New Year; New Me or New Themes?

Don't let other people's expectations get in the way of your family's needs.

Author

Orli Health
December 30, 2024

With 2024 coming to a close and everyone preparing for 2025, read on to see Karla’s advise for families navigating this time.

Here's what to expect in this newsletter:

Out with resolutions; in with themes

Resolutions can easily put even more expectations on neurodivergent people, who are already dealing with many internal and external expectations.

How about, this year, we try using themes or motivations to inspire us. These can be more focused on oneself, such as building self-belief or confidence.

Another strategy may be considering what motivates you or your child? Make sure it is something which makes you feel good about yourself (or your child feel good about themselves).

Let’s make 2025 the year we start loving who we really are!

My reflections on 2024

I took the time this weekend to reflect over what what has been a year filled with ups-and-downs. It’s easy to get absorbed in the day-to-day but sometimes all we need is a little hindsight to realise that things are actually going pretty well.

Things I’m really proud of:

  • Supported 750 parents through online events

  • Created 50 OrliJourneys for parents in our Sunderland launch

  • Ran our first pilot using WhatsApp

  • Grown from a team of 3 to 6 (welcome Stefano, James and Karla)

  • Secured a pilot with 2 x NHS trusts

  • Won an Innovate UK grant

  • Designed our 2-year vision prototype

  • Developed our initial AI models 👀

It’s not always been sunshine and rainbows. We had to change our name, for one.

And the irony hasn’t been lost that a team building a mental health startup have faced so many personal challenges - all in their 1st year working together.

Most importantly, Euan and I couldn’t be happier with the team of people we have around us at Orli. Whilst 2025 is going to be a busy year, it’s genuinely one we can’t wait for.

What we’ve loved this week

MindJam | Empowering and Supporting Young People

mindjam.org.uk

Best,

Mark & The Orli Team

Have any friends who could benefit from Orli? Feel free to forward this email to them!

Sign up to a personalised mental health support plan (Sunderland-based parents): https://orlijourney.typeform.com/to/AnbwJ8zp