After losing their husbands in a devastating and unexpected way, Karine Nissim and Eloise Bune D'Agostino discovered that there were no suitable places where people could go to deal with all the challenges that arise during the grieving process, including daunting tasks such as organize a funeral ceremony and donate belongings, as well as search online for support groups.
Being experienced entrepreneurs themselves: Nissim sold his startup. dogvacation to Rover in 2017 and Bune D'Agostino, who co-founded Tentrr and Handwriting.io; The two widowed founders decided to take matters into their own hands and build what they call a “360 healing” platform that provides a variety of services and resources to help with grief and other difficulties such as divorce, illness, and trauma.
Now available in the App Store, Google Play Storeand the Web, DayNew is a new grief support platform, social community, educational hub, and task management app all in one easy-to-use package. At its core, DayNew is intended to be a safe space for users to connect with others, share their stories, and receive support from the community.
“From hospice centers to grief groups to online therapy to regular therapists and psychiatrists to funeral homes and all the other services, there wasn't one place we could go that could take us through the entire journey,” she said. Nissim to TechCrunch. “Therefore, we set out to create a personalized roadmap that is highly tailored to each person based on their type of trauma… When you come to DayNew, we are ready to welcome you with organizational, emotional and social support” .
Some people find it difficult to ask for help because they don't want to feel like a burden to their family and friends. The DayNew community feed acts as a dedicated space for users to be direct about what they want from their followers, whether it's money to buy food, a place to sell and donate belongings, or a job offer for a babysitter.
“(Eloise and I) received a lot of flowers and stews. While that's beautiful, generous, and thoughtful, we also got a lot of comments like 'Whatever you need,' and we were always ill-equipped on how to answer that or didn't feel comfortable… The community page takes the nastiness of the question. outside. It also eliminates the discomfort of followers because now they really know what you need and they don't feel like they are bothering you.” Nissim said.
There is also a “Find a Friend” feature for users to get personalized support from people going through similar tragedies. Users can search for other people with the same hashtags on their profiles, including #partnerloss, #parentloss, #cancerloss, #covidloss, etc.
Like other grief support platforms (Grief Refuge, Untangle, and Grief Works), DayNew has a journal feature where users can express how they are feeling by answering prompts or writing an entry that speaks from the heart. The company compares the prompts to a therapist's task, asking difficult and thought-provoking questions, such as “What is it about grief that you never knew before?” and “What is something you wish you could say to your younger self?” Depending on comfort level, the journal entry can be kept private or shared publicly in the community feed.
Additionally, there is a daily mood tracking component for users to check in with themselves and record their mood on a scale of 1 to 10.
Image credits: New day
DayNew offers several other features to help users along their journey, including custom lists for users to check off overwhelming tasks (selling assets, getting life insurance, applying for social security benefits for widows, etc.) at their disposal. self-paced, a system based on ChatGPT. artificial intelligence tool that provides emotional counseling and a “Learn and Grow” page with educational and motivational content.
Nissim explained that the platform is also launching virtual workshops and in-person events to bring people together and teach them the benefits of “grounding and meditation” in order to promote healing. Online classes cost about $36 and feature special guests such as experts, scientists and psychologists. The first session will be on May 21 and will be organized by the founders themselves. In mid-July, there will be an in-person withdrawal in Mexico for about $1,800.
In the next version of the platform, DayNew plans to introduce a gifting feature where friends and family can purchase classes to give to a loved one.
DayNew is free to join, but it also offers a $5 per month subscription for users who want access to premium features, including the “Find a Buddy” service, direct messages, and the ability to comment on public community posts.
In the digital age, users are adopting grief-related products and services to cope with death. What was once considered a taboo topic, mourners can now talk openly about their loss and be assured that they are not alone. However, it is important to realize that these services should not replace proper therapy and counseling, but should act as an additional outlet to express your feelings.
