When Stephen Sokoler started Journey more than a decade ago, "mental health" was still often shorthand for "mental illness." Today, StartUp Health community member Sokoler says the conversation has matured into something broader: a full spectrum that includes people who are struggling, people who are thriving, and everyone navigating the space in between.

But progress in framing hasn't solved the underlying problem. If anything, Sokoler argues, the challenges are compounding. Social media, an accelerating relationship with AI, and a fundamentally reactive care model have left most employer mental health benefits playing catch-up.

Employee Assistance Programs have existed since the 1930s, largely unchanged for 90 of those years: a safety net, rarely used, engaging only 2 to 3 percent of employees. A decade ago, companies like Lyra and Spring Health modernized the experience with digital tools and better provider networks, but the model stayed the same at its core.

"We need to take the model and turn it on its head," Sokoler said. Journey's approach uses available data signals to identify when someone might need support before they ask for it, and extends that support beyond clinical mental health into the full scope of what actually disrupts people's lives: elder care, pet care, a move, a new baby.

Sokoler is direct about where Journey sits in the market: more expensive than a traditional employee assistance program (EAP), positioned instead against outcomes. He points to a clinical study showing measurable healthcare cost savings per engaged employee, along with engagement rates well above the traditional EAP category. The pitch to large, self-insured employers isn't wellness for its own sake. It's a hard-dollar argument about healthcare spend, turnover, and productivity.

That case has resonated with a growing list of enterprise clients across industries and geographies, according to Sokoler, as companies increasingly treat proactive mental health as a business imperative rather than a nice-to-have.

Operating across many countries and languages, Journey's approach to localization goes beyond translation. Content is created by people in-region rather than machine-translated, an intentional choice Sokoler says matters for cultural relevance and trust. The platform also builds in representation across its provider network and content library, aiming for what Sokoler describes as a personalized experience akin to walking into a neighborhood bookstore rather than an anonymous warehouse.

Journey's momentum was recognized further this year when the company was named to TIME's World's Top HealthTech Companies 2026 list, alongside 14 other StartUp Health members. It's a marker of the traction Sokoler describes throughout this conversation: real client outcomes, real scale, and a model built to prove itself with data rather than promises.

Sokoler, who has started multiple companies, was candid about founder burnout as a category most support systems don't reach. His advice: treat mental health like a habit, not an event. Five minutes. Two minutes. A few intentional breaths between meetings. The barrier isn't time, he said. It's ritual.

Journey continues to build out Journey Signal, its real-time AI tool designed to flag risk earlier, paired deliberately with privacy and bias safeguards. Sokoler is also completing a follow-up to his book on proactive mental health in the workplace, incorporating AI and global instability into the next chapter of the conversation.

The through-line across all of it: catching people sooner, building trust across differences, and proving that proactive care isn't just more compassionate. It's better business.

Interested in learning more, sharing your own founder story, or connecting with builders across the Mental Health Moonshot? Join StartUp Health as a member.