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Name: Talktala
Quick Pitch: Talktala is an online platform for group therapy.
Genius Idea: Targeting a support-group demographic rather than diagnosed therapy veterans.
The online support group is almost as old as the Internet. It easily overcomes location, limited budgets and desire for anonymity. Online therapy arrived a bit later, with studies as early as 2009 supporting the theory that an online chat with a psychotherapist could be successful at helping people with depression.
Now Talktala, a startup that launched Tuesday, aims to combine the best of both approaches to online mental health support. The company offers group sessions led by a certified therapist.
The site's group topics are intended to target people facing common life challenges rather than those who are already diagnosed with mental illness. Group offerings in the beta version, for instance, include "I just lost someone" and "my partner doesn't listen to me." Members participate in therapist-moderated sessions through video, audio or chat, depending on what they are comfortable with.
"[Current online therapy sites] only address people who know what they have and are diagnosed," Talktala co-founder Oren Frank says. "They don't approach all those people who say, 'I don't know if I need therapy, but I could certainly talk to someone.'"
Talkata verifies each therapist's license and malpractice insurance before allowing them to offer sessions on the site. So far, it has approved about 50 of them.
Serving customers in a group allows the site to charge less than other platforms charge for one-to-one sessions. Therapists are free to set their own rates, but Frank says most classes will cost $9.99 for a 45-, 60- or 90-minute session. Talktala takes a 25% cut of session fees. It also allows therapists to conduct one-on-one sessions with group members for a higher hourly rate, of which it takes a 10% cut.
Generally, offline therapy progresses from one-on-one sessions to group sessions, not the other way around. While Talkata is not targeting people with serious illnesses, it's bound to raise some questions over this flip-flop method.
"Doing online therapy the same way you do offline therapy won't work," Frank says. "You have to create a new product."
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Kycstudio
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.
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