What You Should Know:
– Yung Sidekick, a US-based mental health startup, announced it has raised $825K in pre-seed funding to advance its AI-powered platform that automates administrative tasks, such as note-taking, for mental health professionals.
– The round was led by Altair Capital and Ultra.VC, with participation from other VCs and angel investors. The funding will enable Yung Sidekick to accelerate its product development and roll out new features that will streamline supervision, assessment, and client interaction.
Yung Sidekick: Streamlining Mental Health Documentation with AI Automation
Yung Sidekick is an AI-powered platform designed to help mental health professionals reduce administrative tasks, allowing therapists to concentrate more on client care. By automating documentation, it generates high-quality, EHR-ready progress notes and detailed session reports within two minutes. This helps therapists manage their workload more effectively, addressing both their administrative needs and client-focused care.
With the increasing demand for mental health services, as reported by the American Psychological Association, many providers are facing burnout. The survey revealed that 45% of psychologists are experiencing burnout, partly due to a significant workload increase. Moreover, administrative duties, such as handling electronic health records (EHR), occupy about 20% of a mental health professional’s time, further exacerbating the situation. Yung Sidekick alleviates this burden by automating note-taking and streamlining workflows.
The platform records session audio, automatically transcribes it, and uses AI to extract critical information such as key topics, symptoms, medications, and treatment goals. In just two minutes, it generates EHR-ready progress notes that can be easily integrated into clinical software. Additionally, Yung Sidekick provides detailed session reports that offer insights into patterns, resilience strategies, and the therapeutic relationship. For clients with multiple sessions, the platform compiles comprehensive meta-reports, delivering a holistic view of a patient’s history and psychological profile.
Yung Sidekick goes beyond automation by introducing an AI assistant that therapists can consult for specific client information. The assistant can retrieve a client’s exact words from a session, remind therapists of important details from their biography or treatment plan, and flag key diagnostic markers for conditions such as depression and anxiety. It also signals when further assessments may be necessary.
Committed to maintaining privacy and data security, Yung Sidekick is fully HIPAA-compliant and does not store personal health information or client details. Every note and report generated is anonymized, and all audio recordings are deleted after processing. For therapists who prefer not to record sessions, the platform offers a ‘dictate recap’ feature, enabling them to verbally summarize sessions.
Founded in 2022 by Michael Reider (ex-Uber), Alexander Anastasin (ex-Groupon), and psychotherapist Stanley Efrem, Yung Sidekick has processed over 30,000 therapy sessions and currently serves over 100 clients. This AI-powered platform aims to ease the administrative load on mental health professionals, prevent burnout, and improve the overall quality of client care.
“Every minute spent on paperwork is a minute taken away from patient care. Our mission is to empower mental health professionals to dedicate more time to meaningful client interactions by reducing administrative overload. By streamlining documentation, we enable therapists to focus on what truly matters — improving lives,” said Stanley Efrem, Co-Founder of Yung Sidekick.
