- XenZone — the UK’s largest provider of online mental health services, including the renowned Kooth service for children and young people — announced it appointed Tim Barker as its new CEO
XenZone — the UK’s largest provider of online mental health services, including the renowned Kooth service for children and young people — announced it appointed Tim Barker as its new chief executive. Barker was previously CEO of DataSift, a social data and AI platform (acquired by Meltwater in 2018). Before DataSift, Barker spent five years at Salesforce in marketing, strategy, and product leadership roles following its acquisition of his previous business.
And as a pioneer in digital mental healthcare, XenZone’s vision is to make mental health support available to everyone taking individuals on a personalized journey to wellbeing through clinically-proven digital self-help, online peer support, and 1:1 counseling.
Over 70% of NHS England’s Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) partner with XenZone to deliver mental health services to children, young people and adults. So far, XenZone has provided professional mental health support to more than 400,000 people. And its Kooth service for children and young people now sees more than 2,400 logins every day.
“As a pioneer in the market, XenZone has amassed an incredible team, tech, clinical expertise, and position of trust in the industry. Given my experience in scaling innovative tech businesses, I’m excited to lead the team as we expand our products, markets, and distribution channels to deliver on our vision to make vital mental health services available to everyone,” said Barker.
As the demand continues to grow, XenZone is expanding to provide services to universities and businesses in the UK and internationally.
Research and evidence show growing unmet demand for mental health services especially early-intervention support — which has become a defining public health challenge of our time. A recent Education Policy Institute report found that one in four children and young people referred to mental health services in England in 2019 were denied access to treatment. And for businesses, Deloitte and Mind estimate that poor mental health provisions cost UK companies more than £43 billion every year.
“Tim brings incredible experience and perspective to XenZone. In his career, he has established start-ups and scaled-up organizations. He is a visionary team player and embodies the leadership qualities needed for such a critical role at such an important time for XenZone,” added Root Capital partner Frank Hyman.
