Illustration: Connor Willumsen
Telehealth Giant Drew People With Addiction. Deaths, Overdoses Followed
Cerebral, once the fastest-growing provider of online mental healthcare, was ill-equipped to treat those who didn’t disclose substance-use disorders, employees say
Greg Grant knew he was in danger. Just fired from a freelance gig, the 51-year-old Texan responded by drinking heavily, beginning in the morning and continuing for hours. By the time he reached out to his mental healthcare provider, he was a dozen drinks in.
“I need help,” he wrote in a chat log set up by Cerebral Inc., a startup that offers online only psychiatric services and was treating Grant for anxiety and depression. “Alcohol poison.”