Yali Psychology: Helping You Consume the 'Duck Pears' of Mental Stress

“Overwhelming Stress” has become a true reflection of the psychological state of many people today. However, due to various factors—including conservative traditional views, limited awareness, and high costs—many individuals neglect mental health issues. Even when diagnosed with a mental disorder, they often fail to seek treatment from professional psychiatrists or counselors.

China’s large population, rapid economic development, and increasingly fast-paced lifestyle have contributed to a growing prevalence of psychological issues, particularly among the maturing post-80s and post-90s generations. Under the “4-2-1” family structure, these individuals bear multifaceted pressures from various sources. Consequently, China’s mental health management sector boasts substantial market potential.

However, China’s current systems for counseling and treatment of individual mental health remain highly immature, with an uneven talent landscape that fails to meet market demand. As internet healthcare flourishes, how can mobile internet be integrated with mental health management to ensure that everyone with mental health concerns receives professional counseling and treatment? VCBeat takes a look at how “Yali Xinli” is addressing this challenge.



Decades of Experience Forge a Powerful Team

Although the developer of “Yali Psychology,” Beijing Yangguang Yide Zhangyun Technology Co., Ltd., is a startup founded only last year, its parent company, Yangguang Yide, is a well-established leader in the psychology industry. As China’s largest B2B provider of psychological counseling services, Yangguang Yide has been deeply engaged in the field for decades, specializing in delivering psychological counseling services to government agencies, the military, and enterprises and public institutions. It has amassed a substantial client base and earned a strong reputation, while also securing dozens of national-level patents. Its professionalism in psychological counseling is beyond question.

In addition to profound expertise and professional technical support, the management team of “Yali Psychology” also boasts extensive experience in the internet industry. CEO Michael, a serial entrepreneur, has served as a senior executive at multiple publicly listed internet companies, accumulating rich experience in product development and operations. COO Jason possesses extensive experience in marketing and business development (BD). Furthermore, the team brings together numerous experts from the field of psychology, while its product, technology, and operations personnel hail from platforms such as Kuaisu Wenyisheng (Quick Ask a Doctor) and Caidai Yisheng.

When discussing the motivation behind launching “Yali Xinli” (Pear Pressure Psychology), Michael told VCBeat that three main factors attracted him. First, he already had several years of experience in the mental health industry. Second, he believed that under the wave of internet development, internet healthcare had become an irreversible trend, and mental health, as a specialized branch of overall health, was particularly well-suited for integration with mobile internet. Third, there was substantial unmet market demand in China for personal mental health management.

Yali Psychology Helps You Dissolve Your Inner "Stress"

Yali Xinli is a mobile mental health management tool designed for individual users, offering online mental health counseling services. The platform brings together outstanding psychological counselors and hospital experts to provide various assessments and counseling services. All counselors are certified National Level II Psychological Counselors. Currently, the platform primarily features four major counseling categories: depression, workplace issues, marriage and relationships, and parent-child dynamics.

Michael introduced that Yali Psychology has officially launched on the Apple App Store and 15 Android app markets. When using Yali Psychology, users can not only take online mental health assessments but also ask questions through free online consultations, with professional counselors providing answers within five minutes. Users can also choose their preferred counselor for consultations, and in the future, they will be able to purchase services from specific counselors individually.



To ensure the quality of online consultations, Michael stated that Yali Psychology has implemented multiple layers of oversight. First, in the “Sunshine Certification” process for counselors—which verifies their qualifications—counselors are required to submit relevant case studies in addition to holding necessary professional certifications. This measure aims to prevent situations where individuals possess credentials but lack practical competence (“certified but incompetent”), having passed examinations yet being unable to deliver high-quality services. Second, a supervision system has been established to conduct irregular spot checks on counselors’ service quality; those found non-compliant undergo additional training or even have their consultation privileges suspended. Third, a user evaluation system has been introduced, allowing clients to rate counselors and prioritizing user experience above all else.

Currently, Yali Psychology has over 200 counselors on its platform and has contracted with more than ten mental health experts. In addition, Yali Psychology will establish the “Sunshine Club” to strengthen communication among counselors, promote their professional growth, enhance the quality of counseling services, provide clinical supervision, and attend to the counselors’ own mental well-being.

In addition, Yali Psychology has launched a premium service called “Psychological Butler.” Michael introduced that this service essentially functions as a green channel, providing customized mental health management services for high-end users. Upon purchasing the service, users can receive comprehensive mental health check-ups, assessments, counseling, and management services provided by Yali Psychology. Currently, appointments for this service are made via WeChat and phone, with online booking to be implemented in the future.

Personal Mental Health Management: A Long and Arduous Journey

When discussing the future development of mental health management, Michael believes that the integration of mental health management with mobile internet is an inevitable trend. Mobile health is a vast industry, and even capturing a small niche within it can lead to the creation of a highly successful company. As a specialized branch of the broader healthcare sector, mental health management differs significantly from other health domains in that it requires neither extensive physiological monitoring nor large-scale medical equipment. This makes it particularly well-suited for mobile internet platforms. Leveraging their extensive experience and solid foundation in psychological counseling and health management, their goal is to build the premier personal mental health management platform.

He told VCBeat that corporate health consulting will continue to hold a significant position in the market. However, due to factors such as talent shortages and underdeveloped consumer awareness, personal mental health management in China still has a long way to go. In particular, sub-health mental wellness management for general users represents a substantial market opportunity.

Michael also stated that future personal mental health management should not only integrate with mobile internet but also converge with other industries, such as tourism and sports. He believes that the development of mental health management in the future must first leverage the power of media to increase public awareness, encourage people to prioritize mental well-being, and cultivate consumer habits for mental health counseling services. Secondly, it is essential to train more specialized professionals and strengthen the training of psychological counselors to meet market demand. He further expressed hope that exclusive mental health records will be established for individuals in the future, enabling everyone to access high-quality mental health management services.

Regarding Yali Mental Health’s next steps, Michael disclosed to VCBeat that the company will primarily focus on refining its free psychological counseling services and rolling out further iterative updates to its app. The goal is to expand the range of counseling types to hundreds of categories and provide symptom-based consultations, thereby meeting the diverse needs of more users.

Yali Psychology currently has a team of over 20 members, with the goal of becoming the most outstanding entrepreneurial team and building China’s most professional mobile mental health management platform.

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