Presenter:
Brianna MacDonald, Founder of The Care Co.
Startup:
The Care Co teaches kids aged 5 to 12 mental health habits in the classroom and beyond.
Transcript
[00:00 – 3:29] Brianna
I’d like you to imagine a primary school class. This might be your child’s class or a child you know and there could be about 30 kids.
If it’s a classroom of 30 kids, we expect about 1 in 5 of those children to have already experienced a traumatic event.
We expect 1 in 7 of those kids to already or soon to be struggling with their mental health.
And on average, about 1 in 10 of those young people is disabled.
I’m sure you can imagine, in a classroom of 30 children, that’s a lot of need. And unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there.
We know that 1 in 3 adults struggles with their mental health. We’re losing about $5 trillion in the workplace and 1 in 5 sick days for the same reason. Depression, anxiety and substance abuse disorder are three of the world’s leading disabilities. And it’s expected that almost all people will face at least one significantly traumatic event in their lifetime.
The problem isn’t just our declining level of mental health and wellbeing. The problem is that we’re not learning the skills needed to manage these challenges and we simply don’t have enough supply to meet the need.
My name is Brianna and I’m the founder of The Care Co. I’m a Canadian First Nations woman studying a Masters in Psychology with Harvard. I’ve worked in the trauma-informed education space, am a two-time entrepreneur, and 20 years ago, I was a Care Co kid. Now a flourishing, healthy adult, I’m just one example of what can be achieved with early intervention. And I spend a lot of time looking for where the opportunities are.
Chances are you or someone you know is a parent or guardian and you’re probably pretty busy. While you may not feel like a mental health expert, you’ve got one silver lining. Chances are you send your child to school. If you’re an educator, you might feel plagued with questions like, “How do I teach mental health in the classroom?” Again, an opportunity. You’re teaching fundamental life skills every day. Psychologists are a fantastic, effective model, and while they’re hard to scale in their current form, the psychology community gives us an evidence-based best-practice way to work with kids.
And this brings us to The Care Co. The Care Co is an in-classroom software that teaches kids between the ages of 5 and 12 mental health habits. A self-paced learning tool, we offer easy lesson planning, agency, and a unique way to build mental health habits from day one. One of the features we’re super proud of include our ability-based, evidence-based model,support for school disability funding reports, and activities that are mapped to health subject teaching needs. So where do we go from here?
We’re beta testing our app with 5 schools and 1,500 students. Next we’re partnering with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance and positioning The Care Co in front of about 1,200 schools in September 2023, and officially launch in October. Our future plans include the psychology,
disability and social work communities, as well as an app for parents and guardians at home.
And we have one really audacious goal – “every child, every school.”
To get there, we offer subscriptions priced per student per month. Schools can choose a 6-month or 12-month licence. And considering the 2 billion kids worldwide, we’re just getting started. First targeting 1 million students, we’ll be grossing $60 million in annual recurring revenue if we reach that goal.
For those ready to see mental health skills taught in every school, I ask that you scan this QR code to view a product demo, visit our website, or join our product updates and investment opportunity newsletters.
And if you’re onboard with our North star, join our mission. We would love to have you along.
