Hello from the herd! We are opening Antelope Recovery up for a community crowdfunding round and would love for you to join us!
Equity crowdfunding allows everyday people the opportunity to invest in early-stage companies in exchange for equity, just like investment firms and accredited investors. Allowing smaller individuals and groups to invest like bigger players essentially democratizes the investment model and is a big step forward for community-owned businesses, a paradigm that we love and aim to help create.
Rather than raising VC capital, which extracts short-term gains at the expense of long-term sustainability and equitable profit distributions, we want to utilize methods of fundraising that are equitable, sustainable, and beneficial for everyone. Especially for you, our friends, and family who make it all possible!
So, why invest in Antelope Recovery?
Your investment allows us to open the doors of our online Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
Intensive outpatient therapy enables individuals experiencing mental illness to receive high-touch mental health care. Usually, Intensive Outpatient therapy is 5-20 hours per week, depending on the severity of the mental illness. Our program is designed for teenagers and families. It is also online – meaning we can truly design a custom, personalized outpatient program for the teens in our care. It also means we can reach teens and families who would otherwise have to drive 30-60+ minutes to get to an outpatient program. Antelope’s mission is to deliver a first-in-class online IOP, enabling the availability of and increasing engagement with care in an entirely new way.
What is the social impact of our online IOP?
In 2019, approximately one in seven adolescents experienced a mental disorder, amounting to 166 million adolescents globally. Moreover, in a 2020 survey, 80% of teens reported experiencing mental health issues during the pandemic. There are 10 million teenagers in need of Outpatient therapy in the US right now. Statistically, 90% of them will be unable to access the care they need to live stable and meaningful lives. We aim to close this gap by creating an exceptionally accessible IOP that will allow teens who would otherwise be unable to receive treatment from having a chance at living a healthy life. We are starting in Colorado, with an especially strong need for teen outpatient care.
In creating an online program, we can reach teens who live in “mental health deserts”, or places where there are currently 30-60 min+ drives to care centers or simply no resources at all. As you can see by the map below, Las Animas county is as large as Connecticut and does not have a mental health facility. In addition, we can close the gap between when care is needed and when care is received.
On average, it takes 3-6 months for people with a mental illness to find and receive care. For those struggling with severe addiction, suicidality, or psychosis this can often mean the difference between healing and conditions becoming drastically worse.
Statistically, during a 3-6 month waiting period, the patient will experience:
- The expected lifespan decreased by an average of 20 years.
- Their chances of developing a lifelong disability increase.
- Their families incur large financial burdens, totaling over $300 billion per year in the United States, alone.
- Their likelihood of dropping out of school doubles.
Another consequence of lengthy waiting periods until treatment is that family, friends, communities, and care workers, who are often unequipped to deal with the severity of the ongoing issues, are forced to support their loved ones in need. Often spending large amounts of time and money in an attempt to prevent the worst from occurring, draining themselves in the process. Treatment needs to be more readily available between feelings of helplessness in caseworkers, overwhelm and fear in families, and increased symptoms in the patient. Our program fills an essential gap that no one else in our current mental health care system is filling.
Help us transform teen healthcare. Invest in Antelope Recovery at https://wefunder.com/antelope/.
Why is our program unique?
We are prioritizing measurement-based care.
Currently, no one is tracking treatment outcomes to the degree necessary to improve and provide treatment protocols meaningfully. 90% of programs do not even track clinical data at all. We are building data utilization into our program from the ground up because we believe that it is our duty to improve treatment options as much as possible. We also have explored how to integrate “off-screen” clinical interventions for an online program. Integrating animal and nature-based therapies to make online IOP more accessible and effective for this age group is one of our differentiators. Our excellent clinical team is making great progress on this front and we’re excited to share with the community what we learn!
We’re focused on increasing engagement in teen healthcare:
One of our primary goals over the next five years, which we believe mental health tech has not been focused on enough, is to increase engagement in the populations that need help most. Often, the individuals who most need mental health treatment tend to be the least likely to seek it out. Almost two-thirds of people who die by suicide and more than half of the young people who make suicide attempts have not been receiving mental health care. Any visit to a public or private mental health facility finds little attention on the patient’s journey and even less concern for the needs of their families. By understanding clients’ experiences, and building programs for (and with) them, and not just for payers or providers, we hope to increase engagement and develop programs that work dramatically. Digital communication technologies have shown the potential to increase outreach and engagement and play a key role in our mission. By focusing on increased engagement with appropriate clients who strongly need services, we hope to increase the effectiveness of care.
What is WeFunder?
Between 1933 and 2016, individuals were prohibited from investing in a private company unless they were an accredited investor. However, in May 2016, a new law called Regulation Crowdfunding made it legal for anyone to invest small amounts of money in startups as they please. Thanks to this change in law, platforms like WeFunder were formed and now anyone can invest in private companies with as little as $100.
We are running this campaign so that you, who believe in our mission and want to help us succeed, can do so while also receiving benefits from helping us get off the ground.
To learn more about WeFunder itself, please visit here: https://help.wefunder.com/#/investor/getting-started-for-investors
How we intend to get you your money back after you invest:
Your participation at this very early stage of our company is handled by a SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity). These will convert your investment to stock later if the company raises a “priced round” from major investors. At this point, you are a shareholder owning equity, and you earn a return if the value of that stock goes up over time, and you can sell it.
- Dividends &/or share buybacks: We have the potential to become highly profitable in a way that supports stock buybacks & potentially substantial dividends
- Sale of the business: If the right partner wants to buy at an attractive price, we’re definitely going to consider it.
Ways you can support our mission of transforming teen healthcare:
1. Tell your friends about Antelope! The more the word gets out (word of mouth is THE most effective marketing tool), the better your investment will do!
2. Follow our campaign on Wefunder! Click “Watch for Updates” to stay updated with our progress.
3. Like & Comment on our social media posts! You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Linkedin. When you like and comment (especially comment) saying why Antelope is great, it tells the Almighty Algorithm, “This is great content, you should show it to lots of people.”