After shedding their husbands in devastating and sudden methods, Karine Nissim and Eloise Bune D’Agostino found there have been no appropriate locations the place folks may go to face all of the challenges that floor in the course of the grieving course of, together with daunting duties akin to organizing a funeral ceremony and donating belongings, in addition to scouring the web for assist teams.
Being seasoned entrepreneurs themselves—Nissim sold her startup DogVacay to Rover in 2017 and Bune D’Agostino co-founded Tentrr and Handwriting.io—the 2 widow founders determined to take issues into their very own arms and construct what they name a “360 healing” platform that gives a variety of providers and sources to assist with grief and different hardships like divorce, sickness, and trauma.
Now accessible on the App Store, Google Play Store, and the web, DayNew is a brand new grief assist platform, social neighborhood, instructional hub, and activity supervisor app wrapped up into one, user-friendly package deal. At its core, DayNew goals to be a secure area for customers to attach with others, share their tales, and obtain assist from the neighborhood.
“From hospice centers to bereavement groups to online therapy, regular therapists and psychiatrists, to funeral homes to all of the other services, there was not one place that we could go that could hold the whole journey for us,” Nissim advised TechCrunch. “So, we set out to create a customized roadmap that is really highly tailored to each person based on their trauma type… When you come to DayNew, we are ready to meet you with organizational, emotional, and social support.”
Some folks discover it arduous to ask for assist as a result of they don’t wish to really feel like a burden to their household and buddies. DayNew’s Neighborhood feed acts as a devoted area for customers to be direct about what they need from supporters, whether or not it’s cash to purchase groceries, a spot to promote and donate belongings, or a job itemizing for a babysitter.
“[Eloise and I] got lots of flowers and casseroles. While that’s beautiful, generous and thoughtful, we also got a lot of comments like ‘Whatever you need,’ and we were always ill-equipped on how to answer that or didn’t feel comfortable… The community page takes the ickiness of the ask out. It also takes the ickiness out of the supporters’ side because now they actually know what you need, and they don’t feel like they’re bothering you.” Nissim mentioned.
There’s additionally a “Find a Buddy” characteristic for customers to get one-on-one assist from people who find themselves going by way of related tragedies. Customers can seek for others with the identical hashtags of their profiles, together with #partnerloss, #parentloss, #cancerloss, #covidloss, and so forth.
Just like different grief assist platforms (Grief Refuge, Untangle, and Grief Works), DayNew has a Journal characteristic the place customers can vocalize how they really feel by both answering prompts or freehanding an entry that speaks from the guts. The corporate compares the prompts to homework from a therapist, asking robust and thought-provoking questions akin to “What’s something about grief you never knew before?” and “What’s something you wish you could tell your younger self?” Relying on consolation stage, the journal entry may be stored personal or shared publicly on the Neighborhood feed.
Moreover, there’s a each day temper tracker element for customers to examine in with themselves and log their moods on a scale of 1 to 10.
Picture Credit: DayNew
DayNew presents numerous different options to help customers all through their journey, together with personalised lists for customers to examine off overwhelming duties (promote property, get life insurance coverage, apply for widow social safety advantages, and so forth) at their very own tempo, a ChatGPT-powered AI device that gives emotional recommendation, and a “Learn & Grow” web page with instructional and motivational content material.
Nissim defined that the platform can also be launching digital workshops and in-person occasions to deliver folks collectively and train them the advantages of “grounding and meditation” with a purpose to promote therapeutic. The net lessons price round $36 and have particular visitors like consultants, scientists, and psychologists. The primary session is on Might 21 and will likely be hosted by the founders themselves. In mid-July, there will likely be an in-person retreat in Mexico for about $1,800.
Within the subsequent iteration of the platform, DayNew plans to introduce a gifting characteristic the place family and friends members can buy lessons to offer to a cherished one.
DayNew is free to hitch but it surely additionally presents a $5 per 30 days subscription for customers who wish to entry premium options, together with the “Find a Buddy” service, direct messages, and having the ability to touch upon public neighborhood posts.
Within the digital age, customers are embracing grief-related services to deal with dying. What as soon as was thought of a taboo matter, grievers can now overtly focus on loss and be reassured that they’re not alone. Nonetheless, it’s necessary to appreciate that these providers shouldn’t exchange correct remedy and counseling however ought to act as an extra outlet to precise their emotions.
