Healthcare that walks with you every step of the way

We are on a mission to destigmatize and demystify mental healthcare for Black families and families who fall within the African diaspora.

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
—AUDRE LORDE

About Candlelit Care

Our Story

As a team born and raised in underserved communities, we’ve experienced caring for ourselves or loved ones with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.

Our Mission

Equitable perinatal mental healthcare you can access from home. Our mission is to Deliver, Destigmatize and Demystify evidence-based mental healthcare for Black families and families of color. We partner with your OB doctor, midwife and doula to bring a care team to you.

Therapy on Your Terms

You receive a dedicated team focused on your needs, goals and can provide meaningful, personalized responses when you feel lost, unmotivated, or need guidance. Our care team approach brings together perinatal care providers to alert & share reports upon request.

Trauma-Informed Approach

We incorporate a strengths framework that promotes a culture of safety and healing. We draw on a variety of practices that are evidence-based, scientifically sound and accepted through critical appraisal.

Culturally Competent Care

We respect and serve culturally diverse backgrounds, languages, values and beliefs. We integrate mind and body interventions, exercise, nutrition that help optimize your health and wellbeing.

Candlelit Care Team

Lauren Elliot, MA, MHFA

Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Lauren Elliott draws from both her personal and professional experience as a Black mom, and public health and communications professional, who experienced a traumatic birth of her now 5-year-old son as she led public mental health campaigns for the City of New York. As CEO, she developed a tool that screens Black mothers for often overlooked stress and social determinants that serve as indicators of perinatal mood disorders and preterm birth, leads research, operations and marketing while championing the vision for the company. Lauren holds an M.A. in Public Affairs Journalism from the University of Illinois.

Diana Yan

VP, Operations

Joel Fickson Ngozo

Product Engineer

Joi Britt

LCSW,Partner Therapist

Our Care Team

Our care team leads with a human-centered approach to perinatal care. Our dedicated care team and external partner network of board-certified health coaches, licensed clinical providers, midwives, doulas and therapists have experience in birth work across hospitals, birth centers, in-home care and beyond.