Madison McCall and Solome Tibebu hosted a Learning Session for Upswing grantee partners on September 22, 2022 on the topic of digital behavioral health tools and culturally responsive care.

Results of a live poll showed that digital tool utilization among attendees was high with 79% saying that they’ve previously sought out or used digital tools in their organization.

In the video presentation above, Madison and Solome discuss:

• An overview of the digital health market for youth mental health
• The relevance of digital technologies for community-based organizations (CBOs)
• Tips on how CBOs can leverage digital tools
• Potential challenges with implementing digital tools for culturally responsive care, and
• Examples of free, culturally-sensitive digital tools and resources, including:
  • Tools: imi, Project YES!, Nod (see here for an Upswing Partner Showcase with the Nod team), NotOK, The Trevor Project, PeerHealth x selfsea
  • Resources: Project READY: Reimagining Equity & Access for Diverse Youth (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill); Introduction to Cultural Competency and Humility (University of Wisconsin-Madison, some parts specific to Wisconsin); Cultural Awareness: Organizational Cultural Competence (University of Wisconsin-Madison, some parts specific to Wisconsin)

About Our Advisors

Madison McCall (she/her) is a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar. Her research focuses on the design, dissemination, and evaluation of digital tools that advance mental health care delivery for underserved youth and their families. As an advocate for youth mental health equity, her work considers the structural and systemic barriers in research, practice, and policy that underlie mental health disparities. Madison earned her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Solome Tibebu is a behavioral health strategist and consultant passionate about frontier technologies and solutions transforming mental health, equity and access. She works with PE funds, foundations, chronic disease companies, mental health startups, pharma, health plans and systems as a behavioral health technology subject matter expert.

Solome’s work has spanned behavioral health and human service consulting, venture capital, corporate development and various operating roles at behavioral health software companies large and small. Solome founded and ran a mental health tech startup and, as a former anxious teen, founded and ran the non-profit AnxietyInTeens.org for ten years. She is a board director or advisor to various adolescent and adult mental health organizations and for-profit companies, including CaringBridge, Columbia University Mind Ventures, Equip, Headstream, Hopelab, Made of Millions, the Telosity Fund and Violet.

Solome is the founder and host of the Going Digital: Behavioral Health Tech summit, the largest conference focused on virtual behavioral health. She is also the co-author of ReThink Behavioral Health Innovation, the source for digital behavioral health technology and startups. Solome’s work as an investor, entrepreneur, non-profit consultant and behavioral health technology expert has been featured as a Harvard Business Review case study, TEDx Talk, The Huffington Post, Forbes, Inc Magazine, Upworthy, Psychology Today and more.