Our mission is to make mental health care accessible for everyone
Letter from the CEO
I became a psychiatrist because I like to help people, and I created Youper for the same reason.
During my career as a psychiatrist, I talked to more than three thousand patients. The most common thing I heard was that it took them years of suffering in silence before they could get the help they needed.
Everyone faces emotional challenges in life, but treatment can help — the real problem is the series of barriers we need to overcome in order to access that treatment.
Seeing a mental health professional can be intimidating and expensive, and those two issues hold many people back. After years of listening to my patients’ experiences, I decided to go deeper into understanding the barriers preventing people from getting the mental health care they deserve.
I discovered that a shortage of mental health providers and an increasing demand combined to drive costs up without increasing access. And despite an explosion of telehealth services and mental health apps, most people still struggle to find high-quality, affordable care.
It was clear that we needed a new approach to solving this crisis.
The challenge was finding a way to use technology to support more patients and augment mental health providers — to reduce costs and make mental health care truly accessible.
I believe that applying artificial intelligence is our opportunity to truly disrupt mental healthcare with safe and effective solutions to support patients wherever and wherever they need it while expanding the capabilities of the mental health workforce.
Mental health experts, technologists, and business leaders drive the strategy behind Youper
Jose Hamilton, MD
Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder
Jose Hamilton is a psychiatrist, author, and entrepreneur on a mission to empower people to take care of their minds.
Diego Dotta Couto
Chief Product Officer & Co-founder
Diego is a mix of designer and behavioral scientist, passionate about understanding people and creating unique experiences.
Thiago Marafon
Chief Technology Officer & Co-founder
Thiago is a computer scientist that cares most about leading teams to use technology to solve complex problems.
Chia-Hua Chien
Investor & Advisor
Chi-Hua is co-founder and managing partner of Goodwater Capital, a VC firm that invested in over 70 consumer tech companies around the world.
Alex Bargar
Advisor
Alex is a co-founder and COO at Juno Medical with extensive experience building digital health companies and scaling clinical ops telehealth infrastructure.
Edward Suh
Advisor
Ed is the founder and managing partner of Alpine Ventures, a consumer tech VC firm. He earned an MS and BS in Computer Science/Artificial Intelligence from Stanford University.
We work with trusted organizations
We’re guided by three core values
We do everything with purpose
From setting our mission to day-to-day tasks, we keep a clear connection to our purpose to make mental health care accessible for everyone.
We strive to be our best selves
It takes hard work to fulfill our mission. That’s why we go to incredible lengths to bring great people to our team who are always striving to improve and be their best selves.
We are radically open-minded
Amazing people can only accomplish amazing things if they are able to be radically open-minded, listen to others, and collaborate.
Driven by our value to be radically open-minded, we’re dedicated to increasing the diversity of genders, cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds at Youper. But while representation is a crucial first step, diversity alone doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone feels welcomed or valued.
In addition to intentionally hiring a more diverse workforce, we’re committed to ensuring that everyone has equitable access to the same opportunities to grow and develop, regardless of their identity or background. This includes being compensated fairly and equally for performing their job.
At Youper, we believe that people should be celebrated for their differences — after all, our differences are what enable us to view things from various perspectives and solve problems that others may not even see. To encourage people to contribute their unique ideas, experiences, and practices to our mission, we ensure that the inclusion we espouse is integrated across the entire workforce.
Our culture of belonging is designed to allow our employees to thrive simply by being who they are every day. To that end, we lead with respect and appreciation of every individual, in everything we do, to foster both a healthy workplace and an environment of creativity and innovation.
