WoW Woman in Health Tech I Louise Stevenson, founder and CEO of WorryTree
Louise Stevenson is the CEO and founder of WorryTree, a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy app that provides supportive, helpful tools for people to manage their worries in a better way, transforming their thought habits for the long term benefit of their mental health and wellbeing.
Alongside her husband and co-Founder, Louise has also founded a coworking space in her home town of Hereford to support other business owners looking to find a community of like-minded entrepreneurs.
Prior to WorryTree, Louise worked in project management, operational management and marketing in a range of sectors including the charitable sector, local government and more recently in financial services. She started her career working as a Visitor Manager for the National Trust at historic properties in Worcestershire and Buckinghamshire.
Listed as a mental health app on the NHS Digital App Library since April 2020, WorryTree’s founding team have also recently graduated from the first-ever cohort of FemTech Labs, Europe’s first femtech-focused accelerator program.
Louise, tell us a bit about your background and your projects so far.
My background is definitely varied, having worked as an Operational Manager and even wedding coordinator in historic houses, to propositions management within an FTSE 100 financial services company! I’ve co-founded multiple businesses in the past including an online estate agency (before it was a thing!), a lifestyle concierge business and an online portal for booking a window cleaner! I wouldn’t say I have had a natural progression into tech, I’ve just tended to go where my interest and energy lies and see what happens.
How did you get into this industry? Has it been an easy industry to get into or have you had many challenges?
I had never created an app before, nor do I have experience working in app or software development. WorryTree came about because I had been diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder and referred for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. As a conscientious client of my therapist I was practising the techniques I was learning to help me manage my worries on bits of paper, in my Notes app and on the backs of envelopes even! I went looking on the app store for an app that would help me use the techniques and just couldn’t find anything that met my needs so I decided to create one.
How long did it take you to be where you are now? What was the biggest obstacle? What are the challenges of being in the industry you are in?
WorryTree has certainly been a few years in the making. From the very first clunky and ugly looking app that I self-published on Android a couple of years ago, to the version you see today which is now available on Google Play and the App Store. In the last year we’ve grown our community, launched the premium version WorryTree Plus and also been published on the NHS Digital App Library. The industry is a fast growing one and its important to stay up to date, not just with the app stores themselves to make sure your app is functioning as well as it can, but also with other founders creating some amazing apps in the mental health and wellness space.
What are your biggest achievements to date?
In the past year, we’ve seen over 65,000 downloads of WorryTree and that’s global - there are people using WorryTree in almost every single country around the world. 59,000 worries have been recorded and problem solved within the app - which means that’s 59,000 worries dealt with. I get so many emails from our community telling me about how they’re using it and how much it has helped them with their anxiety - that’s my daily reminder of why I am doing this. And getting WorryTree listed on the NHS Digital App Library was also a game-changer for us - it took time, patience, and persistence but it was worth it!
What are the projects you are currently working on?
I’m so excited about this next stage for WorryTree! Having just graduated from an accelerator program we’re now out there raising investment for our next period of growth. There are so many new tools I’d like to add, improvements to the functionality, and releasing new versions in other languages too.
Is the #WomenInTech movement important to you and if yes, why?
Absolutely. It can be lonely as a female founder, and raising investment is tough with historic systems in place which just seem to make it even more challenging. I’m also the mother of an 11-year old daughter and whilst things have changed so much ever since I was her age, we’re still not there yet in creating a world where anyone can feel like they’re welcome in any industry.
What will be the key trends in your industry in the next five years and where do you see them heading?
I think it’s fantastic to see that mental health and women’s health, in particular, are becoming a lot less niche. 50% of the population is not niche! The conversations I’m having with my daughter about women’s health and periods, in particular, are a long way from the conversations I had with my mum back in the 1980s! We’re also seeing a lot more awareness now around menopause and perimenopause and I think that’ll reflect in the app world over the next few years. We also have this generation coming through who have been raised on their smartphones and will think nothing of tracking their health and using apps to support their mental health as an ongoing self-care practice.
What is the most important piece of advice you could give to anyone who wants to start a career in this industry?
Femtech and health tech are really fast-growing industries but don’t be put off thinking that you have to have a background in engineering, software development, or coding to create an app. An idea, passion, and tenacity are critical - the rest can be learned.
Who are three inspirational women in your respective industry you admire?
I’ve watched Clementine App grow from strength to strength over the last couple of years and have great admiration for Kim Palmer, the founder. Not only has she created a wonderful app but I love her approach and honesty around the process and how hard it can be. I’d also have to mention Karina Varizova and Katia Lang, co-Founders of FemTech Lab, for their passion to unlock female health and wellness through their accelerator program. Not only has the program jumped our journey forwards leaps and bounds, but they also put a huge emphasis on our mental health as founders and building our community of support too.
Find out more about WorryTree on their website.
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This interview was conducted by Marija Butkovic, Digital Marketing and PR strategist, founder, and CEO of Women of Wearables. She regularly writes and speaks on topics of wearable tech, fashion tech, IoT, entrepreneurship, and diversity. Follow Marija on Twitter @MarijaButkovic and read her stories for Forbes here.