sanoMind: A Mental Health App Where Therapists Shine

My guest this week is Nestor Velez, founder of sanoMInd--"A mental health wellness discovery platform connecting people to audio content created by licensed mental health professionals."

Nestor agreed to join me on the blog to discuss the story behind his business, which is also his personal story.

During our discussion, he also explains how he is partnering with therapists to get their message to the right clients. Learn how sanoMind is spreading healing, and join the movement. (sanoMind is a free service!)

View my video interview with Nestor, or read the transcript, below.

Ili: Hey there, Everyone! I have with me, today, Nestor Velez. He is the founder of the sanoMind app. The sanoMind app is (and I'm gonna read it over here, so I don't get it wrong) an app that connects people to audio content created by licensed mental health professionals.

Welcome, Nestor. It's a pleasure to have you.

Nestor: Yeah, it's great. It's great to be here. Thank you. I appreciate it

Ili: Yeah, thanks for joining me. Nestor and I connected on Instagram. He actually reached out to me, and we kind of figured out that we have this therapist love in common.

Nestor, please share a little bit about the story behind sanoMind.

Yeah, so I'll try to summarize it really quick, because it's a really long story. It started out with my experience with mental health issues of depression and anxiety.

So, growing up as a kid, you know, I had two parents--father and mother. Both parents gave me everything I wanted. But, my mom was like the man of the house and the woman in the house, you know. My dad was was very quiet, and he's just very relaxed and laid-back.

But, as far as I can remember, my mother had anger issues. I guess because she was verbally abused and physically abused by her mother. So, I guess, you know, that carried over to me. It was verbal abuse, no physical abuse, throughout my entire life. Ever since I was a young kid. 

And, when I was young, I just thought I was sad. I didn't know what depression or anxiety was. When I was a teenager, I didn't know what it was either. I didn't know anything about mental health, because schools didn't have any education around mental health.

I kept suffering, and I just thought: I'll battle through. I'll just get over myself. I'll be strong.

In my early twenties, I attempted suicide twice, because the relationship with me and my mom was very, very . . . I mean, it was really bad.

The Path to Healing

So, right there, I had a decision to make: D0 I try again, or should I change my life?  And, I wanted to live. I wanted to be happy and enjoy life. So, I made a decision to see a therapist--to go to therapy. This was in my early 20s; I was probably 22 at the time. And so, I started looking for a therapist.

I go online, and I come up to Psychology Today. I'm emailing therapists. I'm calling. A lot weren't reaching back out. And when they did reach back out, by email, or voicemail, or phone--it was the same thing: "I really don't take cases like yours." "I'm all booked up." Because, I'm in New York, and therapists in New York are always almost fully booked.

So, they couldn't see me, or they would refer me to somebody else. And, when they referred me to somebody else, I called them, and they gave me the same answer. So, that was really, really frustrating, especially with what I was going through.

And, it was hard to pick up therapist. I was reading what they specialized in and looking at their pictures and thinking: Oh, would I like this person, would I like that person? So, I finally gave up, and I said, "I'm just going to look for self-help online," because I heard people were doing self-help and motivation.

I came across a YouTube page with a licensed psychologist, with what had to be 30 hours of content. I'm talking videos on depression, anxiety, stress, etc. I would listen to it on my way to work, every day, and on my way back.

It took me about, three months, and I listened to everything. And everything she was doing I was trying to do in my life. I was really listening to it, and everything she said, I would really try to do in my life. And, after three to six months, to me, it saved my life. I was a different person. I had a different outlook on life.

And then, with the relationship with my mom--it's still rocky, like always, but I know how to deal with that now.

And, it saved my life.

The Start of sanoMInd

But, when I was looking for more content like it, because I was like "Wow, this is amazing. I want more stuff like this. Where can I find it?"

I was Googling, going on YouTube, and there really wasn't anything out there like it. And, if there was, it was hard to find, or it was very, very bad audio or video.

Ili: Nestor, first I just want to say, thank you. Thank you for sharing your personal story.

Then, as a therapist, I think to myself. "Oh, man! How is this possible that somebody who needs us--our help, can't get it from us.

But then also, it's such a great story about your spirit. The fact that you knew that you needed something, and that you found it. And then, that it's healing, that our work is healing, no matter how it's delivered (and it doesn't have to be in the therapy room).

That brings me to what you're doing for everyone, which is awesome.

Nestor: So, yeah, I got the idea after you know, I couldn't fight any more content. I thought, "I was listening to this, I wasn't watching video. Wouldn't it be great if there was a website, or an app, with all this mental health content created by licensed therapists, to help people that either can't afford therapy, are shying away from therapy and needed a little bit of advice, or are looking for a therapist and want a more personable experience to find a therapist--make the right choice.

But this was--this is a kind of the crazy part--this was about 12 years ago.

So, I just had an idea, but I thought, "I don't know how to build this. How would I start? How am I going to get therapists to contribute?"

So, I just kept working in my career. But, I started getting into tech companies and startups. And, when I started working at these companies, I said, "Wow. I think I can do this." And about three years ago, I started reaching out to therapists, telling them about my idea, and asking if they would be interested in contributing.

Almost all therapists loved the idea.

And, two years ago, I started working on it,  and I finally launched it in January.

So, it's going great.

Barriers to Therapist Participation On sanoMind

It's a little slower on the therapist side, because it's kind of like a new thing. The two big reasons I get for not getting much content from therapists are: 1) Time, and 2) they don't know how they should record, and what should they record on.

So, that was a learning process to me as well, because now I'm thinking I have to build in-app recording, so they can just log in, record in the app, and submit--ways to make it easier for them.

Right now, it's only available for people {sanoMind's mental health audience] to download and listen. The way it works [for therapists] is: you record the content on your end, either on voice recorder on your phone, or using an app like Zoom, or an online audio recorder, and then you email it to me, and I I upload it into the app.

Ili: As therapists, we're passionate about getting our information out there, but time is an issue.

What's the length of the average recording, or do you have a suggestion for that?

Nestor: On average, people are listening to six minutes of audio content. And, most pieces of content on the app right now are anywhere from three to ten minutes. So, I would say ten minutes, or five to ten minutes would be perfect.

Ili: Yeah, that's similar to video content. People typically watch about five minutes of video; it's what they are willing to commit at any one time.

Does it have to be exclusive to your app, or is it something that they can repurpose?

Nestor: No. They can repurpose it and put it on their website, or put it anywhere they'd like.

Ili: Fantastic! So, you guys, if you spend those five minutes, you're doing the content [for the app], but you can spread it all over the place. You can do a mini podcast, you can put it on your website. And, at the same time, sanoMind app is helping you reach people who really need your expertise.

Nestor: And, because I'm building this app, and I'm trying to build a company out of it, I'm constantly pushing. I'm sending out emails, I'm doing social media marketing, I'm letting people know that this is an app strictly for mental health. Come listen to this content, and learn more about the therapist that you're listening to.

Ili: Yeah, I love this, because if you end up having therapists from a variety of geographical areas, their potential clients find them on the app, and then it could easily lead to a phone call for someone [who'll be] sitting on the couch, in their therapy office.

So, what do you want to say to therapists who like what you're doing, in order to help them make the decision to contribute to sanoMind?

I've spoken to a lot of people that have listened to content on the app and have gone through the same things that I've went through, and--I don't want to say everybody, but I would say 99% of people I speak to have had the same experience as me trying to find a therapist. It's very frustrating, and I'm not sure if therapists understand how frustrating it is. And when I tell them, "Hey, would you be open to listening to content and then making a decision?", people love it.

It's like growing up, when you listened to radio; after listening to this person every day in the morning, you feel like you know the person.

It's the same thing listening to a therapist. You feel like you know that person. You want to make that connection with that person.

And, at first, I built this to help people. But as I started talking about therapists, they were telling me, "Wow. This could be great for us to find new clients." And I thought, "Oh! That is a great idea."

Yeah, so that's what I want to say. I know it's a new thing, but as we move into the future with Millennials and Gen Z, you know, they're on the phone. They're looking for everything on the phone.

So, we have to move a little bit to the future, and the way the culture is now. And, I think it's it's audio content, because everybody listens to audio now.

Ili: Yeah, yeah, I agree.

Benefits to therapists Who Participate On sanoMind

So, it is twofold. [With sanoMind,}:

1. you're sharing what you know with people who really need it--you're making a difference beyond your office, and
2. you're putting yourself out there, so that people can find you and decide if you're the right therapist for them (i.e., you're marketing).

So Nestor, thank you so much for your time today. I'm excited to learn about sanoMInd and happy to support it in any way that I can.

Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on.

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Learn more about contributing to sanoMind, and Nestor's movement, on sanomind.com. >>

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