Huddle
The hope is Huddle, unlike other anonymous apps and online communities, will turn into a platform that allows people “to become as vulnerable because they wish to,” states Faux. If others feel they could be on the program, only time will tell.
Notice, even though it’s video-based, you can pixelate your movie to obscure who you are and produce a pseudonym if you don’t want to be identified. So someone could still decode your voice, there’s no voice augmentation.
But not many of these mental health startups have gone for good reason — and the open movie route. It takes a lot of trust talk to strangers about something challenging and publicly to put up your face online — be it alcohol addiction, body image issues or something different.
Platforms and therapy apps like Huddle have popped up at the past couple of years as more of us have embraced health practitioners and smartphones started seeking new ways to make it easy for everyone seek help. A few of these platforms, for example Talkspace, allows you to cover electronic treatment sessions. Crisis Text Hotline provides a way for teens to text together with volunteers about their problems.
Though many of the subjects are of a sensitive nature, their picture is not blurred out by most people on the platform — and that’s part of the goal of Huddle.
That’s probably a barrier Huddle will have to overcome when trying to onboard users that are new. However, Blackman did not want his program to proceed the text-based clinical path.
“In the beginning we were just watching people coming in and just pixelating themselves…then all of a sudden, 1 person decided to become clear and began to tell their story and we started seeing the next articles more people doing that,” Blackman informed TechCrunch. “That is what we want to create. We would like to make a location where it’s a balance of people seeking and people giving.”
“We know people are not always that good so we are asking for people’s Facebook or telephone number when they sign up,” Faux said, adding he and his co-founder actively moderate the community themselves.
Nearly 44 million American adults suffer from some form of mental problem but because of the stigma of seeking help, an estimated 60 percent will not get the aid they want. Huddle wishes to provide a bridge for all these people by making it simple to talk with others going through exactly the exact same thing — almost like a digital Alcoholics Anonymous, but also for other issues like anxiety, depression and body image issues as well.
That started a series of events that finally led to him to create Huddle, an internet video platform where people could talk about their issues together.
Huddle is meant as a safe space where anyone can post their internal thoughts and talk about what’s bothering them. It isn’t meant as an expert treatment platform. However, individuals may give information that is poor or dangerous in a delicate state. Needless to say, there’s also the inevitable cyber pun certain as the stage grows, to pop up.
Both have later at Swedish startup TicTail and some experience building online communities that are other — .
“At least for me, I never got the same experience through [text apps] that I got in individual,” he explained.
The Facebook sign-up may concern some expecting to maintain their identity a secret, which may be an additional barrier to on-boarding but it also serves to keep those on the stage fair, Faux says.
Dan Blackman’s dad was a well-known guy in the little Pennsylvania town’s area. He had been a lawyer, ran a business and everybody liked him and liked drinking with him. His father died from a combination of liver and lung cancer. His father was exactly what they call a alcoholic.
Huddle starts together with programs for Android later this season, on iOS. It’s still a fairly small community for now but Blackman and Faux have taken in $1.2 million in seed to help it grow from Thrive Capital and their previous boss and creator of Tumblr David Karp, in addition to Product Hunt’s Ryan Hoover (who has started to get into investing, following an acquisition by AngelList late annually).
