One mental health vendor across the whole portfolio.
A leadership-tier mental health channel Operating Partners can deploy once, at the fund level, and roll out across every portfolio company. A single MSA, per-portco pricing, and aggregate reporting. Built for the founders and executives the value-creation plan depends on.
via telehealth
licensed clinicians
and 3 hours
out-of-network
A portfolio operating resource, deployed once and used everywhere.
This page is for Operating Partners, portfolio operations leaders, and talent partners at private equity firms scoping a single mental health vendor to deploy across portfolio companies under one master agreement. If that is you, the rest of this page is the briefing document.
CEREVITY operates as a clinical network with direct relationships between the network, the clinicians, and each portfolio company. There is no third-party broker layer. Executives are matched, not first-served. Scheduling and intake run through CEREVITY infrastructure. Care is private-pay and out-of-network, which is what lets a single fund-level MSA cover leaders across portfolio companies of very different sizes, sectors, and benefits maturity.
Our clinicians are independent licensed professionals, many with direct experience treating founders and senior operators. CEREVITY exists because the value-creation plan rests on a small number of people in each portco, and the benefits stack those portcos run was scoped for the general workforce, not for the leadership tier the firm is underwriting.
The value-creation plan rests on a handful of leaders, and the portco benefits stack was never built for them.
A firm can standardize a payroll provider, a 401(k), and a benefits broker across the portfolio. The mental health of the founders and executives running the value-creation plan is not on that list, and the reasons leaders do not use the existing stack are inherent to how it was scoped.
Founders and senior operators present with a recognizable profile: chronic anxiety about performance and runway, identity erosion that comes from being indistinguishable from the company, the isolation of a role no one else in the org can share, and the specific pressure of hitting a thesis on a fund timeline. These are not the workforce-wide concerns a portco EAP was built to address. They are the presenting issues of the exact people the firm is counting on.
A portco EAP is structurally important for the broader team, but it is scoped around acute, broadly applicable support with capped sessions, and it varies wildly across a portfolio. It is not a private-pay channel for ongoing depth-oriented work, and it is not built for the confidentiality posture a founder requires when the firm sitting on their board also controls their tenure.
What changes when the channel is built around this profile: one vendor deployed once at the fund level instead of a different arrangement per portco, matched clinicians experienced with founders and operators, session formats long enough to do real work, and a confidentiality posture that gives the firm aggregate utilization without any window into who engaged.
What CEREVITY clinicians actually treat in the portfolio leadership tier.
The clinical scope is built around the presenting profile of founders and senior operators under PE ownership, not the workforce-wide profile a portco EAP is built for.
Performance and runway anxiety
The chronic, structural stress of carrying the plan against a fund timeline. Different from acute stress, and treated differently. The most common presenting issue among portfolio-company leaders.
Identity fusion with the company
When the founder and the company become indistinguishable, the work of separating self from role is its own clinical project. Acute through fundraises, pivots, and any moment the company's fate feels like the person's fate.
Isolation of the seat
The CEO seat is one no one else in the org can occupy or share. The board is not a confidant. The isolation of leadership-level dynamics is itself a treatable issue, and a common one.
High-functioning anxiety
Performance maintained at cost. The board deck looks fine, the metrics hold, the cost is invisible until it is not. Common in operators who have learned to perform composure regardless of internal state.
Founder-to-operator transitions
Being asked to professionalize, to bring in a layer above or beside you, or to step into or out of the CEO role post-close. These transitions are clinical events, not just org-chart events.
Sleep disruption and depletion
Chronic sleep loss is one of the most-cited drivers of founder distress and one of the first capacities to erode. A measurable, treatable issue rather than a badge of commitment.
Burnout under the plan
The sustained erosion of capacity under the value-creation plan's demands. Recovery capacity goes first, then judgment and decision quality follow, exactly where a leveraged business can least afford it.
Post-exit identity and depressurization
The sudden depressurization after an exit or a major liquidity event has a clinical signature. The intensive session format was built partly for the integration work this requires.
Three session formats, each chosen for the work.
Most benefits programs offer one session length. CEREVITY offers three, because different kinds of clinical work need different amounts of time. The choice is made between the clinician and the executive, not by what a payor will reimburse.
The steady cadence of ongoing therapy. Most clients spend most of their care in this format.
For work that needs more room than a standard hour. Focused work on a specific transition or decision.
For work that needs uninterrupted time to reach resolution within a single session rather than broken across weeks.
Because CEREVITY operates outside the insurance reimbursement model, session length is set by the clinical work, not by what a payor will reimburse. That is the structural reason all three formats can exist on the same network, and the same network can serve every portfolio company.
Ready to scope a portfolio-wide briefing?
Briefings are scoped to your fund and portfolio. We respond personally within 48 business hours with proposed times and any prepared materials relevant to the MSA structure and per-portco rollout you are evaluating.
Request a briefingHow a executive gets matched, in five steps.
Matched, not first-served. Here is the process that produces the match for an executive, the same way at every portfolio company.
The eligible individual submits a confidential intake form covering presenting issues, modality preference, professional context, and scheduling parameters. The form is operated by CEREVITY, not by a broker.
Intake is reviewed by CEREVITY's clinical leadership against the network's active capacity, current licensure footprint, and modality availability. This is the step that does not exist in an EAP.
A specific clinician in the network is matched to the executive based on the review. The executive receives the match with the clinician's profile, modality, and credentials, plus a direct online scheduling link.
The executive schedules directly through CEREVITY infrastructure. No phone handoff. First sessions are typically scheduled within 5 to 10 business days of the match.
Care continues with the matched clinician on the cadence the clinical work requires, in 50-minute, 90-minute, or 3-hour sessions, without an employer-imposed cap.
Capability comparison for PE Portfolio Companies.
A vendor evaluation framework on the dimensions that matter when scoping a leadership-tier offering for executives. Both models have a place. They are designed for different populations.
| Dimension | Typical EAP | Executive-tier point solution | CEREVITY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Network model | Broker layer between firm and roster of contractors; scales well to workforce-wide coverage | Single-vendor platform with W-2 or contracted clinician pool | Independent clinical network with direct relationships, no broker layer |
| Clinician assignment | First contractor to reply with availability; optimized for speed-to-first-session | Algorithmic matching on intake-form inputs | Clinical review of intake by network leadership against active capacity |
| Intake and scheduling | Phone handoff to clinician's line; verbal scheduling on callback | App-based intake; in-app scheduling | Network-operated intake; direct online scheduling, no phone handoff |
| Session formats | Standard 50-minute; capped session counts per issue | Standard 45 to 50-minute sessions | 50-minute, 90-minute, and 3-hour formats; no employer-imposed cap |
| Clinical scope | Acute, broadly applicable workforce concerns; intentionally generalist | Workforce-wide therapy and coaching, with executive tier branded on top | Built around presenting issues specific to PE Portfolio Companies |
| Modality fit | Generalist talk therapy; modality-agnostic roster | Generalist therapy; some specialty referral | CBT, DBT, and psychodynamic clinicians, matched to presenting issue and modality preference at intake |
| Reach | National via roster density; varies by region | National via telehealth, with roster density variation | Nationwide via telehealth across all 50 states |
| Payment model | Firm-sponsored; covered through benefits plan | Per-employee-per-month seat pricing | Private-pay; out-of-network; structured through partnership agreement |
| Firm visibility | Aggregate utilization reporting; broker-mediated | Vendor dashboards with engagement and utilization metrics | Administrative reporting only; no clinical content visible |
| Where each model fits | Workforce-wide acute support | Mid-tier ongoing care with executive add-on | PE Portfolio Companies, end-to-end |
What the firm sees, and what the firm does not.
For a leadership-tier-tier mental health channel to function, the participating executive has to trust that engaging with it does not create firm visibility into their care. CEREVITY is designed around that requirement.
- Confirmation that contracted services were provided to eligible individuals.
- Aggregate utilization at the partnership level, where contractually appropriate.
- Invoicing and eligibility reconciliation.
- Nothing tied to a specific named executive's clinical content.
- Whether a specific named executive has scheduled, attended, or engaged with care.
- What clinical issues are being addressed, or which clinician is assigned.
- Session notes, treatment plans, diagnostic information, or progress data.
- Any attendance detail at the individual level.
Clinicians in the network are independent licensed professionals operating under their own licensure and the confidentiality and privacy obligations that attach to it. Protected health information is held within the clinical infrastructure and is not transmitted to the partner organization, and the agreements governing it are defined in writing before the partnership goes live.
Clinical records, session content, and individual engagement data sit inside the clinical platform and are not shared with the partner organization. The administrative layer is structurally separate from the clinical layer.
Eligibility lists are maintained on the partner side and confirmed against the network side at the point of intake. Administering eligibility does not require the partner to receive clinical information back.
A Business Associate Agreement is executed where the partnership structure requires it. The partnership agreement defines the administrative reporting scope explicitly, in writing, before the partnership goes live.
What the first 30 days look like.
The hardest part of a leadership-tier-tier partnership is not the contract. It is the period between signature and the first executive in care. Here is how CEREVITY runs that period.
A 60-minute kickoff with your team and CEREVITY's partnership lead. We confirm the partnership shape, the eligibility model, the administrative reporting scope, and the internal owner on your side. The Business Associate Agreement, where applicable, is executed in this window.
Your team provides the eligible-individual list in the format your administrative systems support. CEREVITY confirms it against the network side and establishes the verification path that runs at the point of intake. No clinical data flows backward; only eligibility confirmation flows forward.
CEREVITY provides a confidential, leadership-tier-appropriate internal comms template explaining the benefit, the privacy posture, and how to access intake. Your team adapts it to your voice. The communication is designed to be received without stigma.
Eligible individuals begin intake on their own cadence. First sessions are typically scheduled within 5 to 10 business days of each intake. By day 30, the partnership is operational and your internal owner has a quarterly review cadence with the CEREVITY partnership lead.
The business case for the Operating Partner.
Three axes the deal and operations team can defend in an investment-committee or portfolio-review conversation. The numbers will vary by fund; the structural argument does not.
Leadership retention protects the thesis.
A founder or CEO departure mid-hold is one of the most expensive events in a portfolio: it stalls the value-creation plan, triggers a search, and resets execution risk on the whole investment. Retention math at the leadership tier looks nothing like workforce retention math. A leadership-tier channel pays for itself across very few prevented departures.
Leadership capacity is a leveraged input.
A CEO running at reduced capacity is not a proportional loss. It is a leveraged loss across every decision, every hire, and every board cycle, in a business that is itself financially leveraged. Recovery of leadership capacity flows downstream through the entire portfolio company.
A portfolio benefit is a platform and diligence signal.
LPs increasingly ask how firms support portfolio leadership, and founders increasingly weigh a firm's operating support when they choose whose capital to take. A named, confidential, portfolio-wide mental health channel is a differentiator in competitive deals and a defensible answer in an LP or value-creation conversation.
Questions executives and their teams ask first.
Clinicians in the CEREVITY network are independently licensed professionals operating under their own licensure and the confidentiality and privacy obligations that attach to it. The handling of any protected health information, and the specific agreements that govern it including any Business Associate Agreement, are defined in writing before the partnership goes live, scoped to the fund-level master agreement and to each participating portfolio company.
No. Administrative reporting only. The firm receives confirmation that contracted services were provided to eligible individuals and aggregate utilization where contractually appropriate. Neither the firm nor any portco board sees whether a specific named executive has scheduled, attended, or engaged, what clinical issues are being addressed, or which clinician is assigned. This is contractually scoped before the partnership goes live, and the boundary is identical at every portco.
CEREVITY contracts once with the firm under a master services agreement, then deploys to participating portfolio companies under that umbrella. Pricing is structured per portco based on the eligible leadership population at each, so a firm can roll the channel out across the portfolio without negotiating a new agreement for every company. The exact structure is defined in the briefing.
No. CEREVITY is a structural complement. Most portcos keep their existing EAP for workforce-wide coverage and add CEREVITY as the leadership-tier private-pay channel for ongoing depth-oriented work. The two operate at different tiers and do not conflict.
No. CEREVITY is private-pay and out-of-network by design. The structure is intentional: it is the only way to deliver the clinical scope, session formats, and confidentiality posture leadership requires, and to keep the channel structurally separate from both the portco and the firm.
Pricing depends on the master-agreement structure and the size of the eligible leadership population at each portfolio company. The briefing call is where we identify the right structure, including which leaders are eligible and how rollout sequences across the portfolio, and the cost falls out of that, not the other way around.
First sessions are typically scheduled within 5 to 10 business days of intake, depending on modality requirements and scheduling parameters. The intake and matching experience is identical at every portfolio company.
Through a briefing call. Use the form below or email [email protected] directly. Briefings are scoped to your fund; we respond personally within 48 business hours.
Tell us about your portfolio. We respond within 48 business hours.
Briefings are scoped to your fund. Share a few details below and we will respond personally with proposed times and any prepared materials relevant to the portfolio-wide leadership channel you are evaluating.
The structural argument on this page is based on the firsthand experience of CEREVITY clinicians who have served on EAP panels, combined with widely-published industry estimates of EAP utilization and PE Portfolio Companies-specific data where cited. Specific contractual scopes, including the administrative reporting boundary and the BAA structure, are confirmed in writing in the partnership agreement before any partnership goes live.
