New telehealth partnership pairs menopause specialists with integrative psychiatry to treat perimenopause and menopause symptoms, mind and body together
Holistic mental wellness provider Better U and menopause care company Evernow, available to women in all 50 states, have announced a strategic partnership to bring hormonal health and mental health care together for women across the United States.
The partnership combines Evernow’s specialized expertise in menopause and hormone therapy with Better U’sb integrative psychiatry, therapy and whole-body wellness services. Together, the two companies aim to close one of the biggest gaps in women’s healthcare by treating the physical and emotional sides of perimenopause and menopause as one connected experience.
The collaboration brings together Dr. Ellamarie Russo-DeMara, DO, MSCP, Medical Director at Evernow, and Dr. Janette Leal, MD, Executive Physician and Medical Director at Better U Clinical. Dr. Russo-DeMara is a board-certified OB/GYN with more than 30 years of clinical experience and has been a Menopause Society Certified Practitioner since 2009. Dr. Leal is a board-certified psychiatrist trained in internal medicine and psychiatry, with a geriatric psychiatry fellowship at Mayo Clinic.
Since its inception, Better U has focused on redefining mental healthcare across the United States through integrative and preventative telehealth care models. Both companies recognize that millions of women experience menopause symptoms for years with limited guidance, support, or access to specialized care, and share a goal of bringing modern, accessible women’s healthcare to a generation who’ve historically been overlooked.
Dr. Russo-DeMara’s approach centers on comprehensive, patient-focused treatment that combines evidence-based medicine with education, empathy, and holistic support. Her commitment is also deeply personal, having experienced early menopause following chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer.
Dr. Russo-DeMara, Medical Director at Evernow, said: “Going through menopause after chemotherapy showed me how disorienting these changes can be, even for someone who treats them for a living. I kept thinking about the women who don’t have that knowledge and are trying to make sense of it alone. That thought has shaped my work ever since.
“We’ve always believed menopause care should reach beyond hormones. Women in perimenopause and menopause are one of the most underserved populations in medicine, and too many are dismissed, misdiagnosed, or sent home with a prescription and no one ever looking at their hormones. Partnering with Better U lets us care for the whole woman, her hormones, her mood, her sleep and her sense of self, with a team that works together.”
Hormonal health is increasingly recognized as a major yet often overlooked factor in women’s mental health, contributing to perimenopause and menopause symptoms such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, irritability, and brain fog.
Dr. Leal, Executive Physician and Medical Director at Better U Clinical, added: “As a psychiatrist, I see this every week. A woman in her forties comes in with new anxiety, broken sleep and brain fog, convinced she’s losing herself. Very often the biology tells a different story. Estrogen helps regulate serotonin and dopamine, and a progesterone byproduct called allopregnanolone acts on the same calming GABA receptors that help us sleep. When those hormones start to swing in perimenopause, the brain feels it.
“Too many of these women were told it was stress or just getting older. Giving them the real explanation changes everything. Once a woman understands what’s happening in her body, the shame lifts and she can start working with her body instead of against it.
“This partnership pairs psychiatry with deep menopause expertise, so we can finally treat mind and body as the connected system they’ve always been.”
Founder of Better U, Derek Du Chesne, said: “Every woman deserves to be heard the first time she asks for help. I’m deeply grateful to partner with Evernow, Dr. Leal and Dr. Russo-DeMara to raise the standard of care by supporting mental and physical health together, and to bring that care to women wherever they live.”
Better U aims to redefine preventative women’s healthcare through innovations including advanced hormone monitoring, helping shift care from reactive treatment to proactive monitoring and prevention.
Through the partnership, women in perimenopause and menopause who are living with depression or anxiety that hasn’t improved with other treatments can also be evaluated for Better U’sat-home ketamine therapy. Each patient is screened by a licensed psychiatric clinician, and when clinically appropriate, ketamine is prescribed off-label and paired with integration coaching and ongoing support. Ketamine therapy does not treat menopause itself and is not right for everyone.
