Two years in, we’re building the early warning system schools have always needed.
I had my second depressive episode in November 2022.
It took time, care, and a lot of support to recover. But when I emerged in early 2023, I couldn’t shake one question: Why do we always wait until someone struggles before we act?
That question became an obsession. I started talking with caregivers.
Then scientists.
I devoured academic research.
I asked questions at UVA, the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, and Harvard. The message was consistent: the system is designed for detection after symptoms show up. There is no true prevention model for mental illness.
Nothing like the cholesterol check for heart disease.
In May 2023, I incorporated Seismic Wellness Labs. The name came from the metaphor that inspired it all: if we can build early warning systems for the rumbles in the earth, why can’t we do the same for the brain?
That metaphor wasn’t just poetic. It was practical. Mental illness doesn’t erupt overnight. It builds. It simmers. It sends signals. The failure of our current system isn’t a failure of care. It’s a failure of detection. We wait for breakdown, then respond.
In those early months, I thought the answer might lie in clinical settings. I explored ways to help primary care doctors catch risk sooner. I even dreamed of creating a new biofluid test. I immersed myself in science, often emailing researchers cold to ask questions.
It was John Newby of Virginia Bio who helped open early doors. I was lucky to find early believers: Nikki Hastings at CvilleBioHub in Charlottesville, Dr. Hal Irvin at Fralin, Dr. Anita Kablinger at Carilion Clinic. And it was Jeffrey Gallagher who introduced me to the person who would change everything.
In December 2023, I met Dr. David Cifu. And by March 2024, he officially came aboard.
If you know brain health, you know David. He has led over $300 million in funded research, advises the U.S. military, and shapes the national understanding of cognitive resilience. I pitched him what I was building. He immediately disagreed with the approach but affirmed the core idea. We hit it off.
That was the moment I became we.
Together, we rebranded as Ceresant Solutions, a combination of cerebrum (brain) and Santus (health).
We had a new name, a new alignment, and a bold new thesis: early risk detection and prevention can be a clinical-grade capability available in non-clinical settings.
We started building prototypes. Our first designs were to help doctors predict which patients were most likely to develop mental health disorders. But we never believed in automation without oversight. We knew clinicians, caregivers, and educators- real people- needed to remain central to care. That principle still guides us today. We are an enabling technology for professionals, not a replacement for them.
By summer 2024, we had the name and concept for BrainDashTM.
Still, there was a problem. What we lacked was a viable first market.
Despite promising signals, the U.S. healthcare system had no financial incentive to adopt prevention technology like ours. Clinical reimbursement wouldn’t support it, and insurers wouldn’t cover it. We were increasingly being told to look outside of medicine.
We explored adjacent markets: physician burnout, workplace wellness, higher ed. As our first market, where we wanted to make a quick and meaningful impact, none of them were the right fit. We didn’t want to convince stressed-out employees that their job was the problem. We wanted to help people long before they hit that wall.
Then we started talking to schools.
We first explored the market, and within weeks, we landed right in it, with school heads, wellness directors, school counselors, and psychologists validating our hypothesis.
Students spend over 1,000 hours a year in school and only one with a pediatrician.
The mental health crisis is showing up faster in schools than anywhere else. Ninety-three percent of schools report worsening student mental health since the pandemic. Most counselors are handling caseloads 1.5 to 2.5 times beyond recommended limits. Yet, schools have almost no tools to identify risk proactively. They are reacting to visible symptoms and drowning in triage. Ninety-five percent of parents now expect schools to act.
And now, BrainDash had a direction and a group that desperately needed an answer.
Not a diagnostic tool. Not a journaling app. Not another Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum.
A full-stack early warning system for mental illness risk.
Here’s how it works:
Tier 1: Baseline Risk Assessment
Students complete a short screener each semester
Tools include: PHQ-2 (depression), GAD-2 (anxiety), SQS (sleep), SWLS (life satisfaction), IPAQ (physical activity), REAP-S (nutrition)
Tier 2: Biweekly Stress and Coping Check-ins
Students answer quick surveys using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS)
Tier 3: Observational Ratings from Students, Teachers and Staff
Energy, rest, engagement, social integration, and participation
Provides a 360-degree, real-time view of student functioning
This feeds into the Brain Wellness Index, our proprietary, AI-driven score that identifies shifts before crises hit. Schools get real-time alerts, group insights, and longitudinal data for board reporting.
Why it works:
Counselors gain visibility and scale their impact without burning out.
Administrators finally have ROI-linked insight for staffing and resource allocation.
Students get a stigma-free, personalized check-in experience guided by a wellness avatar.
This is not a “nice to have.” It is infrastructure.
This is what cybersecurity looked like 15 years ago. IT teams were reactive, swamped by breaches. Then came predictive platforms that caught threats early and gave teams the tools to act. That’s what BrainDash is doing for mental health.
And the ROI is undeniable.
In a 600-student private school charging $10,000 per student, a 1 percent improvement in retention preserves $60,000 in annual tuition value.
Over three years, more than $536,000 in preserved revenue is compounded.
BrainDash implementation over that period costs $26,250.
That’s a 20-to-1 return.
Public schools benefit differently through improved attendance, academic outcomes, and behavior metrics tied to funding and community reputation. And unlike telehealth startups, we do not rely on licensed networks or reimbursement pathways.
In early 2025, we signed a partnership with the Virginia Association of Independent Schools. That validation confirmed what we felt in our gut: This is not only needed; it is possible.
And it is working.
As part of this move to schools and to get to scale, we added two critical pieces to the team:
Todd Nemanich (Co-Founder and CTO) — infrastructure architect, former govtech and AI platforms
Neerja Juneja Bajaj (CPO) — product strategist and education innovator focused on human-centered, scalable tools that improve how schools engage, support, and uplift students and staff alike
This fall, we are launching our alpha program with pioneering schools that want to lead rather than follow. In the coming weeks, we will share the names of those schools.
They believe what we believe: resilience is teachable, risk is detectable, and prevention is not only possible but overdue.
Our Vision: Unshakable Minds. Unstoppable Lives.
We envision a world where individuals live with mental strength and cognitive clarity, unburdened by preventable decline or invisible stressors. Where students learn boldly, professionals lead resiliently, and elders retain their memory, identity, and independence.
Our Mission: Identify. Inform. Inspire.
Identify hidden risks through intelligent insight
Inform better decisions through actionable intelligence
Inspire stronger systems to create lasting change
We are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.4, which calls for reducing premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases through prevention and mental health promotion. This is a global need, and our platform is built to meet global demand.
We believe every student deserves More Great Days.
We believe that the place to start is not after diagnosis. It is before distress.
We believe schools should not be flying blind. They should be equipped with visibility, insight, and the tools to act.
In three years, we will have:
Established the first benchmarks for mental illness risk prediction in schools
Scaled across private and public sectors
Advanced health equity by ensuring access for underserved districts
We are two years in. And now we know what we are:
We are the predictive early warning system for mental health in schools.
We are building the infrastructure for brain health.
We are Ceresant.
And we are now on our way.
Through it all, we are still honoring the original Seismic concept. We still believe that early signals matter and that with the right warning system in place, we can act before the ground gives way.
That metaphor still drives us. And always will.