Here’s to the Dreamers: Apple celebrates South-east Asian creativity and innovation 

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 — Where would we be without our apps in a smartphone-driven world? What would apps be without the creatives that make you download apps in the first place?

In that vein, Apple is celebrating South-east Asian creative talent in a special “Here’s to the Dreamers” campaign.

The purpose, according to a statement, is to “feature SE Asian creative talent who have navigated challenges and turned their dreams into reality.”

Expect to see profiles of not just developers but artists who will get their turn in the spotlight across Apple Music as well as the App Store.

A mission to make mental health more accessible

I spoke via email interview with one of the personalities being highlighted, Joan Low, who is the founder of the mental health app ThoughtFull Chat.

ThoughtFull’s mission statement is to “deliver seamless end-to-end mental healthcare.”

On Low’s decision to leave behind her career in finance to spearhead a mental wellness app, of all things, she said it was a calling that was 20 years in the making as a mental health caregiver.

“The idea for ThoughtFull emerged from a blend of frustration and hope - frustration over the gaps in accessible mental health solutions that work and hope from the advancements in digital mental health initiatives overseas.

“I considered various models, but there was no doubt that being digitally powered was the best option to scale reach and impact,” she said.

As purposeful as it was, the job change, she said, was a drastic shift from a very structured corporate finance environment to a highly unstructured health startup environment.

Due to the pandemic, many aspects of the company’s founding was done remotely - from fundraising, to setting up clinical operations as well as hiring.

“I only met some of my colleagues in person after two years of joining the company!”

“I learned very quickly to embrace the chaos and realized how we could thrive in an environment where as pioneers, you get to chart new ways of doing things, create new norms, and really set the bar for an industry that has so much potential to have deep human impact,” she said.

Uncharted territory

On the app’s beginnings, Low said when she started ThoughtFull five to six years ago, there were not as many mental health apps.

“We were pioneers in the region,” she said.

It was different from the US where there were many pre-existing mental health and wellbeing apps.

“The challenge we faced was thus educating the market on why Asia needs a tool that will simplify the mental health journey for them and that tools like assessments, emotional coping skills, coaching, therapy, are important for our personal and professional growth,” she said.

Stigma was high, the concept was novel in the region, but Low said she was glad her team persevered as not long after it started operating, pandemic lockdowns had begun and made access to mental health services difficult.

It was a matter of being in the right place, at the right time.

“We went from serving direct consumer clients to providing full suite services to global corporate clients. Today, employees and consumers alike can access self-serve tools and assessments, text-based therapy, video therapy, and 24/7 hotlines in 12 languages on our ThoughtFullChat app,” she said.

Navigating App Store waters

ThoughtFull’s journey differed a lot from many tech startups.

The company began doing groundwork by running mental health workshops for thousands of consumers and corporates alike to understand the user journey before designing and developing ThoughtFullChat.

Why was that? “In order to know how to design an app that can seamlessly deliver mental healthcare, we needed to know where the gaps were in the mental health ecosystem — from who provides the services, to who pays for it, who consumes it, and how they consume it,” Low said.

Apple’s App Store was ThoughtFull’s first choice due to its strengths in security and data protection.

Low said that it was incumbent on developers operating in the healthcare space that they had a responsibility to adhere to the highest standards of privacy and data security.

Low said that in the early 2000s, mental health awareness in Southeast Asia was “almost non-existent” with the interventions being heavily clinical and catered to those already experiencing mental illness.

“In Asia, mental health awareness and advocacy started picking up in the 2010s mostly driven by governments and grassroots organisations.

“When I directly entered the scene in 2018, this was still mostly the case - people were more aware of the importance of mental health, but few were ready to invest in it preventatively. The pandemic fundamentally shifted this stance and accelerated adoption of preventive mental health,” she said.

ThoughtFull stood out, Low said, by being the first in the region to partner with insurers such as AIA and FWD for mental health coverage as well as the first to clinically validate the efficacy of ThoughtFullChat’s asynchronous text-based therapy for an Asian population for improvements in stress, anxiety, depression.

“From preventive self-serve tools and assessments to science-backed text-based therapy, video therapy, and 24/7 hotlines - ThoughtFullChat is not just another app, it is an opportunity for individuals to take their mental wellbeing into their own hands and proactively grow personally and professionally,” she said.

As to her aspirations for the app: “Looking ahead, I envision #athoughtfullworld, a world where stigma is broken down, mental health practices are ubiquitously integrated into our daily habits, and financially accessible to the masses.

“There is much work to do but we will continue to pioneer innovative care models that blend technology with human empathy, to continue forging this way forward.”

Low said that the “Here’s to the Dreamers” campaign resonates with ThoughtFull’s own core values.

“As a pioneer in mental health, everyone at ThoughtFull has had to think differently to build a world that does not necessarily operate the way we would like it to yet.

“It is an honour to be part of Apple’s campaign to impact even more lives around the world through its platform,” she said.