Austin woman starts mental health subscription box company

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Lots of people are used to subscription boxes showing up on their doorstep with things like meals and clothes inside, but now a box full of mental health tools could be arriving soon.

Austin's Julie Korioth started the company "Speak as One," which she hopes will help people find quick and affordable solutions to the challenges they're dealing with.

"We're all human, we're gonna go through those challenging times," Korioth said. "So if we have that support, it'll just help people a little bit more."

The boxes cost $49.99 a month with discounts offered for subscribing for multiple months.

Korioth said she works with a licensed psychotherapist to help select what goes inside with a letter included explaining what the items are and why they're important.

People do not need to have a mental health diagnosis in order to sign up.

"We want this to be a preventative measure as well," Korioth said. "We know that your mental health is like your physical health — it's the same. We have to work out our bodies, and we have to work out our minds."

Among the items you can expect to find in a box is a "HappyLight" that you sit in front of to elevate your mood. There will also be monthly journals and prompts, a tool Korioth said lets people help themselves at times when they're not in therapy.

For Korioth, the company's mission is a personal one. She said she struggled with her own mental health for the majority of her life.

"I felt really lonely in that journey," she said. "So it started off with creating these stories and a community for people to share their mental health journey and the resources they use. Then out of that, hearing about their resources, we thought, 'wow, can we put these in a way that we can actually send this to people?' So that's how it all got started."

Speak as One plans to send out the first boxes in January.