Domy is concerned about the mental health of the youngest
The start-up Domy, based in Toulouse, has been developing an online platform of the same name since April, which references around a hundred mental health professionals. The goal? Refer the youngest to specialized psychologists, capable of providing support adapted to their needs.
Depression, eating disorders, bereavement, bullying, phobias, loneliness, addictions… do my help the youngest to heal their ailments. The Domy platform, established last April in Toulouse by the former child psychologist, Mariane Cam, is indeed specialized in the mental health of people under 30 years old. “In concrete terms, our objective is to guide children, adolescents, their parents, students and young adults to specialized psychologists the best able to meet their needs”, develops the founder of the start-up.
Helping and educating young people
The idea of creating a platform to support patients with specialized psychologists came to Mariane Cam while she was still working at the hospital in Agen, in Lot-et-Garonne. “I realized that there was a true problem around the orientation of the youngest towards mental health professionals. I met families with children in great distress, because they were following therapies that were not at all adapted to their problems,” explains Mariane Cam.
Moreover, according to the former child psychologist, it is obvious that the Covid-19 crisis and the measures taken to curb it have only accentuated the distress and loneliness of young people. As proof: “Emergency visits for suicidal acts increased sharply from 2020 according to Public Health France. It is therefore necessary to take them root problems and to do our best to help patients follow therapy easily and quickly, as soon as a psychological problem arises”, adds the founder of Domy.
How does Domy work?
Since its launch, the Domy platform has already guided about fifty patients to specialized psychologists. Submitting a support request is very simple. Once on the platform, the patient must first answer a questionnaire available online or by telephone with one of the three employees of the start-up, who are also mental health professionals.
“This step allows us to target the person’s needs, highlight their problems, identify their profile, define their budget and fill in their availability”, continues Mariane Cam. Subsequently, the Domy team explores its database, which contains around a hundred psychologists, in order to determine, within 48 hours of contact, which professional has the appropriate expertise to best meet the patient’s needs. “If none matches in our directory, we continue the search outside. Of course, we try to favor the psychologists who work with us. Corn our priority remains to help patients “, insists the founder of Domy.
A hundred referenced psychologists
The objective of the platform is to reach the bar of 150 referenced psychologists before the end of 2022. “We are not a directory. We make a real selection of professionalsbased on their experiences, their qualifications, their specialties, but also their personalities, through a very thorough questionnaire that I carried out myself”, continues Mariane Cam.
This method allows the platform to better understand the support offered by professionals. Thus, Domy directs, for example, children who find it difficult to move away from their parents to psychologists capable of giving them concrete tools to facilitate the separation, such as when bringing them to school. Or, from students suffering from loneliness to more attentive professionals, etc.
Psychological support at a lower cost
Consultations with mental health professionals can be carried out by telephone, for an amount of 30 euros, in video for 36 euros, in the office for 45 euros or directly at home for 49 euros. In addition, there is a 10% commission per appointment, which is paid to the platform. Corn these lower rates remain those adapted by professionals : up to 64 euros on average per session, according to a study carried out by Psychologue.net.
“We try to make care accessible to everyone. This is why we try toencourage professionals to carry out consultations at more affordable prices. However, we cannot force them to accept our rates, some of them (about ten) are a little more expensive. But most are part-time salaried psychologists, at the hospital for example. Domy represents additional income for them, so it is easier to adjust the amounts. Their situation also allows them to be available evenings, Wednesday afternoons or weekends “, develops Mariane Cam.
Ultimately, coaches, psychiatrists, sophrologists, etc., could be registered on the platform, “in order to offer the widest possible care offer”, concludes the former child psychologist.