Dr. Courtney Tracy created The Truth Doctor to dismantle the stigma around mental health and mental illness. Her original intention was to focus on Instagram where most therapists were providing content. However, as the pandemic began to hit, she downloaded TikTok and created content there to bring relatable, honest, and educational content to the younger generations who needed it most. She had two objectives: Dismantle mental health stigma and tell the truth about her own struggles (something therapists aren't 'supposed' to do). Her goals: Give away $1,000,000 in free mental health education to her online communities, reach 1,000,000 people worldwide, and help 100 therapists tell their story with no fear. To do this, she focused on hashtag usage, engaging with her followers on her platforms, connecting with pre-licensed and licensed therapists on social, and creating courses about anxiety, childhood trauma, forgiveness, and mind/brain mechanisms.
What sets Dr. Tracy's The Truth Doctor brand apart from other mental health or wellness projects is that it involved going against the "professional" stance of what a therapist should be and instead, being "human": cursing, dancing, showing tattoos, discussing her own anxiety and personality disorder. She wanted to give information to others for free and be an example of what true mental health healing and therapy look like. Her strategy was complete and absolute honesty about real mental health struggles, even as a therapist, and the growth that can take place. The implementation strategy was to hop onto TikTok trends, turn them into mental health educational or relatable moments, and to truly connect with the people in her community. The key features of the project/brand are consistency, honesty, information giving, and relatability.
Dr. Courtney Tracy won the American Influencer Award for the 2021 Nutrition and Wellness Influencer of the Year. She exceeded all of her objectives in 2021 by giving away over $1,000,000 in free mental health courses, has build a community of over 150 therapists who come to her for guidance and education, and has almost reached 2,000,000 followers across her social platforms. She has been featured multiple times in The NY Times, The LA Times, Good Morning America, NBC, CNN, PopSugar, Netflix, and more. She continues to be a voice for the younger generations that is destigmatizing mental illness, mental health, and telling the truth about our struggles, no matter how much people tell us not to.
