You Can Flourish with You:Flourish

You:Flourish, conceived by Steven Haden (he/him) and the Envision:You team, made its debut in April. Haden likened the launch to a labor of love — a journey filled with challenges but ultimately resulting in something remarkable. Together, they’ve crafted a wellness platform for the LGBTQ+ community, prioritizing mental health and overall wellbeing.

The idea for You:Flourish came about in the early days of COVID. Haden and his team were among the first organizations to conduct formal research on how LGBTQ+ folks were doing during the pandemic. And big shocker…not well. 

Just like many others, they grappled with feelings of disconnection from support networks, navigating fear, and enduring isolation, loneliness, and despair. Envision:You reached out to the LGBTQ+ community in Colorado to understand their needs better. Survey responses highlighted a notable absence of accessible identity-specific wellness content, affirming resources, and mental health professionals, especially within the digital sphere. While dating and hookup apps cater to LGBTQ+ individuals, there’s a significant gap in platforms dedicated to wellness.

“The world doesn’t just need another wellness app; That’s a given. What it truly needs is an LGBTQ wellness tool dedicated to empowering our community to thrive. We firmly believe You:Flourish will fulfill that vital role,” expresses Haden.

The wellness platform strives to equip its users with the tools, knowledge, empowerment, and confidence to live authentically and confidently. The goal: to flourish. 

From 2020 to 2021, research was conducted, community members were met, and the outline for a wellness platform for the LGBTQ+ community was drawn. People want to be able to connect with others who share similar identities and lived experiences. They want to find wellness content that’s curated with their identity in mind, and they want to be able to find affirming health care or mental health professionals to lead them on whatever their journey looks like. 

Haden shared the story of a Black, transgender woman he talked with a few years ago about You:Flourish. “She lives in Alabama; she lives in a small town, and she lives with depression. She doesn’t have much of a community. She doesn’t have access to affirming healthcare or mental health services, and she feels very alone. So the idea that she could join the You:Flourish community and find other people who share her identities or experience similar things in their lives as she does is absolutely incredible.” Haden reports that she claims, “I’m no longer alone. I’m connecting with people who share my lived experience and identity, and incredible things happen when we can find community, even if it’s community in a digital space.”

Working with one of the few women-owned software development companies, Denver’s AppIt Ventures, the team was able to imagine how to use technology for good to create an ideal user experience. However, raising capital for the project was difficult as the macroeconomic environment in the U.S. was under incredible pressure due to COVID, foreign wars, and supply chain challenges. 

According to StartOut’s 2023 State of LGBTQ Entrepreneurship Report, out of 142,000 founders and 95,000 high-growth companies across the United States between 2000 and 2022, they discovered that only 0.5% of the $2.1 trillion in startup funding was raised by LGBTQ+ founders, despite the growing size of the LGBTQ+ community and its spending power. According to Haden, “We find ourselves in an ecosystem where there’s a pressing need for impactful solutions, yet the availability of financial capital to support LGBTQ+ founded ventures remains insufficient.”

In pursuit of this goal, Haden extends his gratitude to the individuals and organizations that contributed to the funding of You:Flourish. Their support has been instrumental in bringing this transformative, life-saving platform to the market.

Using clinically validated research tools and assessments, You:Flourish will track the user’s overall mental wellbeing to monitor progress. There is an absence of an LGBTQ-tailored product that brings together features like a directory, wellness hub, and peer support. Haden emphasized the significance of peer support within You:Flourish, noting, “Sometimes it’s about sharing what worked for me with a friend who might be struggling, saying, ‘Hey, this helped me; maybe it could help you too.’ That exchange of information can be incredibly impactful.” Through a partnership with Wisdom, users can access LGBTQ+-affirming and moderated support groups.

“Not everyone needs a therapist, right? You might be able to access wellness content on You:Flourish or connect with another person who shares your experience to start providing mutual aid. That might resolve some of the underlying issues you’re trying to address. For people who have a greater or more significant mental health concern, a professional makes sense. You’ll be able to find that person as well on You:Flourish.” 

To underscore their dedication to equity and accessibility, You:Flourish will be offered free of charge for the initial year. Currently available in Colorado, the team will gather feedback to enhance the platform and strive to introduce it nationwide by 2025. They have developed something distinctive and essential, providing a fresh approach to addressing the ongoing mental health challenges facing LGBTQ individuals. The team eagerly anticipates the responses and experiences of their users.

To access the platform, go to youflourish.app.