Company: TalkLife, Bristol, United Kingdom
Company Description: TalkLife is an online peer support community for people to talk about their mental health. We passionately believe that nobody should struggle alone and currently support millions of people around the world from mobile and desktop.
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Company of the Year - Health Products & Services - Small
 Nomination Title: TalkLife
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the achievements of the nominated organization since 1 January 2021, OR written answers to the questions for this category? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Briefly describe the nominated organization: its history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 200 words used.
TalkLife is an online peer support community for people to talk about their mental health. We passionately believe that nobody should struggle alone and currently support millions of people worldwide.
We have a universal reach, including those who might struggle to access traditional mental health support because of stigma, cost, or availability. We give a place to share their mental health struggles to often neglected demographics who don’t know where to go. In fact, ⅓ of users said that the TalkLife community was the only place they were able to go to get mental health support in our recent impact survey.
With our free public platform TalkLife, our student platform TalkCampus, and our employee platform TalkLife Workplace, we have championed key geographies where mental health provision is so lacking including India and the Middle East, and providing our services for free for students in Ukraine.
We use the best elements of social networking mashed with machine learning and peer support to connect people within a safe, encouraging environment. Escalation and safeguarding is our priority. A key feature of our platform is our ability to identify users at risk of suicide using human-in-the-loop, AI-supported and clinical moderation averaging 15-second response times.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Outline the organization's achievements since the beginning of 2021 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 246 words used.
As a company determined to revolutionize mental health, TalkLife has grown a lot since 2021. In the past 2 years, we quadrupled our staff to support our quick expansion.
Launched in 2020, our student mental health platform TalkCampus now supports over 230 institutions and millions of students worldwide, with a 400+% increase in revenue over the past 2 years. Some key partners include Open University and the University of London. Our 2023 impact survey demonstrates that 79% of students feel more able to cope with life since using the platform.
We launched TalkLife Workplace in December 2022 to support employee mental health. It brings the benefits of peer support into the workplace with a network of employees supporting each other 24/7, all around the world. We already have a partnership with one of the world's largest EAPs to bring our platform to their tens of millions of users over the coming months.
As a company, we were awarded the Tech South West’s Tech for Good award as well as the SPARKies’ The Good Award in 2022. Our CEO Jamie Druitt also won Business Insiders’ Entrepreneur of the Year and Tech South West’s People’s Choice awards in 2022.
We’re passionate about research and growing our understanding of self-harm, suicide, and how technology can help further the impact of peer support. That’s why we’re continuously partnering with some of the leading researchers in the world. You can find more information about recent studies at https://www.talklife.com/research.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 247 words used.
TalkLife is the only peer support platform clinically evidenced to increase users' confidence in their ability to manage their own mental health and to reduce harmful behaviors (Kruzan et al. 2022). A recent study (Rickard et al. 2022) also placed TalkLife in the top ten of quality mental health apps, after it scored highly in areas including accessibility, security and privacy, and evidence and clinical base. It was also listed as the best app for peer counseling by Verywell Mind in 2023.
We run regular surveys to measure the impact of our platform and ensure our platform remains safe, helpful, and welcoming. Since joining the platform, 86% of users find it easier to ask for help when they need it.
Contrary to mental health services that rely on low engagement, our platforms are designed to be used by the largest number. We’re proud to have an ORCHA score of 82%, which breaks down key assessment criteria relating to clinical assurance, data privacy, and user experience. Our community is active and engaged – and they tell us so:
“I’ve been a part of the community for 2 years now, I have a lot of friends across the world and lots from my home country. ... Without the support I get here, my emotions would have built up and I would have been alone, and not known why I feel the way that I do. ... It’s a really great platform and it feels very safe.”
- You have the option to answer this final question: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 130 words used.
Our websites:
Brochures:
Impact Report 2023: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-FK_inJ-aAOPSL4x_iyrR9xJGEQjN-0p/view?usp=share_link
Recent press coverage:
Recent research:
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