Beginning Our Next Chapter: Introducing torchlight

Today is a momentous day for our company, as we announce our new name – torchlight – and begin the next chapter of guiding those who find themselves torn between full-time work commitments and caring for family members.

Our company was born out of my desire to help others address real-life challenges associated with providing the best possible care for our loved ones. Unbeknownst to me at the time, my mission started in my teens, when I was helping care for my aunt, Pauline, who had an Autism Spectrum Disorder as well as other disabilities. Aunt Pauline was incredibly smart – crowned the spelling bee champ of Boston– but was bullied, beaten and called unspeakable names. I drove her to therapy, doctors’ appointments, and learned how to de-escalate her tantrums and explain her “crazy talk” to others. 

After business school, I became a management consultant, then an early Internet evangelist. It was all very exciting at the time, but there was something missing for me. On a flight home from Silicon Valley, I had an epiphany: Like my mother Leslie, one of the nation’s first educational consultants guiding parents of children with special needs, I felt compelled to make a career out of what mattered most to me personally. Ultimately, my mom and I went into business together, building a practice that received international acclaim. But I was frustrated that we couldn’t help more people – we were turning away, almost daily, families who couldn’t afford our concierge-level of services, but who desperately needed our guidance. At the same time, we were working with many large companies, running seminars, webinars and clinics to help employees who had children with special needs, as well as taking a rapidly-increasing volume of calls from Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) whose clinicians were frequently asked by callers how to find appropriate services and resources for their children with special educational, medical, and behavioral needs.

This is when the light bulb went off. Merging my business background with the experience my mom and I had gained in practice together, I set off to create a technology-based solution to deliver our expertise to a broader audience of parents of children with special needs.

That was the beginning of myEdGPS – founded and built by some of the best educational and clinical practitioners in the country. While our platform is designed to be offered by employers, my team and I have focused most on parent engagement. We wanted to assist those who have the most at stake: working parents who are juggling the responsibilities of their jobs with meeting the often complex needs of their children.

As myEdGPS, we’ve provided our proven approach to dozens of companies, covering over a half million employees Now we are transforming into torchlight to expand our mission and elevate our platform to help the modern caregiver. 

Our new name epitomizes the responsibility we’ve assumed as a company in passing the torch to both employers and their employees.  We aim to illuminate what remains invisible and often unaddressed for businesses and families, giving rise to a new movement for the modern caregiver. Not only is it the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do, which is why we maintain that, “Caring is everyone’s business.”

Over the coming weeks, you’ll see a number of exciting announcements from us as we reimagine the company to best serve the needs of modern caregivers.  We hope you visit our blog frequently to learn about the new products and enhancements we will be unveiling and how we can assist you – whether you’re an employer or a caregiver.

Welcome to torchlight. Modern caregiving. Illuminated.