Sol Health Founder Melinda Gong on Grief, Access To Therapy & Building Beauty From Loss
Sol Health Founder Melinda Gong on Grief, Access To Therapy & Building Beauty From Loss  
Podcast: The Big Silence
Published On: Thu Jun 11 2026
Description: Stanford grad Melinda Gong is the founder of Sol Health, a teletherapy company offering sessions starting at $30 — five to six times more affordable than private practice. Melinda lost her brother Tony to suicide at nineteen and channeled that grief into one of the most promising mental health startups in the country. In this episode, she joins Karena to talk about the loneliness epidemic, why 57% of therapists-in-training quit before they're licensed, her journey with EMDR, and why she believes therapy should be free for every person in America. What if the love, healing, and connection you've been searching for has been waiting for you to ask for help first? Melinda Gong proves that grief doesn't have to be the end of the story… it can be the very beginning of your purpose. (02:47) Soul Health & Why Affordable Therapy Isn't a Luxury — It's a Right Why the mental health system has a supply problem, not just a demand problem and how Sol Health is solving it from the inside out The massive gap between what therapists need to earn and what patients can afford and why closing it changes everything Why access alone isn't enough: the difference between having a therapist and having a quality therapist (06:15) Before Tony and After Tony: How Loss Became Her Life's Mission Melinda's story of losing her brother Tony to his mental health battle and the gut feeling she had the morning she got the call How growing up in a household where mental health was never discussed compounded Tony's suffering and her own (10:08) We Are the Anxious Generation — And Here's Why Why Melinda believes tech and AI have created a "veneer of connection" that is quietly eroding our ability to sit in real relationships How algorithmic sameness is atrophying our muscle for social discomfort and why that matters deeply for mental health The role of physical vitality, movement, and social belonging in a full-stack approach to mental wellness (18:24) Grief, EMDR & the Healing That Actually Worked She stopped drinking, stopped partying, and asked herself: how do I turn this into something meaningful? Why three months of EMDR did more for her than two years of CBT and what that means for how we think about therapy (43:15) Building Soul From Scratch at 21 With No Idea What They Were Doing How Soul Health was born in Stanford's Startup Garage Why Melinda calls their early days "hobby lobbying an arts and crafts project" and why naivete turned out to be her greatest strength To learn more about The Big Silence and Sol Health partnership visit: solhealth.co/thebigsilence Guest Resources Visit Sol Health: solhealth.co (https://www.solhealth.co/) Follow Sol Health on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/solhealth.co/) If this episode moved you, please consider supporting The Big Silence Foundation and exploring our resources: Connect with The Big Silence Community Order: The Big Silence Memoir audiobook (https://thebigsilence.com/pages/audiobook) Shop The Big Silence Self Love Collection (https://thebigsilence.com/collections/shop-all) Subscribe on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaL3RrbvDLuTTGFN4VYzEpw) Donate to The Big Silence Foundation (https://thebigsilence.com/donate) The Big Silence Resource Guide (https://thebigsilence.com/pages/resources) Find exclusive offers from our supporters (https://thebigsilence.com/pages/our-podcast-partners) Show Resources: VISIT THE CHALLENGE PAGE (https://my.toneitup.com/pages/radiate-rise-2026-summer-challenge) THE BIG SILENCE PODCAST (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-big-silence/id1607181597) TONE IT DOWN PODCAST (https://my.toneitup.com/pages/tone-it-down-podcast) Tone It Up App (https://my.toneitup.com/pages/tone-it-up-app) Tone It Up YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@toneitup/featured) Tone It Up Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/toneitup/?hl=en) Have a message for Karena? She'd love to hear from you and share your comment or question on air! Leave Karena a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/KarenaDawn