MIT Solve

Solution Overview & Team Lead Details

Our Organization

black girls breathing®

What is the name of your solution?

Providing Accessible Mental Health Care

Provide a one-line summary of your solution.

black girls breathing® is using breathwork, community, and data to address health inequities experienced by women of color.

What specific problem are you solving?

Black women over-index on health ailments and challenges such as fatalities related to stroke, breast cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer and heart disease and experience depression and anxiety 30 - 50% more than white women that will most likely go untreated. All of the most prevalent health challenges they experience have been scientifically linked back to chronic stress. We teach our community to use breathwork as a preventative methodology to decrease stress and anxiety. To date, 94% of participants stated their mental health improved with participation in our work. 92% stated that they preferred sessions made specifically for them and the issues that impact their mental health vs. sessions for all women or the general public. 86% cited the ability to incorporate techniques learned in our session in their day-to-day routines to boost overall wellness.

90% of our participants (569 respondents) stated they had health insurance, whether through their employer, marketplace insurance or Medicare. However, only 28% of them stated they had consistent access to mental health care services outside of black girls breathing, providing our work a crucial and critical real-time resource.

In addition, there is historical lack of representation through data and research has impacted access to overall health care (clinical trial participation, preventive methodologies research, etc).

What is your solution?

Along with providing a space for Black women to learn breathing techniques they incorporated in their daily life to manage their mental health and receive counsel from a mental health therapist (our community therapist who joins our sessions), we’ve been collecting data on this demographic since inception.

We currently host two virtual breathwork sessions per month with our community therapist that average 350-450 sign-ups per session with 80% engagement rates (participating live or via the recording).

Our solution is to use breathwork, culturally relevant resources and community via an app to provide real-time support to reduce stress and anxiety. Moving from providing this solution via Zoom, our website (meditation library) and newsletter, offer these resources via an app in order to provide these solutions in real time.

We've also used our engage community to collect data on various subjects (educating the importance of data and research and creating the behavior of consistent community intaking through monthly surveying. We recently launched the bgb inner circle (a sample of 100 community members interested in providing data and insights for extra cash). Our first paid opportunity is in representing Black women in AI through data collection and a partnership with an AI company.

Our app would also feature more intuitive ways to collect and disseminate the data needed to create healthcare solutions that impact women of color at large (vs. through Typeform surveys like we're currently using).

With tech enablement, we're using technology to provide accessible mental health care resources that would be sustained monetarily by the first, largest and ethically sourced database of women of color used by healthcare / research organizations and brands.

We also have pledged to impact 1 Million Black women and girls by 2025 with our work. More information here.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

Black women and girls ages 15 - 70+ from a range of household income levels (unemployed and below the poverty line to upper middle class), backgrounds, education levels, and regions.

How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?

I founded this work from my own experience as a Black woman experience certain health challenges in where I didn't see myself or unique experience reflected back in the solutions before me.

Our team's background reflects both the community we serve and other minority communities impacted by low health outcomes.

We also ensure the solutions and culture relevancy of the work we're providing by continuously surveying our community and tailoring our resources to the specific mental health challenges we have.

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Build fundamental, resilient, and people-centered health infrastructure that makes essential services, equipment, and medicines more accessible and affordable for communities that are currently underserved;

Where our solution team is headquartered or located:

Atlanta, GA, USA

Our solution's stage of development:

Growth

How many people does your solution currently serve?

3,500+ (for sessions to date); 17,800 online community

Why are you applying to Solve?

Lack of funding available to solutions and organizations tackling specific health challenges for the demographic we serve. We would use these funds to help build out our app solution; we currently have existing revenue dedicated to building this out in 2022 but seeking more.

In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?

Technology (e.g. software or hardware, web development/design, data analysis, etc.)

Who is the Team Lead for your solution?

Jasmine Marie, CEO & Founder