Mental Health Support by Circles: Anonymous, Peer-led, Voice-Only Support Rooms

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Jul 21, 2022, 08:00 ET

TEL AVIV, Israel, July 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Circles is launching a new service offering free, anonymous, voice-only support rooms. The newest feature within the Circles support platform now invites people to connect around the common issues they face in their lives – anonymously, and for free. People going through similar life challenges or events drop into voice-only support rooms around those specific topics in a safe space, to give and get support whenever they need it, guided by a peer with that same lived experience.

The new free feature, named Voices, has been operating in beta phase for the last few weeks on the Circles support app, already hosting weekly voice-only support rooms, with the majority of users revisiting the platform on a weekly basis. A portion of Circles' recent $16.5M Series A funding is dedicated to expanding this new feature on the Circles platform.

Circles is the leading platform for anyone dealing with a life challenge to find group support, available on the App Store and Google Play, where up to 10 people experiencing similar life challenges are matched into groups and meet weekly via video chat to give and receive emotional support, guided by trained, vetted mental health professionals. Until now, Circles offering was subscription-based, supporting thousands of paying members across the country with hundreds of groups. Following Circles' success, it is launching Voices, the platform's newest, cost-free offering which lowers the barrier even further to anyone who could use support but finds that 1:1 therapy isn't a feasible or effective solution.

Voices' partners were handpicked to guide the first VoiceRooms, focusing on individuals who were already sharing their story to help others.

"People feel better after talking to someone going through similar experiences. I saw this when my mother was sick with cancer, and I felt this myself after she passed. We've proved this with the Circles platform, and now, we want to make it available to everyone," says Irad Eichler, Co-Founder and CEO of Circles. "Today, we're launching our new Voices feature with 100 initial partners across over 30 topics, so that anyone who feels alone and like no one understands them, can jump on and find someone who does, all day, everyday."

SOURCE Circles