Mindyra, Darien, CT
This summer, I worked as an intern at a startup health tech company called Mindyra. I applied for the role despite the description being somewhat outside my comfort zone, because I was inspired by the goals of the company and wanted to play a part in their mission, and I am glad I did. Mindyra uses technology to combat the current U.S. mental health crisis and mental health professional shortage with the aim of bringing mental healthcare up to the standard of physical healthcare. Behavioral health treatment currently takes an infinite number of forms, and professionals often do not use measurement-based care but rather track patient progress using only their personal records. Not only does this prevent a continuum of care should a patient seek treatment elsewhere, it also makes it impossible for mental health data to be collected on a larger scale and contribute to research. Mindyra introduces digital assessments that screen for a much broader range of disorders and wellness beyond the typical assessments for depression and anxiety, and uses this aggregate data for research. The technology is being used across several spaces, including assisting inpatient psychiatric facilities with assessing and tracking patients, and even in the employee wellness space using an overall employee wellness assessment.
While my role was entitled “Customer Success Officer,” the small nature of the company allowed me to gain exposure to a wide variety of projects but still focus my efforts on the research aspect that I was most interested in. I was able to assist with the creation of a white paper using data comparing Mindyra’s diagnostic tests to typical PHQ-9 and GAD-7 (depression and anxiety screens) by doing literature reviews, creating charts, interpreting data, and writing the introduction. Unlike research labs which may take years to complete research and publish a paper, the process of using existing aggregate data and interpreting it was a fulfilling experience within a much shorter time frame. The startup nature of the company also allowed me to learn about the role of business in healthcare as a whole, as I was able to connect with the software developers, the revenue chief, and other important roles that I would not pursue for myself but wanted to understand. I also was assigned to research and present a thorough overview of Mindyra’s competitors, which helped me to understand the market, as well as contributing my insight as a college student for a future direct-to-consumer model. My other tasks included learning to navigate the platforms and hosting tech-support sessions for psychiatric facility clinicians, doing voiceovers for several marketing videos, and writing 2-3 blogs a week about topics like the importance of mental health support in the workplace given our current atmosphere.
Overall, I’ve gained key experience navigating a business atmosphere, communicating confidently with my superiors, and presenting information. I also now know that I enjoy research and statistics on a larger scale and will keep this in mind as I continue to explore future careers.