Amari Morton faced an impossible decision during his time as a student at Emory University.
Pay for his therapy sessions or pay for essentials like rent and groceries.
The cost of mental health care is expensive…and prohibitive often for college students. But during the stressful and uncertain times that come from college, that is exactly when a person might need that care the most.
The university resources weren’t enough, given that it was hard to get an appointment quickly and on his schedule. This personal crisis revealed a widespread problem. Students across the country wait weeks or months to access campus counseling services that are already stretched beyond capacity. Many don’t feel comfortable seeking help from their school counselor when school itself is the source of their stress. And for students from immigrant families and communities of color, finding culturally competent care can take months, if it happens at all.
Seeing A Startup Opportunity
While still a student at Emory, Morton founded Greater Change Health to solve the problem he lived through. The platform provides on-demand virtual therapy, bringing on new clients within 24 hours instead of making them wait weeks or months for intake appointments. The platform is also able to save the average user $150 a month in therapy costs. As soon as a user signs up, they also have access to the platform’s 24-hour crisis support line.
Greater Change is able to provide more affordable, on-demand mental health care by paying practicum level therapists who are normally unpaid during this stage of their career. “This creates a diverse therapist pool that closely mirrors our young user base,” Morton said.
For direct-to-consumer clients, Greater Change uses a subscription model. For universities, the school pays a lump sum to offer individual and group therapy sessions and to handle crisis lines. The platform tailors therapy experiences before services begin. For organizations, Greater Change gathers data through surveys and speaks with leadership about their values and needs, then assigns therapists aligned with those priorities. For individual subscribers, intake questions pair them with a therapist who fits their background, goals, and comfort level.
Morton said that the platform works best with schools whose counseling departments don’t have the bandwidth to see more students on campus. Universities appreciate having an external resource for students seeking support beyond campus walls.
Seeing Tangible Impact
One partner company told Greater Change they had searched for years for a service that was “affordable, robust, and culturally aligned.” They were thrilled to learn the platform could even provide therapist who spoke Hindi, helping to meet more students in their preferred language.
Morton, an Oxford College and Emory graduate, credits The Hatchery’s Summer Accelerator program with transforming how he runs the business.
“[The Hatchery] definitely changed the way that I approached business in general,” he told Hypepotamus. “They taught me how to run a company.”
The first university client was LCAD, the Laguna College of Art & Design in Southern California, which Morton landed through cold calling. From there, he started working within his own network, signing his alma mater Emory University and other private K-12 schools in the Metro Atlanta area.
Now the company is expanding through paid media, stronger ambassador programs, and targeted outreach to private schools, universities, and mid-sized companies.
The goal is ambitious: Grow from 200 to 1,000 clients by early 2026.
In five years, Morton wants Greater Change to be the number one mental health platform for young adults in the nation—a place where therapy is accessible, relatable, and affordable for everyone, regardless of background or income.
“Mental health is not a luxury,” Morton says. “It is a human right.”
