Mainstream Mental Health
What an LLBean campaign has to teach us about the future of mental health in America
Have you avoided the message that May is Mental Health Awareness month? Probably not, since it’s become the latest marketing shtick.
Take my favorite example, LL Bean.
On April 28th, the company shared a blog post that they were doubling down on a campaign they began last year. For the entire month of May, the company is pausing their social media posts and providing tips and tools to encourage people to get outside to support their mental wellbeing.
“Our purpose — to inspire and enable people to experience the restorative power of being outside — is important year-round, but especially during Mental Health Awareness Month in May. This year, we are inviting all who can to take a break from screens and prioritize time outside, as research shows that being in nature can lower stress, increase self-esteem, reduce anxiety and improve mood.
For the second year, L.L.Bean is leading the way by going “off the grid” for Mental Health Awareness Month, pausing all social media channels and heading outside. Beginning on May 1, we will wipe our social media clean but leave behind resources, tips and tools to help people explore the outdoors in support of their mental wellbeing.”
The nature-nervous system connection is not new to me. I just arrived in Northwest Montana this past weekend to spend the next 15 weeks adventuring. While I’m not entirely disconnected, I’ve intentionally left the city to remove myself from the grit and grind that has consumed most of my last 15 years. There’s something that happens, neurologically, when we see trees and hear chirping birds and feel the cool lake water on our skin. That’s what I’m here for.
LL Bean also launched a “Feel-Good” Challenge on Strava that attracted nearly 97,000 participants who have, as of today, May 22nd, clocked 1.3 million hours of outdoor activities. And since the participants shattered the 500,000 hour goal, the company donated $50,000 to Mental Health America.
But was it a good business decision?
It’s certainly reintroduced LLBean into the social media conversation. Their 2023 announcement has generated over 8.5 million impressions despite having just 486,000 followers.
Over the coming months, I’ll share some investment theses about where I think consumer venture capital investment dollars are likely to flow in the near future. One of these areas is what I describe as “mainstream mental health.” I think of this as being the next iteration of lighter-touch, self-study, perhaps subscription-based services that are beyond the scope of Calm or Headspace, but less regulated than 1:1 teletherapy.
If you’ve tried to find a therapist in the last three years, you know how difficult it has been to find anyone taking on new clients, hence the rise of startups providing online, HIPAA-compliant options with ostensibly better matching, scheduling, payments and insurance facilitation. When Andreesen Horowitz published their Marketplace 100 list in March, mental health topped the list of fastest growing categories. Headway came in at 56, Sondermind at 80, Alma at 82, and Path Mental Health at 90. Collectively, these 4 companies have raised over $600 million in funding.
Telehealth visits for mental health jumped to 40% during the first phase of the pandemic and have remained above 30% in the years that have followed. This is fundamentally different than all other types of outpatient services (think: the pediatrician, the allergist, the spine specialist) which peaked around 11% mid-2020 but fell to 5% by mid-2021. And in many ways, this makes sense. Driving across town (and back) to see your therapist is for most people, a complete waste of time. It’s comforting to drink tea and wrap up in a blanket with a box of tissues nearby while talking to your therapist over videochat.
It would be easy to assume that the pandemic spiked demand for services due to well, situational realities. But what I found interesting as I looked into CDC survey data that polled Americans over 18 for symptoms of anxiety disorders in the previous 7-14 days, is that the trend line began a 12-point descent when the Pfizer vaccine was announced and approved by the FDA in December 2020. But after bottoming out around 25% of adults during the summer of 2021, the levels have been on the rise again.
Maybe it’s economic woes from the inflationary environment we’re all plugging through. Regardless, 24% of men and 32% of women were not feeling great as of March 2023. And that’s just a sample of people who were willing to confess their plight.
In 2021, 12.1% of men and 21.4% of women self-reported that they had received mental health treatment or counseling in the past year. This means that there’s a persistent gap between self-reported need and seeking services.
A November 2022 Consumer Preferences Report by Latana indicated that 62% of Gen-Z feels that mental health and personal well-being is “very important” to their everyday life.
Social awareness and acceptance for mental health issues is at an all-time high. Gen-Z is ushering in a new era of prioritizing psychological wellness. But the Association of American Medical Colleges reported last year that we are short between some 14,280 and 31,109 mental health professionals. More than half of the counties in this country lack the presence of a single psychiatrist according to 2018 data from the University of Michigan School of Public Health Behavioral Health Workforce Research Center.
It’s rough out there.
Do you follow Nicole LePera on social media? With 6.7 million Instagram followers and over 9 million YouTube views, she is getting her message to the masses. People with kids have likely encountered Becky Kennedy, clinical psychologist and parenting guru with 1.8 million Instagram followers. The TikTok self-help movement is here and it’s never been easier for standout mental health talent to build large, engaged audiences. Massive social reach spawns book deals, paid content, and branded communities.
And this, I posit, is precisely the type of solution that’s filling the gap right now. Self-study content that provides short-term respite for life’s heavy problems. Dr. LaPera posts multiple times a day, even on weekends. Help is never far off. This is why I suspect that the next wave of mental health investment and innovation will be a bridge for therapy-naive individuals for taking affordable action steps. I’ll be curious about what that might look like. One thing is for certain, if storied American retailers are introducing mental health into marketing conversations, expect the continued proliferation of businesses and brands that are catering to self-care.