Bravely Connect launched this Christmas Eve. Our CEO Melissa shares the personal journey behind our mission and how it led to creating tools for therapists. Read about our vision for the future of mental healthcare.
When we launched Bravely Connect on Christmas Eve in 2023, it marked a pivotal moment in our quest to supercharge mental healthcare by equipping professionals with intuitive, powerful tools that amplify their impact and expertise.
But the story of Bravely began much earlier. After a two-decade-long struggle with my own mental health, Rackley Nolan, Jay Meistrich and I embarked on this mission that was born out of a deep conviction and personal understanding of the challenges faced by both individuals and the people who help them.
The Start of an Idea
Despite being a successful entrepreneur by all accounts, I found myself in Edinburgh one gloomy winter, grappling with trauma, depression, anxiety and the overwhelming life challenges that had become impossible to manage.
This personal struggle sparked the initial concept for Bravely: an app designed to help people understand and manage their mental health using evidence-based methods. We poured our hearts into this vision, eventually launching Bravely Home - "Your Mental Health Home." But as we stood at this milestone, a new question emerged: "What now?"
From Personal Need to Professional Solutions
As we dove deeper into the mental health landscape, speaking with over 300 therapists worldwide, we uncovered another crucial need. While we initially focused on creating tools for individuals, we realised that to truly make a difference, we needed to support the professionals at the forefront of mental healthcare.
This insight led to the development of Bravely Connect, a platform designed to streamline the business side of therapy practices. We recognised that by empowering therapists and clinics with efficient tools, we could help enhance the quality of care for their clients.
The Pillars of Bravely Connect
We built Bravely Connect on three core principles:
Efficiency: Simplifying administrative tasks to maximise time for client care.
Ethics & Privacy: Going above and beyond to adhere to the highest level of ethical safety and privacy.
Beautiful Design: Creating a platform that's not just useful, but a joy to use.
Our development process was collaborative and iterative, engaging hundreds of therapists to understand their unique challenges and needs.
The Road Ahead
The launch of Bravely Connect is just the beginning. We're committed to creating an ecosystem where therapists can optimise their practices and clients can actively participate in their mental health journey.
As mental health professionals, your insights are invaluable! We invite you to try Bravely Connect and share your thoughts — we’re always hungry for ways to get better. Your feedback will shape the future of our platform and, we hope, the landscape of mental healthcare delivery.
Thank you for being part of this journey. With your support and collaboration, we're confident that Bravely can make a significant positive impact on the mental health landscape.
Sincerely,
Melissa Ng
CEO @ bravely.io
