☁️🍄 Issue No. 039

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Howdy, y’all. Welcome back to your weekly dose of mental health and psychedelic updates.

QUICK HITS

• Crushed. Founders are opening up about mental health problems.

• All by myself. A survey of over 50K people found that nearly 40% cited social disconnection and lack of belonging as a priority concern.

• Lightbulb moment. Eureka becomes California’s sixth city to decriminalize psychedelics.

• Stretch your joints. New study finds that yoga x cannabis can lead to improvements in mental health and experiences of mysticality.

• Raising the bar. Mindful Philanthropy challenged all funders to increase the total philanthropic investment in mental health and well-being by 5x to $35B annually.

NEWS & TRENDS

1) Mixed reality meets mental health

Rumor has it: Apple’s mixed reality headset could be the next big thing in mental health tech. According to The Information, employees have discussed using the Vision Pro as a diagnostic tool that can analyze a wide array of biometrics to infer cognitive states, ranging from depression and anxiety to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard whispers of the Vision Pro’s mental health capabilities. Back in June, Sterling Crispin, an Apple neurotech prototyping researcher, emphasized just how much of his work involved “detecting the mental state of users… when they were in immersive experiences.” That includes eye tracking, electrical activity in the brain, and even skin conductance. And in true Apple fashion, they’ve got all the patents to show for it.

→ Reread Issue No. 021: An Apple A Day

2) Tricks are for kids

Meta is in the mental health dog house. On Tuesday of last week, 33 state attorneys general joined together to file a lawsuit against the tech company for its role in damaging youth mental health. Nine other states are also filing similar lawsuits. In other words, more than 80% of US states are taking legislative action against the social media giant.

Their chief complaint? That Meta is deliberately hurting the mental health of children. The lawsuit claims that the company unlawfully misled the public about the harms of its products (namely Facebook and Instagram) and knowingly employed manipulative platform features and incentives. The company has “profoundly altered the psychological and social realities of a generation of young Americans,” they assert. Pretty damning accusations. Your move, Meta.

→ Read more

DEALS & DEBUTS

🤲🏻 Pair Team, a community-based care provider for Medicaid patients, raised $9M in Series A funding in a round led by NEXT VENTURES. The funding will be used to further its mission of connecting vulnerable patients to physical, mental, and social services.
→ source

💭 Thoughtful, a social connection app co-founded by baseball player Alex Rodriguez, raised $7M in a seed round led by VCP Ventures.
→ source

🌍 Innerworld, a peer-to-peer mental health metaverse platform, received $2M from the National Institute of Mental Health, and a $300K matching grant from LaunchTN, to test the effects of “Cognitive Behavioral Immersion” (CBI) on depression.
→ source

🧠 Sens.ai, a neurofeedback and brain-training tech developer, launched its 5-in-1 neurofeedback system, featuring a headset and gamified app experience, to power at-home brain training and cognitive performance.
→ source

👍 Likeminded, a Berlin-based B2B digital mental health platform, added another €1.5 ($1.6M) to its August seed funding round of €5.9M ($6.2M).
→ source

👠 Hugo Boss, a luxury fashion company, partnered with UK fragrance retailer The Perfume Shop and men’s suicide prevention charity ANDYSMANCLUB on the ‘Don’t Bottle it Up campaign,” to eliminate stigma around men’s health.
→ source

🔬 Teva, a biopharmaceutical company, is funding $75K to clinics across CA, FL, and NJ as part of its $2M commitment for Community Routes: Access to Mental Health Care program to help advance healthcare access for uninsured patients seeking treatment for anxiety and depression.
→ source

WHAT I’M READING

• Going multigenerational. When it comes to conversations around workplace mental health, there’s often a glaring question that’s often brushed over: How do you thoughtfully serve different generations, who all have very different ideas of what “mental health support” actually means?→ Harvard Business Review

• Sky high. An off-duty pilot tried mushrooms for the first time, disrupted a flight, and made national news. The incident underlines the importance of psychedelic harm education and awareness. → Ecstatic Integration

‘Til next Sunday,

-Mel