InStride Health is an outpatient provider that specializes in treating young patients (ages 7-22) whose anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), is causing impairment in life (i.e., school avoidance, restriction of activities, social isolation, family disruption, and physical manifestations). Pulse 2.0 interviewed InStride Health clinical co-founders Dr. Mona Potter, MD (Chief Medical Officer) and Dr. Kathryn Boger, PhD, ABPP (Chief Clinical Officer).
Dr. Mona Potter And Dr. Kathryn Boger
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): Could you tell me more about your backgrounds?
InStride Health (Dr. Potter and Dr. Boger): We have been working together for over 15 years, Mona as a child and adolescent psychiatrist and Kat as a child and adolescent psychologist. We met while working together on an adolescent dual diagnosis unit at McLean Hospital, the largest psychiatric teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, with teens who had substance use disorders and co-occurring anxiety or depression, and we immediately clicked. While we share the same heart and commitment to caring for children and families, we also push each other to think about things from different perspectives and angles. And that is where the magic happens.
While working together on the dual diagnosis unit, we frequently encountered a recurring narrative: many teens had been struggling with anxiety or depression from a young age. Unable to access effective treatment, they had turned to substances in a desperate search for relief. We were both motivated to help youth with anxiety get the right treatment earlier, so we built the McLean Anxiety Mastery Program (MAMP).
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): How did the idea for InStride Health come together?
InStride Health (Dr. Potter and Dr. Boger): We loved our work at McLean. It was incredibly gratifying to see kids and teens reclaim their lives because of the care they received at MAMP. At the same time, within the confines of academic medicine, we were limited in the number of youth that we could serve. We were seeing the pediatric mental health crisis play out all around us, with children and teens boarding in emergency rooms, and families sitting on long waitlists while their child’s symptoms worsened. We were each getting calls daily from desperate families trying to get care for their children. It was heartbreaking. We co-founded InStride Health to be part of the solution. Our mission is to deliver specialty anxiety and OCD care that works for every kid, teen, young adult and family that needs it. We get to work side-by-side at InStride, building a company that we are both proud of.
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): What has been your favorite memory working at InStride so far?
InStride Health (Dr. Potter and Dr. Boger): It’s hard to pinpoint one memory. What has perhaps been the most meaningful to us are the emails and calls that we get from families on a regular basis, telling us about the profound impact that InStride has had on their child and on their family. We often work with families who have lost hope after numerous unsuccessful treatments. We get to witness that hope return. We hear about kids returning to school, re-enrolling in dance class, returning to the soccer field, and resuming relationships with friends. Parents share how they’ve been able to return to work and get their lives back as well, thanks to the treatment their child received. It makes even the longest days worth it to us.
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): What are the company’s core products and features?
InStride Health (Dr. Potter and Dr. Boger): We are a specialty, outpatient provider of evidence-based care for children, teens, and young adults with anxiety and OCD. Care at InStride includes individual, family, and group therapy (CBT and ACT with an emphasis on exposure therapy) and medication management. Each family is assigned a dedicated three-person care team consisting of a therapist, exposure coach, and psychiatrist. We have three phases of care, starting with more touch points per week in the beginning and tapering over time. Our care is purposefully time-limited; we teach young people and their families skills and strategies that they can apply during and beyond InStride, empowering them to shift from “patient” to “student,” “friend,” “musician,” “athlete,” etc.
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): Have you faced any challenges in your sector of work recently?
InStride Health (Dr. Potter and Dr. Boger): We have a large supply and demand issue in the field right now, with many families sitting on long waitlists (6 months or more) and struggling to access insurance-based care for their children. We have addressed this issue through our deliberate recruitment efforts and through our emphasis on training and a team-based approach. The talented and kind care team at InStride and the focus on culture within the company has helped us attract more providers so that we can feel good about the treatment we provide while keeping pace with demand. We have also built a best-in-class training infrastructure called InStride Academy to ensure that our providers are truly expert in treating even the most complex presentations of anxiety and OCD in youth. Measurement-Based Care is at the core of what we do, and we use data to help inform our treatment and hold ourselves accountable to deliver care that works.
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): How has the company’s technology evolved since launching?
InStride Health (Dr. Potter and Dr. Boger): Our focus has always been on delivering the best clinical care, so at launch our technology team was small and scrappy. We had a form that families used to apply to the program, however, much of our workflow was manual. We always knew that technology would play a critical part in our growth and care delivery, so it’s been amazing to see how we’ve evolved by both developing our own tools and integrating existing software services into our model. This has allowed our care teams to coordinate more effectively, has helped us make data-driven decisions, and has helped ensure that we are providing the right kind of care. We’ve also built an application, available on all platforms, to enable families to manage their own care and support them through their time with us.
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones?
InStride Health (Dr. Potter and Dr. Boger): We were excited when we realized we were treating 10x the number of patients at Instride than we were able to help when we were running our academic program, while maintaining consistent outcomes. That’s when it really hit home for us that we could treat so many more families while maintaining the same high quality of care. As we continue to grow, we continue to hold ourselves accountable for ensuring quality AND sustainability. Everytime we contract with a new insurance company is also a milestone for us.
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): Can you share any specific customer success stories?
InStride Health (Dr. Potter and Dr. Boger): From the parent of an InStride graduate who gave permission to share: “Our daughter was really struggling—she had withdrawn and was scared of everything. Her anxiety was beginning to affect the whole family. We had tried other programs, but nothing helped. Then we found InStride. It was the right level of intensity that we needed. Yes, it required a lot of time and commitment, but let me tell you, it was absolutely worth it. At InStride, your kid doesn’t just sit and talk to a counselor. They have an entire team to help – – and the exposure therapy was the best part! It helped her face her fears head-on, like walking past crowds on the sidewalk and going to school every day. I’m so proud of her new skills. When I drop her at the mall to meet up with friends, I’m in awe of her strength and independence. Thank you to the entire InStride team!”
“We cannot begin to tell you what a difference we have seen in our daughter since beginning InStride. She has gone from not attending her classes, to going to all of them, having a part-time job after school, making new friends, getting ready for graduation, and she can’t wait to go off to college. You and your team are professional, caring, supportive, attentive, and we cannot thank you enough for everything you have all done.” – Parents of an InStride graduate
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): Are you able to discuss the company’s funding and revenue metrics?
InStride Health (Dr. Potter and Dr. Boger): In February 2024, we completed our Series B capital raise, raising $30 million to continue funding investment in R&D to support clinical quality as well as to fund growth in new and existing communities. In total, InStride Health has raised ~$55 million since our founding. From a growth perspective, we have nearly tripled our patient census over the last 12 months and have visibility to roughly 3x growth year-over-year in 2024.
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing?
InStride Health (Dr. Potter and Dr. Boger): By the age of 18, nearly one in three children and adolescents will meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder in the US. When including those affected by OCD, the total addressable market becomes even larger. This highlights a substantial and growing need for effective solutions.
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): What differentiates the company from its competition?
InStride Health (Dr. Potter and Dr. Boger): While at McLean Hospital, we had the privilege of designing a program based on what the kids and families needed, and we iterated on that model through research and feedback over almost a decade. While there are many aspects of our treatment at InStride that differentiate us, four that stand out are: 1) parent/caregiver involvement built into our program, along with close communication with schools and pediatricians; 2) emphasis on exposure therapy out in the real world where fears occur, with between session coaching to reinforce learning and skills building; 3) deliberate recruitment and training of talented clinicians and coaches who care deeply about doing right by these kids and their families; and 4) the fact that we take insurance while much of specialty pediatric anxiety and OCD care is private pay.
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): What are some of the company’s future company goals?
InStride Health (Dr. Potter and Dr. Boger): We are focused on expanding our reach and ensuring that our services are accessible to as many families as possible, while at the same time maintaining high quality in the realms of patient and family clinical outcomes, patient and family engagement, provider experience, and cost management.
