Founded in 2021 by Stephanie Greer and Matthew Montañez, Akin Mental Health Inc. is pioneering a fresh approach in the digital mental health space—offering family psychoeducation for serious mental illness to families supporting loved ones with SMIs. As far as they can tell, Akin is the only digital mental health company focusing specifically on this evidence-based practice.
Despite strong research backing family psychoeducation for serious mental illness dating back to the 1980s, Greer explains that stigma and cultural expectations around mental health have kept this approach from scaling widely. “We tend to label mental illness as an individual problem and encourage people to keep it secret,” she said. “But that’s not conducive to health, recovery, or positive outcomes.”
Based in San Francisco, Akin started offering sessions in March 2025 and operates on a subscription model at $79 per month. Their digital platform, Akin Family Circles, brings together small groups of six to 10 family members supporting someone with an SMI, providing them with evidence-informed lessons, personal guidance, and community support. Sessions for family members and patients run separately, reflecting Akin’s focus on education and support rather than clinical intervention or therapy.
Bridging the Gap for Families Facing Serious Mental Illness
The mission behind Akin is deeply personal. Greer witnessed her mother’s struggles with bipolar disorder, and Montañez saw his older brother’s battle with schizophrenia. Both founders recognized a major gap in behavioral health services for families like theirs, particularly around less common and more serious conditions. “There’s a lot out there for more general mental health disorders but very little for schizophrenia or other SMIs,” Montañez said.
SMIs affect a significant number of Americans—about 14.2 million adults, or 5.6%, nationally. Yet, family psychoeducation for serious mental illness is mostly limited to nonprofit or ancillary services like those offered by Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services or the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Akin aims to bring this vital support to the masses digitally, making it more accessible and scalable.
The company is currently pre-seed funded by investors including Precursor Ventures, Berkeley SkyDeck, and Andy Dunn, the founding CEO of Bonobos. They plan to raise seed funding later this year to accelerate growth.
What Is Family Psychoeducation—and Why Is It So Important?
Family psychoeducation for serious mental illness is a structured approach to educating family members about serious mental illnesses and equipping them with the tools and knowledge to better support their loved ones. Unlike traditional therapy, which seeks to directly treat the individual, family psychoeducation focuses on providing information, fostering understanding, and building supportive family environments.
It addresses common misconceptions and equips families to handle crises, recognize symptoms early, and communicate more effectively. This education is crucial because families often serve as the primary support system for individuals living with SMIs. When family members are better informed, they can significantly improve outcomes for the patient.
Akin Mental Health’s digital model centers around Akin Family Circles, groups of six to 10 family members who participate in weekly guided sessions led by Greer, Montañez, and their clinical team. The sessions provide education, peer support, and practical strategies, but they do so separately from the patients to maintain focus and foster open discussion.
The Research Behind Family Psychoeducation: Proven Results
The efficacy of family psychoeducation for serious mental illness has been demonstrated in numerous studies over the past four decades. Some key findings include:
- Reduced Hospitalization Rates: Family psychoeducation can lower hospital admissions for symptom relapse by 20% to 50%, helping to prevent costly and traumatic inpatient stays.
- Decreased Readmissions: Even when delivered as a single-family intervention, psychoeducation reduces readmission rates by nearly half, according to research conducted in the UK.
- Lower Premature Mortality: There is evidence suggesting a 90% reduction in premature death rates among people with SMI when their families are actively involved and educated from the outset. This is vital, as individuals with SMI typically live 10 to 20 years less than the general population.
These statistics highlight the transformative potential of family psychoeducation for serious mental illness to break what can otherwise become a lifelong cycle of hospitalizations, crises, and family strain.
The Personal Stories Driving Akin’s Mission
Stephanie Greer and Matthew Montañez are not just entrepreneurs; they are advocates shaped by deeply personal experiences. Greer’s mother lives with bipolar disorder, and Montañez’s older brother has schizophrenia. Their firsthand insight into the emotional and logistical challenges families face with SMIs fuels their passion for Akin’s mission.
Montañez, who serves as Akin’s chief technology officer, explained how his technical background propelled him to research what digital solutions existed to help families. “I found what many others found: a lot of options for general mental health disorders but very little for severe illnesses like schizophrenia,” he said. This realization crystallized the need for a scalable digital platform tailored to families navigating serious mental health challenges.
Addressing the Cost and Care Gaps in Serious Mental Illness
The burden of SMIs extends beyond individual suffering—it imposes significant costs on families, health systems, and payers. Data clearly show the economic impact:
- Older adults with SMIs incur about 11 times more spending on mental health services and 37% higher medical costs than those without known mental illness.
- A Milliman study covering 21 million insured lives found that people with SMIs have 6.3 times greater overall healthcare costs and 4.2 times higher hospital expenses compared to those without behavioral health conditions.
- Although people with SMIs made up less than 1% of the study population, they accounted for over 33% of behavioral health spending—making them the largest consumers of behavioral health services.
Akin Mental Health sees an opportunity to reduce these costs by preventing hospitalizations and crisis events through early family psychoeducation for serious mental illness. Their long-term vision includes partnering with payers and healthcare systems that are increasingly adopting value-based care models, where supporting the whole patient—mind, body, and family—is key to controlling costs and improving outcomes.
How Akin Mental Health Works: A Digital-First, Community-Driven Approach
Akin Mental Health’s subscription model is designed to make family psychoeducation for serious mental illness accessible and sustainable. For $79 per month, subscribers get access to the digital platform featuring:
- Evidence-informed lessons tailored to various SMIs
- Weekly, guided group sessions with other families through Akin Family Circles
- Personal guidance from the Akin core team, including clinical experts
- A supportive community where families can share experiences and strategies
The company’s leadership team includes not only Greer and Montañez but also Kacey Ballard, product design lead, and Charlie Davidson, clinical development lead. They also work closely with Shirley Glynn, an award-winning clinical research psychologist who acts as the company’s scientific advisor.
Akin emphasizes that family psychoeducation for serious mental illness is distinct from therapy. Its goal is not clinical treatment but empowering families through knowledge and peer support, which Greer believes is foundational for sustained recovery.
Looking Ahead: The Future of Family Psychoeducation in Behavioral Health
As Akin Mental Health plans its upcoming seed funding round, the founders remain focused on growing their digital reach and proving the value of family psychoeducation for serious mental illness at scale. They hope to integrate with payers and healthcare providers who see the benefit of supporting families to reduce long-term costs associated with SMIs.
Greer summarized their vision clearly: “We’re thinking about the patient holistically and about the family support system that’s going to have to be an influence on that person’s trajectory for recovery and for wellness.”
If successful, Akin could transform how families are engaged in mental health care, making family psychoeducation for serious mental illness a standard and scalable tool for millions of Americans impacted by serious mental illness.
Conclusion
Akin Mental Health Inc. is forging new ground in digital behavioral health by focusing on family psychoeducation for serious mental illness—a proven, yet underutilized approach that empowers families to better support their loved ones with serious mental illnesses. By combining evidence-based education, personal guidance, and community connection, Akin is building a scalable solution that has the potential to improve health outcomes, reduce costly hospitalizations, and shift cultural perceptions around mental illness.
As the company continues to grow and attract funding, it could become a critical resource in the evolving mental health care ecosystem—one that finally places families at the center of recovery and wellness for those facing serious mental health challenges.
