Inner Work: Providing a Compassionate Companion to the Mental Health Space

The search for the right therapist can oftentimes overwhelm individuals seeking guidance and support. This is where innovative solutions like abeni, a product created by Jumpstart team, Inner Work, come into play. By bridging the gap between traditional therapy and accessible mental health support, Inner Work aims to help people become emotionally independent so that they do not have to rely on external factors for them to love themselves.

Young adults struggling with mental health often find it confusing and difficult to identify an affordable therapist with the right personality for them. Cynthia Jiang, co-founder of Inner Work, experienced this challenge. “When I began to struggle with my mental health, I started to see a therapist. It was a struggle for me in terms of finding a qualified therapist at a reasonable cost,” she shared. Cynthia's personal battle fueled her journey in becoming a therapist, and inspired the creation of abeni: a responsive platform that makes the therapist matching process accessible to young adults.

Co-founded by Cynthia Jiang, Hao Dang, McCormick & TGS ‘25, Ian Song, Weinberg ‘27, and Zehao Peng, McCormick & TGS ‘24, abeni is an emotional support app geared toward university-aged individuals. abeni offers young adults a safe space where they receive attentive listening, respect, and guidance confidentially, aiming to enhance their therapy experience as a "second aid" leveraging traditional therapy practices.

abeni is not replacing traditional therapy outlets, but rather enhancing the experience for young adults to navigate therapy in a stress free manner. Ian shared that “it’s hard to get the initial conversation going to reach out to a therapist, and a lot of people feel that finding the courage and the initiative to reach out can be challenging.” abeni provides a way of understanding the emotional needs of the individual, and thus allows users to treat abeni as a friend.

The Jumpstart program has provided the Inner Work team with a supportive environment surrounded by other teams focused on their individual startup journey. “Seeing all of the other teams focused and passionate about their specific areas really motivates us as a community, ” shared Ian.

In the future, the Inner Work team aims to use abeni as a platform for collaborating with therapists, enabling it to track the emotions users experience between sessions and provide side-by-side information to help therapists better understand their clients. “In between sessions, the individual can always check in whenever they are feeling down, and based on that the therapist can already see the emotions they are experiencing between sessions,” shared Ian. In this light, abeni serves as a dual-support system for clients and therapists, deepening understanding of the challenges clients face.

abeni is the buddy that can fit in your pocket, allowing accessibility to care and guidance with a few simple taps on your homescreen. Through abeni, the Inner Work team fosters a supportive and inclusive environment for young adults. By blending technology and traditional therapy, abeni aims to make mental health support more accessible and less uncomfortable in the search for a therapist, while providing a compassionate companion for those in need.

Click here to view the abeni app!