Some innovation is in the how, not the what, says founder

As DiveThru has evolved from a journalling app to a bricks-and-mortar-based therapy provider, founder and CEO Sophie Gray has thought a lot about what innovation means.

"Something I've really learned as an entrepreneur and around innovating is that sometimes we don't need to innovate (the core service)," she said during the company showcase at Femtech Connect, a summit put on by Antigoni Studios on Sept. 21. "The thing we need to innovate is everything around it to make it easier for someone to access that."

To that end, DiveThru has introduced a reduced-rate program, removing some barriers that keep people from getting the care they need.

"Struggling with your mental health sucks, but accessing the care shouldn't," she said at the Life Sciences Week event. "(We are) really wanting to make it more accessible, not just from price point, but also from all of the pieces that go into someone accessing the care that they need."

The new program offers virtual sessions for $100 and in-person treatment for $150. Importantly, these can be direct-billed to insurance programs, removing a blocker for clients who don't have cash up front or need to save it for other things.

"In Alberta, the recommended rate is $235," Gray said. "That's a lot of money, and that prices out so many folks."

There are free options through the healthcare system and non-profits, and "those are absolutely essential," she said. But the wait times can be long, and it's not easy to find the right match, which is critical to success in mental health care.

Gray figured DiveThru could step into that price gap between free and $235-an-hour, while accommodating clients within a week and helping them find the right therapist through its app, saving time and frustration.

"I think a number of us in this room have probably tried to find a therapist, and it can be a little bit of a mess," she said.

DiveThru launched in 2019 as a psycho-education app with journalling components, but amid the rise of virtual-only services during the pandemic, Gray began to pivot to hybrid therapy delivery.

"My personal lived experience was that I stopped therapy during the lockdown periods of the pandemic, because I only wanted to be in person," she told Taproot in an interview earlier this month.

By 2023, she opened the first DiveThru studio just off Whyte Avenue. In 2024, expansion efforts got a $750,000 boost from the Edmonton Edge Fund.

DiveThru now has four studios in the Edmonton region, with in-real-life services in the works in Calgary. It also offers virtual services in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario.

"Virtual is still a really necessary part of the system," Gray said.

Femtech Connect attracted about 100 people to the Brighton Block to explore various aspects of women's health. In his address to the gathering, Mayor Andrew Knack invited attendees to make their voices heard as the city decides its next four-year budget.

Later in the day, a presentation from the Alberta Women's Health Foundation indicated that Alberta could gain $5.9 billion in economic impact from an improved focus on women's health. More important, investing in women's health would save lives. The foundation's Sharlene Rutherford and Lindsay Robertson both shared personal stories of their mothers receiving dismissive treatment by healthcare providers.

"I lost my mother far too early, in her early 60s," Robertson told attendees. "She didn't get to know my youngest … I sat in a doctor's office with her one day, and he said, 'Well, if we can't figure it out, we'll just get you a new set of lungs.' Just as if that was some easy, no-big-deal thing we could do on a Friday before the weekend."

Life Sciences Week continues until Sept. 25. After that comes Edmonton Startup Week, where Gray will host an event about building startups on Oct. 8 at DiveThru's central studio.