- The pandemic reshaped lives in 2019, affecting mental health. uMore emerged from founder Maria Freitas' personal experience, aiding those grappling with isolation's toll.
- uMore, an AI tool, nurtures mental wellness, like sunlight fostering growth. It creates safe circles for sharing with confidantes, promoting resilience and optimism.
- uMore encourages seeking tailored mental health support challenging stigmas.
As a gardener, you have planted five seeds that promise beautiful blooms. You tend to care for them, knowing that their delicate saplings are vulnerable to the slightest gust of wind. You nurture them even as they blossom into stunning flowers, ensuring they never wilt away. Similarly, you are the gardener of your mental health.
The year 2019 was challenging for everyone because of the outbreak of COVID-19. It left people paused as they were, where they were. Some got locked in separate houses, while some got locked with families. Because of the monotony of the routine and being a social animal, many people's mental health was affected.
Maria Freitas shares her experience, "COVID-19 affected my family, with my sister falling ill and struggling mentally due to isolation. Feeling helpless, we built uMore—a tool for her and others in isolation."
With its headquarters in Miami, United States, it developed a mental health tracking app helping out thousands of them.
What is uMore?
uMore is an AI-driven tool that tracks your well-being. It motors your stress levels, suggests changes, improves your behavior, and builds positive habits. People who use uMore can share their information with members of their safe circle, such as family, friends, and medical professionals.
But who is included in this safe circle? Like proper sunlight and water ensure a blossom similarly, a safe circle in uMore is a collection of your closest confidantes. They can assess your actions and even take the required steps to avert unpleasant situations.
Giving good fragrance and attracting butterflies is the blossom's primary function. Similarly, catch, check, and change are the main functions of uMore.
- Open the app first to have a chance to catch all of your negative emotions and concerning thoughts in one location. Why is this important? Because understanding and accepting our issues is a necessary first step toward their resolution.
- Check and systematize your emotions and thoughts, giving you a better understanding of your inner self and an opportunity to improve it.
- Change your ideas and attitudes to improve the quality of your life and your well-being, and spread optimism to the people in your safe space.
On May 10th, 2023, uMore published an article on “Mindset Shifts & Mental Health: Anxiety & Depression.” It discusses how mental health is still considered to be a stigma. Once you have had a physical illness, you would probably seek treatment from a provider specializing in that field and follow their instructions to feel better.
Some individuals have had unpleasant experiences with mental health professionals. This has happened in other specialty fields, and the person would probably choose another supplier who better suits their demands. The same goes for your mental health professionals. It's acceptable if some suppliers aren't the best fit. There is someone out there for you.
In a nutshell, it talks about how having an unbiased opinion may provide you with a positive and different way of thinking and might help you deal with stress and anxiety with basic solutions.
Funding
In total, uMore has raised $630K in fundraising over four rounds. Their most recent investment came from a Non-equity Assistance round, which was raised on May 31, 2021. Three investors are paying for uMore. The most recent investors are TheVentureCity and Google for Startups.
To be a good gardener, you need to know what kind of soil, temperature, water, and other essentials are required for the plants to grow and blossom. Similarly, a person who ‘protects his/ her peace’ must fill their mind with cheerful thoughts.
And sometimes, we might need a mind gardener too for us to do that, so approach one and make your mind a happy place for your thoughts.
Edited by Shruti Thapa