Nonprofit and public health leader focused on protecting emotional health and preventing suicide for teens and young adults.

Successful track record launching and growing new products and organizations - participated in or led the launch of more than 30 new products and services.

John MacPhee

Join us this Friday for a discussion on what caring adults need to know about chatbots and AI companions (related to youth wellbeing and mental health).

Chief Executive Officer @ The Jed Foundation | MPH, Health Policy

Is your teen using artificial intelligence (AI) safely? Our webinar on Friday, 2/27, explores what caring adults need to know about chatbots and AI companions. 

Register today: https://lnkd.in/eRrrxKFh

#YouthMentalHealth #AISafety

Solome Tibebu is a behavioral health entrepreneur passionate about frontier technologies and solutions transforming mental health, equity and access. 

She is the founder and host Behavioral Health Tech, the largest community and conference focused on expanding access to mental health, substance use and autism/IDD care through technology and innovation.

Solome was also the founding Fund Director for The Upswing Fund for Adolescent Mental Health, a philanthropic fund focused on youth mental health, funded by Melinda French Gates' personal office, Pivotal Ventures. Since 2020, The Upswing Fund has funded nearly 100 organizations focused on the mental health and well-being of adolescents of color and LGBTQ+ youth. Today, she is co-chair of Pivotal Ventures’ council designing the next youth mental health fund.

Solome has served as a scout and venture partner for Andreessen Horowitz and GreyMatter Capital, respectively. She is a board director or advisor to various non-profit healthcare organizations and for-profit companies. Solome’s work as an investor, entrepreneur, non-profit consultant and behavioral health technology expert has been featured as a Harvard Business Review case study, TEDx Talk, The Huffington Post, Forbes, Inc Magazine, Upworthy, Psychology Today and more.

Previously, Solome's work has spanned behavioral health and human service consulting, venture capital, corporate development and various operating roles at behavioral health software companies large and small. Solome founded and ran a mental health tech startup and, as a former anxious teen, founded and ran the non-profit AnxietyInTeens.org for ten years.

Solome is the recipient of the SAMHSA National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health Youth MOVE National Dare to Dream Award (Washington, D.C.), the MN Association of Children’s Mental Health 2010 Outstanding Service Award (Minneapolis, MN), the Margaret Clark Morgan Mental Health Scholar Award (Cleveland, OH), GSCU Dr. Martha L. Colvin Docent (Atlanta, GA), and was selected as 1 of 20 young social entrepreneurs to represent the US internationally at the G20 Summit Young Entrepreneurs Alliance in Sydney, Australia.

Solome Tibebu

One thing is critical to know: Medicaid helps children and adolescents with mental health and complex health needs access mental health care. But, we can see how nuance and complexity can stall innovators from entering the space. Mental health advocate and political strategist Caren A. Howard (she/hers) joins us on the BHT Impact blog with some key facts about ongoing youth mental health needs, like these ones below:

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, one-third of children and adolescents with coverage through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) were reported to have a mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral problem in 2023. Of those who needed mental health care, over 40 percent of families reported it somewhat or very difficult to obtain care.

Declining Supply: Provider shortages for children and adolescents are expected to worsen over time as ratios of psychologists, psychiatrists, and school counselors are projected by the Health Resources and Services Administration to decrease over the next ten years. 

Reimbursement Deficits: Medicaid reimbursement rates to providers for care are typically lower than care paid for by commercial or Medicare plans. Thus, providers are less likely to accept Medicaid or CHIP beneficiaries unless they have a number of private paying clients to help offset the lower reimbursement rates that result in profit losses. 

Limited Access: Even with modest improvements since record-high mental health challenges in teenagers during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, adolescents are not always offered annual preventive health visits, often the only time a mental health screening is delivered to determine if further care is needed to address a mental health concern.

Increased Need Balanced with System Challenges: 
--Wellbeing promotion is prevention and there is currently ample opportunity for systems to better integrate prevention and earlier intervention. Technologies can facilitate closing this gap. 
--Medicaid/CHIP-covered youth across geographic locations and demographic characteristics have higher prevalence and diagnosis rates of mental health conditions compared with commercially covered children. This is actually a positive and can help drive needed care and support where it is needed most. 
--Yet three out of four congressional districts face serious youth mental health challenges due to major system failures including provider shortages, barriers to care including preventive care, familial socioeconomic hardship, and minimal support networks. Founders should consider these challenges and design platforms that increase access to early intervention and prevention activities.

Read Caren's full article on BHT Impact here for further opportunities for innovators to make an impact in this space:  https://lnkd.in/eMYhejeW  #CHIP #medicaid #YouthMentalHealth

Founder of Behavioral Health Tech community & conference; Sep 22-24, 2026 in Nashville- Save the date!

Open article: Considering Diving Into Youth Mental Health? Medicaid Is Ripe For Innovation by bhtimpact.org

Considering Diving Into Youth Mental Health? Medicaid Is Ripe For Innovation

I am looking forward to my juicy conversation about an important topic I care deeply about! 

Please join me with Aaron Jurgaitis, Vice President, The Optum Advisory Group, and Stephen Smith, Co-Founder and CEO, NOCD, for a data-driven review of specialty OCD care, featuring independent findings from an analysis conducted with Optum and NOCD. 

We’ll examine clinical outcomes, utilization patterns, and total cost of care implications to help behavioral health leaders evaluate the role of specialty #OCD treatment within their networks and systems: https://lnkd.in/ez4X5Ada

Please join me in welcoming Brianna Gorman to the Behavioral Health Tech team!

Community Development Director | Building Communities & Partnerships That Drive Behavioral Health Innovation

I’m excited to share that I’ve started a new role as Community Development Director at Behavioral Health Tech, part of Hyve Group!

Behavioral Health Tech is a leading community and conference dedicated to expanding access to mental health, substance use, and autism & IDD services through technology, health equity, and innovation. It brings together stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem to tackle one of the industry’s most pressing challenges: broad access to high-quality behavioral healthcare.

In this role, I’ll be growing and engaging a curated network of senior leaders - connecting decision-makers with insights, partners, and opportunities that drive real impact across the industry. I’ll also be developing strategies to strengthen engagement, nurture long-term professional relationships, and ensure that leaders feel welcomed, supported, and valued year-round.

After eight+ years of building communities and partnerships across a number of industries, I’m thrilled to bring that experience to a space dedicated to improving access and innovation in behavioral health.

I look forward to reconnecting with many of you in this new chapter and continuing to build meaningful connections across the healthcare ecosystem. I’m grateful to the BHT team for the warm welcome and I’m excited for what’s ahead! 

Huge thanks to Solome Tibebu and Amy Darlison-Lee for this incredible opportunity!

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John MacPhee

Solome Tibebu

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The Battle

John MacPhee

Solome Tibebu

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Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}John MacPhee's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreJohn MacPhee's LinkedIn Performance