Ali Ahmadi, a Navy veteran and nuclear field engineer, became a caregiver for his mother-in-law after she was diagnosed with lymphoma. He and his wife turned to the state’s Department of Health Services for help.

“What the state thought we needed was respite, in-home care, possibly adult daycare resources,” said Ahmadi. “It turns out what we needed was marriage counseling … My wife and I were struggling with giving care. We were struggling with our caregiving duties. And we were on the verge of divorce.”

That experience would lead Ahmadi to co-found a Madison-based startup called TCARE in 2014 that, using an evidence-based approach developed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, connects people who care for sick, elderly or disabled loved ones with the help they need to avoid burnout or a crisis.