( ENSPIRE Health & Wellness ) Goodson Reshapes Wellness For Underserved Communities
Timika Goodson is the Founder & CEO of Diverse Health, a fast-growing virtual care company that delivers competent primary care and mental health services nationwide. Through Goodson’s experience as a Black woman, mother, and military spouse, she draws from her expertise as a dual-certified nurse practitioner and visionary healthcare leader. Diverse Health is dedicated to serving underserved communities through diverse healthcare. Goodson is an advocate for closing care gaps and advancing equitable and culturally aligned healthcare. Diverse Health operates by reshaping the way healthcare is delivered through matching providers who understand the culture and values of their patients.
Goodson is offering healthcare for all, one step at a time. Many individuals in underserved communities struggle to access healthcare and find doctors who can provide services tailored to their unique needs, especially when these needs are influenced by personal factors that can lead to the most effective treatment. Goodson shares her journey of becoming a nurse practitioner, including the hurdles and successes she faced in creating Diverse Health. In addition, she delves into mental health care and the importance within underserved communities. Lastly, she discusses the influences of being a Black woman, mother, and military spouse that shaped Diverse Health’s mission and approach to patient care. Furthermore, Goodson specifies the various ways Diverse Health has leveraged virtual platforms to break down barriers and provide comprehensive care.
Could you start off by sharing with us your journey to becoming a nurse practitioner and health care leader, and what trials and tribulations did you go through to create Diverse Health?
Becoming a nurse was never just about a career; it was my calling. I studied health education and promotion at Morgan State University, and right after graduating, I decided to continue to nursing school. I was pregnant with my oldest daughter when I started my entry-level master’s program at the University of Maryland. Balancing clinical, coursework, and motherhood was tough, but it gave me a deeper connection to what so many women and working parents go through when accessing care.
Over time, I became a dual-certified nurse practitioner in both family practice and psychiatry. I’ve worked in tribal communities, rural towns, and busy urban clinics, and what I saw again and again was how often people of color and marginalized groups weren’t getting care that truly reflected their needs. That’s what drove me to launch Diverse Health. It started with a simple vision: to make high-quality, culturally aligned care easier to access no matter where someone lives or what they’ve been through. Starting and scaling a business without the funding or support that many larger companies have hasn’t been easy, but it’s been worth every challenge to create something rooted in purpose.
Could you elaborate on what culturally competent mental health care truly entails and why it’s especially crucial for underserved communities?
Culturally competent care means meeting people where they are, not just physically, but emotionally, spiritually, and culturally. It’s about listening without bias, asking deeper questions, and understanding how things like race, gender identity, trauma, or even faith impact someone’s health and how they respond to care.
For underserved communities, especially those that the healthcare system has historically excluded or mistreated, culturally aligned mental health support is essential. It helps rebuild trust. At Diverse Health, we train our clinicians to recognize the full picture of someone’s life, not just the diagnosis on paper. That mindset shapes every interaction we have, and it’s part of why our model works.
How have your experiences as a Black woman, mother, and military spouse directly influenced the development of Diverse Health’s mission and its approach to patient care?
Being a Black woman, mother, and military spouse has shaped every part of who I am—and every part of the work I do. I’ve had to juggle building a business while raising two daughters and navigating cross-country moves for my husband’s Navy career. There were times I was searching for a therapist who looked like me, or a doctor who understood how stress and systemic bias affect our bodies. I know how hard it is to find that kind of care because I’ve lived it.
So when I started Diverse Health, I wasn’t just trying to fill a gap; I was building something I wish had existed for me. Our model centers care about people’s real-life experiences. We don’t separate someone’s culture or identity from their symptoms; we consider it all part of their story.
In what specific ways is Diverse Health leveraging virtual platforms to break barriers and provide primary care and mental health services to underserved communities?
We use virtual care to make healthcare less complicated and more accessible. With just a phone or a tablet, our patients can connect with a provider they trust—no long wait times, no bus rides across town, no awkward conversations with someone who doesn’t “get it.” We serve people in over 30 states with a network of providers who reflect the communities they work with. Beyond primary and mental health care, we also offer services such as health education, chronic illness coaching, and provider matching to ensure people are paired with someone who understands them. Our goal is to remove as many barriers as possible. Virtual care isn’t just convenient—it’s a tool for equity when done right.
Diverse Health operates in 30-plus states with over 50 clinicians. They are on track to serve 200,000+ patients by 2025. By prioritizing understanding, empathy, and cultural alignment, Timika Goodson and her team provide medical services, foster trust, and promote healing. Her journey reminds us that true innovation springs from lived experience and that embracing diversity and equitable healthcare will improve our future. For more information, visit https://mydiversehealth.com/ or follow Goodson’s Instagram.
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