Ortus Foundation was founded out of a burning desire to tackle issues close to my heart and family. During the pandemic, many of us experienced our own children struggle with mental health or know parents who had lost their child to suicide. I witnessed first-hand how well-known issues of anxiety in children can quickly become compounded with other mental health struggles. Some of these mental health issues are masked in incredibly high-achieving young adults, while others decline to low levels of functioning. Both can result in fatal outcomes. Today, we have more kids dying by suicide than in car accidents by teenage drivers. We need radical levels of collaboration between the public and private sectors to build new business models to truly deliver on the promise of living in a mentally healthier world. 

Founded in 2022, Ortus Foundation’s mission is underway. We are a partner in mental health advocacy, an impact and grant-giving investor, and a change agent. We are working on several initiatives, including collaborating with higher education on their mental health programs and policies, helping build capacity with service providers, directing early-stage investments in the mental health space, and supporting the movement of the use of psychedelics in therapy for drug-resistant treatment. Through these collective partnerships, ORTUS can help make a significant breakthrough in solving one of the greatest societal challenges.