Nita Akoh wanted to use biometrics to improve mental health care. Jay Nakhai wanted a counseling practice that helped empower both patients and clinicians.

The two Northeastern graduates, who earned their degrees more than 10 years apart, each started their own company to pursue these missions. Then a chance connection prompted a realization: they could partner together to further achieve their goals.

As of late May, AEON Counseling, founded by Nakhai, launched a partnership with MyAtlas, which was founded by Akoh, with clinicians with AEON using real-time biometric data from MyAtlas patients in order to provide more personalized and effective counseling.

“We are starting this campaign for May Mental Health Awareness Month, where we are going to pay for one years’ worth of mental health treatments for 100 college students,” said Akoh, who graduated Northeastern in 2023.  “We really want to focus on solving the ailments of the young Gen Z population with care that’s innovative, that understands them and is willing to actually meet them where they’re at.”

Through the partnership, patients using MyAtlas — a platform that collects patients’ data like sleep patterns — can share their behavioral health data with AEON clinicians in order to help the latter identify high-risk patients and improve care by offering suggestions that are realistic given the patient’s lifestyle.

Read more from Northeastern Global News. 

Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University