Around 12 per cent of Pakistanis suffer from a mental health disorder, according to the World Health Organisation. That is over 24 million people!

And these are conservative estimates. To treat these people, we have an estimated 1,500 psychologists and psychiatrists in total, of which most are beyond the reach of even the upper middle class people.

Per session cost usually upwards of Rs2,000, plus the commute, adds to quite a hefty monthly bill, making treatment quite inaccessible for most of us. However, one startup is now trying to change that.

ReliveNow from Karachi wants to make psychological counseling/therapy accessible and convenient by providing an online directory and appointments with therapists, as well as remote sessions.

How it works? Go to the website, look for the counselors and therapists, along with their education, experience and fee, register with contact and other details including the preferred psychologist, suitable day and time, and a pre-evaluation. The team will get back to you and confirm a time slot, send an invoice that should be paid beforehand and then on the day of the session, finally give the online login credentials. As of now, payments are made through online transfers but the startup is trying to integrate online channels such as EasyPaisa.

Currently, ReliveNow only has psychologists on the panel, who decide their charges and timings, but have to go through a proper recruitment and vetting process in order to be listed on the website. The startup has also shied away from working with psychiatrists, since that comes with the additional responsibility of medication, which it doesn’t want to get into yet.

The tech is still basic but according to the Chief Executive Officer Amna Asif, an upgraded version will be live in less than a month, which would let users see counselor’s available hours and a Zoom plugin for video sessions.

ReliveNow is a brainchild of Asif, who was struggling to find the right therapist when she suffered from anxiety and clinical depression after finishing her undergraduate.

“Afterwards, I took up a job and MBA, where I pitched this idea in a course and then randomly sent it to the Nest I/O who surprisingly called me. Jehan Ara (the incubator’s founder) convinced me to take this up full-time and matched my salary for some time even to get me to just focus on the startup,” she recalls.

ReliveNow earns its revenue through commission charged on the counselor’s fee but the chief wants to try out a subscription model soon. As for investment, Amna initially put in her own money but since then has gotten some support from a $5,000 grant and just recently a $10,000 prize money after winning a tech competition. The money will be going towards hiring new staff, tech upgradation and marketing.

Within the local tech startups, ReliveNow is not exactly the only one in this space. Others working in health, especially booking portals like Marham.pk, have a decent number of therapists listed and are offering more or less similar services, with varying levels of tech sophistication.

In fact, they have fewer psychologists on board than at least the two biggest doctor booking/consultation portals. Why is that? “Getting more listings is not an issue but we want to keep a balance between our supply and demand. Initially, we started with six psychologists and when gained more customers, brought in 15 more. Now as ReliveNow scales further, we are on boarding 10 more,” she explains.

“Mental health is one of the many areas they work in while it is our sole focus, thus making us better suited in this niche.” It is actually the traditional sector, largely dominated by the non-governmental organisations or the emergency help lines lately, which have surfaced only recently, where she sees potential competition.

However, in a society where mental health is seen as a taboo, more players entering the market is actually a positive development. Whatever helps destigmatise and make mental health treatment accessible should be welcome!

Globally, online therapy startups have been successfully run by BetterHelp - a Bay Area startup that was acquired for $4.5 million in 2015 by Teladoc, a NYSE-listed company with a market cap of $4.61 billion - and TalkSpace, another US company with over $170m in funding.

ReliveNow is also active in terms of outreach and stays involved in organising awareness workshops. Might not sound like how a tech startup should work, but there is good reason behind it. “This work requires a personalised touch and many people need to see who is behind the website so all these campaigns actually have a very positive impact on our sales,” she explains.

With per session fee ranging from Rs1,200-5,200 with average upwards of Rs2,500, ReliveNow is pricey, even if it cuts down the commutation cost. How can that change?

“We have only a handful of universities offering degrees in psychology so the supply is very limited, but now more and more are setting up these departments which should help make therapy more affordable, at least in the long run,” Amna says.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2019