Taking control of one’s health is often discussed as something many people misunderstand or avoid, especially when it comes to one specific type of medication: birth control. Founder and CEO of Reya Health, Dallas Barnes, is taking action to make birth control more accessible, understandable, and personalized. After a lengthy and unsuccessful attempt at being proactive about her reproductive health, Barnes turned to her own research to further understand the options and nuances of contraception. Noting the lack of education in public school systems on reproductive and sexual health, Barnes took years to fully understand what contraceptive was right for her body and lifestyle. Spending a long time advocating for herself and feeling unheard, Barnes was inspired to create something for other folks experiencing the same misinformation or excruciating trial-and-error period. Thus, Reya Health was born.
With an admirable goal of comprehensive contraceptive education, Reya Health was created as a birth control matching and tracking process with a decision tree methodology and a motivated team working alongside folks who were looking for more information on contraceptives. The matching process helps people filter through options and choose a birth control specific to their needs, and the tracking process allows users to monitor any changes they encounter when using a birth control method. Understanding the uniqueness of every individual’s preference, side-effects, hormones, and more, Reya Health is quickly becoming the go-to place for birth control advisory aimed at helping people use an option that they feel comfortable with and choose for themselves. Alongside a team of doctors consisting of family physicians, OBGYN’s, and naturopaths, Reya is a tool based on information, insights, and experience backed by science, research, and evidence. Although they cannot provide direct medical advice, Reya is the best friend and confidant for someone looking to understand more about how birth control can work with them in a happy and helpful way.
“I wanted to take what I learned on my own journey and be able to help others through their experience. With Reya, we are providing personalized information and support for individuals so that they can make informed decisions for their own health and be confident and comfortable with their birth control options” says Dallas Barnes, CEO and Founder of Reya Health.
One of the many impressive feats that Reya has been successful with has been the precision of their matching and tracking systems. In the beginning, Reya Health was a concierge-style service, using team members for consultations, surveying, and spreadsheets to help people match and track birth control. Having an efficient understanding of the science-based evidence and medical advisory, Barnes turned to her tech team to create an algorithm to expedite the process and further benefit users and their specific needs. Now, consultation and suggestions are handled by the tool, but the symptoms and side effect tracking systems still require human interaction. The Reya Health team is actively working on automating the entire process from start to finish in a way that puts the service and user first. Diving deep into user experience and interface design, Reya Health has plans to expand their web-based platform and has plans for a mobile app that provides the same helpful service.
The empowerment that comes alongside understanding one’s body and the choices being made for it has allowed Reya’s driven and inspiring founder to fully immerse herself in the experience and outcomes that Reya Health advises. Reya Health allows individuals to feel heard, seen, and understood when it comes to contraceptive options. Due to the amount of people who have been through similar experiences, Reya has also curated a community of thankful and helpful customers who are able to find comfort in sharing their experience with others alike. Community building is a huge piece of the Reya Health puzzle, because engagement allows the users to understand the premise of the platform and join a community of Reya Health users who share the difficult experience of finding birth control that is right for them. Finding herself often in the position of educator, Barnes reflects on how folks who use birth control are accustomed to trying multiple options and having adverse side effects. Flipping the script, Reya Health drives to ensure proper education and evidence-based matches for people to avoid the process of trial and error, and instead use evidence and research with a goal to get it right the first time.
Reya Health’s community and success is due to the fact that people want to know that they aren’t alone in the difficult process and that they have education and support to turn to. With a goal to expand the platform to include more health benefits, Barnes notes the importance of inclusivity and education in her industry, stating “Inclusivity is at the core of what Reya does, because everyone is unique. Every journey with birth control is different, and Reya’s whole premise is to put the users and their health at the forefront of this process and at the center of their own decision making by meeting them where they’re at”. Eventually, Barnes hopes that Reya Health can be the go-to platform for personalized health information for everything birth control, sexual health, and family planning on a global scale. Increasing access to options, information, and support, Reya Health becomes a friendly face and a helping hand that provides the necessary tools and resources to have the best experience in one’s own health journey. Currently provided in Canada, Reya Health is working on their North American expansion to include more people in the process of using birth control options that they have chosen for themselves that make them feel confident, comfortable, and ultimately, not alone.