Javi Vidal
CEO and Co-founder
Learn that my worth was not in my grades.
I have two: how much I laugh and my level of fatigue.
“We want to learn more about mental health.”
Some requests change the course of a life. Ours came in 2016, during a European educational program on adolescents. And, without knowing it, they had just laid the first stone of what is now WHI Institute.
The origin
That request held something deeper
Every time we opened a space for conversation with teenagers, the same thing happened. We would start out talking about mental health, but we always ended up somewhere else: identity, purpose in life, the pressure to fit in, the fear of not being enough, or the need to feel truly heard.
A shift in perspective
The reality of the classroom inspired us to go beyond creating a one-off activity.
We wanted to understand what really helped teenagers grow with greater wellbeing, confidence, and purpose.
That's when we discovered an idea that transformed how we understand health: people don't thrive because they avoid difficulties, but because they develop the inner resources to face them.
Suddenly, many of the conversations, experiences, and research of recent years began to fall into place.
That approach had a name.
Salutogenesis.
Backed by decades of scientific research.
2016 → Today The need and the direction were clear.
The need and the direction were clear.
Now it was time to build an answer.
And what began as a European educational program turned into years of testing, conversations, pilots, and collaboration with schools and universities.
Ongoing research to understand, support, and strengthen adolescent mental wellbeing — and to truly improve young people's lives.
- Conversations
- Trials
- Pilots
- Universities
- Schools
- Today
The team also cultivates what it seeks to understand
WHI grows with different backgrounds: education, psychology, data, technology, and support. The team's diversity helps us look at adolescent mental health from more than one angle.
Ángela Jordana
Co-founder and Advisor
Knowing what to do with all those thoughts and feelings I had and would have preferred not to have.
The peace I feel with that lingering sense of joy.
Montse Gorchs
CRO and Co-founder
“At 15, I would have liked to…”
“My personal well-being indicator is…”
Alexandra del Pozo
Clinical Psychologist & Customer Success
Learn that choosing a path does not mean you cannot change it later.
Noticing if I have energy, memory, patience, and humor, or if I feel like I cannot keep up with everything.
Oscar Raya
PhD in AI Applied to Mental Health
To learn that I could say no when asked for something.
My level of fatigue or insomnia, my feeling of stress, and whether I eat excessively.
David Marei Farouk
AI & Data Scientist
That it is normal to experience difficulties and not be too hard on myself when I fail.
I practice resilience by noticing how long I can maintain my inner peace when life gets tough.
Santi Torres
Expert adolescent psychologist
For someone to have taught me how my mind and emotions work—ultimately, to know who I am.
I calibrate my well-being by the level of anxiety and peace of mind I feel.
SP
Sheila Prado
Business Development
Knowing that sports help me self-regulate.
How many times a month I go out into nature.
We don't have all the answers yet.
But we believe this question
deserves a lifetime devoted
to trying to find them.
If this conversation matters to you too, we'd love to meet you.
Let's talk