Sympathiq’s practical approach to AI and wellbeing support
Irina Duisimbekova, Founder CEO of Sympathiq, founded a service connecting people with vetted therapists, coaches and wellbeing specialists, alongside tailored corporate wellbeing and leadership programmes. This conversation explores where AI is helping, why personal outreach still matters, and how Sympathiq plans to measure customer discovery.
Use AI to reduce admin and help people navigate specialist options, while keeping human oversight over sensitive decisions and personal judgment in relationship-based outreach. For the next 12 months, prioritize trust, partnerships and measuring what turns interest into bookings over adding tools for their own sake.
What’s the quick origin story of your business, and what makes what you do genuinely different from the other options your customers are looking at?
I founded SympathiQ because finding trusted wellbeing support often feels fragmented and overwhelming, especially when you’re already under pressure. We bring vetted therapists, coaches and wellbeing specialists together in one place, with transparent session pricing, straightforward online booking and video sessions. Individuals can choose support across different areas of their lives, while employers can build tailored wellbeing and leadership programmes around their teams’ needs.
Where does most of your new business come from today, and where do you wish it came from?
Today, most new business opportunities come through founder-led outreach, personal referrals, partnerships and events, particularly for corporate wellbeing programmes. We want to build a more predictable flow of individual bookings through organic search, social media and trusted partner referrals, alongside recurring corporate contracts.
What’s one thing you’ve actually handed over to AI in the last year, and one thing you tried it on and went back to doing the human way?
I’ve handed over first drafts of marketing content, proposals and pitch materials to AI, which helps me move faster as a founder. We’re also developing an AI matching tool to help people find the right therapist, coach or wellbeing specialist on SympathiQ. I tried AI for partnership outreach too, but returned to personally shaping each message—relationships need context, warmth and my own voice.
Have you noticed a change in how customers find you or what they already know before they reach out? Is anyone arriving through AI assistants like ChatGPT yet?
We’re still early, so we don’t yet have enough data to confirm a clear change in how customers find us or whether anyone is arriving through AI assistants like ChatGPT. It’s a channel we want to understand and measure as we grow, alongside search, social media and partner referrals.
If you were advising someone in your industry on all of this for the next 12 months, what would you tell them to actually do, and what would you tell them to ignore?
Focus on earning trust, making it easier to find the right specialist and measuring what turns interest into bookings. Use AI to reduce admin and help people navigate their options, while keeping human oversight over sensitive decisions. Ignore the pressure to put AI into everything or chase every new tool—over the next 12 months, stronger partnerships and a simpler customer experience will matter more than hype.
Thank you to Irina Duisimbekova and the team at Sympathiq for sharing what actually worked with Leaders Perception readers.
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