Healing the Whole Family: How Bend Health is Reimagining Pediatric Mental Healthcare
Slice of Healthcare Team
10/09/2025
Introduction
Dr. Monika Roots isn’t just building a company. She’s rewriting the rules for how we care for kids in crisis.
As a child psychiatrist and co-founder of Bend Health, Roots is tackling one of the most pressing (and often misunderstood) challenges in modern healthcare: delivering effective, ongoing mental health care to children and their families before crisis hits.
What Bend Health Actually Does
Bend Health is a virtual pediatric mental health provider that works directly with families and primary care providers to deliver team-based care for children and adolescents. The company focuses on early intervention, measurement-based care, and treating the entire family, not just the individual child. Services range from coaching and therapy to complex specialty programs like neuropsychological testing and intensive outpatient treatment.
The Personal Why Behind It All
Roots’ motivation is rooted in lived experience.
“I grew up in a home where my mom had severe mental illness,” she shared. “If anyone has ever been there, it is a lonely place. I want to continue to create solutions that make a child never feel alone again.”
Her career began in child protection, eating disorders, and substance use. From there, she helped build and scale mental health startups, including one that sold to Teladoc, before co-founding Bend Health to return to her core mission: helping kids, especially those showing up first in primary care.
What Makes Bend Different
A common myth in mental health, according to Roots, is that it’s purely an access issue. “It’s not just about access. It’s about execution,” she says.
That’s where Bend stands apart. The company’s focus isn’t just getting kids into care. It’s making sure that care actually works. Bend integrates with pediatricians, tracks outcomes, and offers support for the whole family. After all, “If mom and dad are not doing well, kiddos are probably not doing well. And vice versa,” Roots says.
From Standalone to Part of Something Bigger
In 2024, Bend Health was acquired by Lyra Health, a move that Roots describes as a “kismet opportunity.” The two companies share a commitment to outcomes-based care and a belief in supporting the full family ecosystem.
Rather than rushing into changes, the teams are taking integration slowly and thoughtfully. “We’re continuing to serve our Bend families just as they are,” says Roots. “We’re thinking long-term about how this connected experience can help the full family.”
Who It’s Helping
Bend’s impact is especially critical for underserved families, many of whom rely on Medicaid or school-based programs as their only access point for care. Roots warns that cuts to Medicaid and misguided regulation (like those in the MAHA bill) threaten to make things worse.
“Hurting kids only leads to adults who are not going to be doing as well,” she says. “It only adds cost to the system.”
Looking Ahead
Post-acquisition, Bend is doubling down on its specialty programs for higher-acuity patients, like those needing intensive outpatient support or neuropsych testing. The goal? Keep kids out of the ER and inpatient units, and get them the help they need at home, where real life happens.
Final Word
Dr. Roots leads with quiet strength, a “second row” approach that builds up the people around her. “I can’t help every single child myself,” she says. “But I can build the team that does.”
And with Bend Health now part of the Lyra family, that mission has more momentum than ever.
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