From personal recovery to population health: in conversation with Sean Bailey
When demand for a service outpaces its capacity, most organisations face a difficult choice: continue stretching already limited resources or find a new way of working.
For Sean Bailey, founder of MySleepHealth, that challenge became the catalyst for innovation.
Built on years of experience delivering sleep support through his non-profit organisation, MySleepHealth is a digital platform designed to make evidence-based sleep interventions more accessible and scalable. The app supports people experiencing insomnia, chronic sleep deprivation and shift work-related sleep challenges, alongside families navigating ADHD and autism-related sleep difficulties.
The business is part of Citizen First LCR, a Liverpool City Region initiative supporting entrepreneurs to develop ventures rooted in lived experience and community need. Delivered by Public Life and supported through the University of Liverpool’s Civic Health Innovation Labs (CHIL) and the VEC, the programme helps founders transform ideas into scalable businesses capable of delivering real-world impact.
For Sean, the journey into sleep support began long before MySleepHealth existed.
Following a serious spinal cord injury, he experienced first-hand the role that sleep plays in recovery and overall health. As he learned more about the science behind sleep, he was struck by how little practical support was available to people struggling with sleep-related challenges. That experience would eventually lead him to establish sleep support services in the community, helping individuals and families improve their sleep through evidence-based interventions. As demand grew, so did the need for a new approach.
"We were getting unprecedented referrals, from NHS and GP referrals through to schools and self-referrals. The demand just kept growing."
While the need for support was clear, traditional service delivery could only reach so many people.
"If I'm working five days a week in our current sleep clinic, I can support around 200 people a year - that's it."
The solution that Citizen First LCR has helped unlock was fundamentally rethinking how support could be delivered. MySleepHealth digitises therapeutic sleep interventions through a personalised app that combines sleep reporting, analysis, evidence-based guidance and smart recommendations. Users follow tailored pathways based on their individual circumstances, while data collected through sleep diaries helps shape ongoing support and intervention recommendations.
When Sean joined Citizen First LCR, the original plan was to adapt an existing white-label product. Through support from the University of Liverpool's VEC, that vision changed significantly.
"We thought we were going to buy something off the shelf and build around it. What the VEC have built is our own platform. We can manage it ourselves and develop it however we need to."
That shift has dramatically increased the platform's long-term potential. By combining digital delivery with clinical expertise, Sean estimates the platform could increase the number of people supported within his service from around 200 annually to more than 1,200. Future developments could increase that capacity further still.
Alongside technical development, Citizen First LCR has provided access to expertise, networks and opportunities that have accelerated the growth of the business.
"Getting access to people with that level of experience, capability and knowledge has been unbelievable. Sitting in little old Halton, I never thought we'd get access to anything like that."
Those connections are already opening doors across the health and innovation ecosystem. The business has benefited from introductions to investors, mentors, researchers and senior healthcare leaders, helping Sean build a strong foundation for future growth.
"All of these opportunities started through the programme. We've now got a board of directors, investment conversations and opportunities to work with organisations we never would have reached otherwise."
Looking ahead, the coming months represent a significant milestone for the business. The first external users are now testing the platform, while discussions continue with healthcare providers, community organisations and employers interested in using the technology to support their own populations. At the same time, Sean is preparing for investment conversations that could help accelerate development and bring the platform to even more users.
Beyond commercial growth, Sean sees opportunities to expand the platform's impact into new areas, including dementia support, workplace wellbeing and large-scale population health interventions.
For organisations interested in improving sleep health outcomes, testing innovative digital interventions or exploring research and partnership opportunities, MySleepHealth is actively seeking collaborators.
As Sean puts it: "We're really open to working with partners. If there's a fit, we'd love to hear about it."
Click here to reach out to Sean via email.