas team have the experience, passion, and go-to-market strategy to make a meaningful impact on mental health within BIPOC communities. We’re proud to support them and look forward to seeing how they transform health in the years to come.
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Published: Jul 27, 2023