A Real Force in Virtual Therapy

A new Bay Area-based startup is making strides towards accessible and effective virtual therapy. Backed by industry professionals and researchers, including from Stanford, Curalens.ai is led by a group with diverse backgrounds to transform teletherapy.

In-person therapy sessions may be the norm, but as consistent meetings between patients and therapists become rare, the effectiveness of the treatment declines. With the time elapsed between sessions growing from weeks to months, virtual therapy becomes a tool for patients to stay covered and for therapists to stay updated. Teletherapy has the potential to serve over 3.5 million Americans, and we have the potential to serve millions of people around the world.

OUR TRANSFORMATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

Curalens’s technology is based on a virtual chatbot, an avatar programmed to recognize emotional indicators and respond therapeutically. Using the “bottom-up” approach and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the chatbot will ask the patient increasingly complex questions, from sleep and appetite to satisfaction and emotion. Consistent conversations with the chatbot encourage a routine of assessing one’s feelings and behavior, which is the…