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Ronan Levy is co-founder and the Executive Chairman of Field Trip Health, a psychedelic assisted treatment business. Ronan joins us to talk about how psychedelic treatments work, what all the hype is about, where we are by way of regulation in the industry and the future use cases of psychedelic treatments.
Prior to Field Trip, he was an early pioneer in the medical cannabis industry which gave him a unique perspective on launching the world’s first integrated company in legal psychedelics. Field Trip currently has operations in North America, the Caribbean and Europe where their goal is to become to leader in medical and therapeutic applications of psychedelics.
Links mentioned in the show:
Ronan Levy on LinkedIn, https://www.fieldtriphealth.com/MAPS Research Results (MDMA used for PTSD treatment)
David Nutt: Psychedelic Psychiatry’s Brave New World (Cell 2020)
NYU End of Life Psychedelic Study (long term positive impact of psychedelics)
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:
Ronan talked about how he found his way into the Psychedelic space by way of the legal cannabis industry from 2013 through 2018.
Ronan told the founding story of Field Trip Health and talked about what exactly they do, and their mission which is to “heal the sick, and better the well, through psychedelic medicine and therapies.” We talked about how psychedelic treatments have been used to cure mental health problems that so far, through other treatments, have only been mitigated, not cured.
Ronan talked about what Field Trip Health does as a company. In addition to covering the obvious stuff around running psychedelic assisted psychotherapy clinics, he explains other components of their business including content creation, and their efforts around drug development.
How do psychedelics work? Ronan took time to explain how psychedelic treatments work by breaking them down into three primary effects:
Psychedelics provide a rather immediate natural anti-depressant effect. Most people report incredibly significant improvement in mood after using psychedelics.
When on a trip, people report re-living or experiencing emotions or events with some degree of objectivity or detachment allowing that person to go back into feelings and emotions from their past and start to process those feelings and embrace emotional healing from those instances.
Following a trip, people experience a period of neural plasticity where the circuitry of your brain is more adept and responsive to change and the influence of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Between the dynamics of the mood improvement, the emotional processing, and the CBT that can accelerate the emotional processing that lead to fundamental changes in our neurology. This is why psychedelics can be so effective.
Some of the clinical trials, such as the trial at MAPS using MDMA to treat PTSD are showing total resolution of all symptoms of PTSD in 70% of people with chronic, severe PTSD. This is fundamentally different than any other treatment for mental health differences on the market today.
We talked about the neuroscience around how psychedelics impact the brain. We discussed how psychedelic treatments impact the “Default Mode Network” (or the “operating system) of the brain). Ronan explains that during a trip, the Default Mode Network is quieted. This is the part of the brain where our “ego” lives.
Our ego is what holds our self-identity and when you can reduce or remove that barrier then you are able to dig into the machinery of how you define yourself and fundamentally address who you are, and address past trauma and pain in a way that leads to real changes.
We talked about the regulatory landscape as well. Ronan explained that he is 100% convinced that psilocybin and MDMA will be removed from schedule 1. The only question is around timing and it could be anywhere from 6 months to 5 years from now depending on who you ask and how things unfold politically.
We talked about how far along MAPS is with their phase 3 study using MDMA for treatment of PTSD and how MAPS has spoken publicly about expecting approval by 2022 or 2023 for their use of MDMA for treating PTSD. We also talked about how synthetic psilocybin developers such as Compass Pathways have indicated progress toward approvals that would lead to widespread use by 2025.
We talked at length about where people can read more to get smart on the psychedelic space. Many of those resources are linked above in the “links” section.
I asked Ronan why now the time for the psychedelic renaissance. He explains that as a society we are going through a mental health and wellbeing revolution. Additionally, research has picked up in earnest at Johns Hopkins, NYU, Imperial College and others on the medical use of psychedelics. At the same time, MAPS has made such enormous progress in showing the effect of MDMA on treating things like PTSD that it is hard to ignore the healing potential. Also, the broader changing attitudes toward cannabis are helping people revisit stigmatized medicines more broadly. And finally, the Opioid crisis has done a lot to destroy trust in big pharma / industrial medical complex which is fueling a desire to find more alternative treatments.
We talked about the differences between the early cannabis industry and the early psychedelic industry as well. The biggest differences that that the renaissance around psychedelics is driven by academic and clinical research. The evidence around psychedelics is much more persuasive than it ever had been for cannabis. There are endless volumes of research pointing to the clinical effectiveness of psychedelics. Some of this is linked above in the “links” section of these show notes.
We also talked about how the industry around psychedelic medicine has emerged versus how the cannabis industry emerged. Cannabis is more of a product focused market where consumer purchase cannabis and use it alone, at home privately. In the psychedelic space, its different. Psychedelic drug delivery is more of a service-based approach. It is not just the drug that matters. It’s the set and setting and the protocols around the trip that matter. It’s not something you can just do at home as easily as you can with cannabis.
Where do we go from here? What is the future of psychedelics? What can it be used to treat?
Ronan explained that mental health use-cases are really the low hanging fruit of psychedelic use-cases. He believes that we can use the anti-inflammatory nature of the drugs to treat things such as wounds, other injuries, and really any condition that includes inflammation . Ronan talked about work currently being done around treating Alzheimer’s patients and how there is also a growing body of evidence around the expansive properties of psychedelic medicines to enhance creativity, empathy, and general wellbeing.
Ronan explains that psychedelic treatments will revolutionize psychiatry to the point where in 20-30 years we will look back on psychiatric practices before psychedelics as barbaric.Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Patreon, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)
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Aimee-Louisse Carton, founder of KeepAppy, shares her story with us which includes getting cornered in a bathroom by an investor at a startup event, where the investor called her “suicide girl.” This investor continued to tell Aimee she would never be able to raise money because of her past suicide attempt.
In this episode, Aimee talks to us about her struggles with mental health and how they did lead her to an attempt on her own life and how that moment has ultimately led her to build something to help many people who have experienced similar pain.
Aimee describes herself as a social entrepreneur, leveraging tech-for-good to destigmatize mental unwellness and to empower people with the tools they need to regain control over their well-being. She is on a mission to create the most comprehensive and engaging wellness app out there, aiming to create something that can be used and made accessible for all!
Her startup, KeepAppy is a mission-driven social enterprise. They are actively seeking partnerships with emergency helplines, student unions and corporate wellness officers across the globe.
Connected with Aimee and KeepAppy: www.keepappy.com, Aimee-Louise Carton on LinkedIn,
Aimee’s Email: [email protected]HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:
We spoke with Aimee about her own mental health journey. She shared about a time when she made an attempt to take her own life at the culmination of mental health, and physical health struggles she had and how that led her to pursue mental health and wellness and ultimately to create her own startup in the space.
We talked about proactive and positive techniques she learned to use to take control of her mental health from a preventative perspective (journaling, goal setting, meditation, and more).
Aimee created Keepappy, just over 1 year ago which has reached over 25,000 people in over 100 countries – we talked about how her journey, and her pain has been turned into a resource to help people all over the world.
Aimee told us about how she has been discriminated against by rather influential investors in her local startup ecosystem because of her mental health past. After a startup event in Ireland, she was cornered in the restroom by an investor who told her that mental health was just a fad, and that she would be forever known as “that suicide girl” and nobody would ever invest in her because they couldn’t trust her.
Aimee talks about how that incident cut her to her core. She felt reduced to one moment in her life and that one moment was going to define her to some people. Many people who struggle with mental health differences feel like they will be defined by that one moment if they come forward and ask for help. This is stigma, and this is what we exist to combat. We are so grateful that people like Aimee are willing to come forward and tell their stories. This is the only way we will ever overcome stigma as a society and encourage people to take care of their mental health broadly.
Thankfully, Aimee and her team were able to overcome that moment and raise their pre-seed round.
I shared with Aimee about a time when I was fundraising when an investor told me I could not raise money because of my past. In the coming weeks, I plan to share more about times when I’ve been singled out and discriminated against because of my past with addiction and bipolar disorder as well.
Aimee and I talked about needing to change the conversation around mental health so that people who need help managing stress, or anxiety etc. feel comfortable coming forward to get help before their problems turn into a major mental health issue that could lead them to where Aimee was with her struggles. Aimee talks about how we spend a lot of time building solutions for the 1 in 4 people who struggle with mental illness, but we also need solutions to help the 3 in 4 who do not technically have an illness, but who do need to proactively manage their mental health just like they manage their physical health on a daily basis.
We also talked about reducing stigma in order to foster more mental health startup creation. Aimee talked about the high concentrations of occurrences of mental health differences within the entrepreneurial ecosystem and how entrepreneurship attracts people with these differences to it, like moths to a flame she said. We’ve talked about this and the numbers that support this claim in past episodes with Dr. Michael Free man and others as well (see episode #2).Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Patreon, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)
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Today’s guest is Johnny Chen, founder, and CEO of Sail. Sail is a coaching community that empowers men to be more vulnerable. The focus of their platform is the “Peloton of the mind” specifically for men.
Sail currently offers several 4-week coaching programs designed specifically for men. These programs are comprised of four, 90-minute sessions on specific topics such as leadership, relationships, emotional intelligence, etc. The groups are comprised of 10 like-minded men who are seeking self-improvement. These programs are a mix of teaching, coaching, and coach-led practice around certain skill sets. It’s a safe space for men to open up learn to share and be vulnerable.
Johnny talks to us in this episode about how they help men learn to focus on training their mental and emotional muscles with a focus on active learning backed by the guidance of a coach and a community of like-minded peers.
Links mentioned in the show: Sail Website, Johnny on LinkedIn, Johnny on Twitter, Sail on Twitter,Join the Sail Men’s Slack Community Here
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:
Johnny shares his personal story about why and how he found his way into the mental health space as an entrepreneur. Johnny set out to build a platform that helps men that changes the narrative around men’s mental health.
We talked about how in America, men have been conditioned to suppress their feelings, “boys don’t cry” and we need to “man up.” The result is that men are 4x more likely to commit suicide, 3x more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs, and 99% of school shooters are men.
We compared the physical fitness revolution to the brewing mental health revolution. We talked about how people spend time working on their physical health, even in the absence of a physical health diagnosis. We need to get men to the place where they seek to work on their mental health, in the absence of a diagnosis.
Johnny talks about who his typical customer is. The profile he described is a male, between 25 and 54 who are hyper focused on improving their lives already. Johnny calls these people “self-optimizers”. They are likely already doing some kind of meditation or yoga, and they may participate in CrossFit or run marathons or some other personal performance challenge activity.
We talked about how we get people who either do not want help, or don’t know that they need help to self-optimize around their mental health. We talked about societal pressures, behavioral norms and how we are conditioned as men to think we can do everything ourselves and we do not need help. Sail is positioning itself to help men get comfortable asking for help even when they are already doing “well.”
Sail products / services:
Coaching Programs – Currently offer several 4-week coaching programs. These programs are comprised of four, 90-minute sessions on specific topics such as leadership, relationships, emotional intelligence, etc. The groups are comprised of 10 like-minded men who are seeking self-improvement. These programs are a mix of teaching, coaching, and coach-led practice around certain skill sets. It’s a safe space for men to open up learn to share and be vulnerable.
Sail Community – A free community where men can come to connect with other men and talk about challenges they are facing around life, career, productivity hacks, relationships, or anything that’s on their mind.Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Patreon, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)
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Dr. Adam Gazzaley, founder of Akili Interactive joins us to talk about the intersection of molecular and experiential treatments for mental health conditions. Akili is the maker of the first ever video game to be approved by the FDA as a digital therapeutic treatment for a clinical condition. We talked about how Adam and his team figured out how to use video games in this manner, how they got approval to do so and the science that proves a video game can help improve cognitive function.
We dig into the future interactions of molecular and experiential medicine and where his revolutionary treatments can take us as we learn to leverage technology to help us get better when it comes to mental health, not tear us down or make us worse which is often how people think of technology these days.In addition to his role as Founder of Akili Interactive, Adam is a co-founder of Jazz Venture Partners, and a professor of Neurology, Psychiatry and Physiology at UCSF. Dr. Adam Gazzaley obtained an M.D. and Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, completed Neurology residency at the University of Pennsylvania, and postdoctoral training at University of California, Berkeley.
Links mentioned in the show: Adam on LinkedIn, https://www.akiliinteractive.com/
Adam’s book: “The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World”
Neuroscape at UCSF, Sensync: The Future of Wellness
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:
Adam Gazzaley joins us to talk about his work in neuroscience and neurology and how he found his way to the startup world and ultimately building the first video game, ever approved by the FDA as a therapeutic treatment (Akili Interactive).
Adam talks about what drew him into the startup world and explains how he really did it out of necessity. The solutions his research was pointing to had not been built and he felt compelled to create what he felt the world needed.
Adam tells the founding story of Akili Interactive, a therapeutic closed-loop video game company. Akili recently obtained FDA approval for their prescription video game for treating mental health differences. EndeavorRx is the name of the gaming platform that was approved by the FDA in June of 2020. Cleared by the FDA as a class 2 medical device to treat children with ADHD.
How can a video game be a therapeutic?
Adam explains how experiences have been used to change our brain for thousands of years and how video games are just another experience. Because video game experiences are highly adaptable, and because we now have technology that allows us to measure how the brain is reacting to experiences, we can craft experiences in real time to target different cognitive functions.
Designing and developing a video game as medicine is an entire process that involves understanding all the complexities of game mechanics, art, music, the story, etc. and combine that with the targeting of specific neural systems. Then there’s the Long slow validation process that takes a lot of time, people, money, etc. This took a decade to accomplish.
Is this the first time the FDA has approved a video game as digital therapeutics?
Yes, this is the first video game of any kind to be approved for clinical treatment by the FDA.
Adam explained how a video game actually helps an individual improve their attention and focus. It works by challenging an individual to focus their attention on a goal, then rapidly move their attention to other goals. Adam and his team found this leads to benefits that could be quantified and later proved that some of those improvements were in abilities not even directly challenged in the game.
We talked about the future, and where this technology can go. Adam explains that he is incredibly optimistic about a future where our technology is not tearing us down or being used to make us lazy or offload us of things that are natural to us, but to really enhance us.
Adam is currently doing research on the intersection of molecular and experiential treatments with a specific focus on psychedelics. He is studying ways to measure the impact of the experience (the set and setting) in which psychedelic treatments are administered. He is using multi-modal biosensing during treatment sessions to understand the impact of the treatment and further develop more personalized and precise treatment plans for individuals.
Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Patreon, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, EmailConnect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures
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Jessica recently published a book called “Wired This Way” on finding mental, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being as an entrepreneur. The book has been called “the essential user’s manual for the entrepreneurial spirit.” I got so much out of this conversation personally, and I am truly humbled and honored that we get to share it with you. I hope you will get as much out of it as I did.
Jessica Carson is the Director of Innovation at the American Psychological Association where she leads the organization’s effort to innovation and product strategy. She has such an incredible and diverse set of experience from her role at the APA to being an expert in residence at Georgetown University, she was formerly a Neuroscience & Psychology Research Fellow at the National Institute of Health (NIH), and a Director at NextGen Venture Partners.
Connect with Jessica: Jessica’s website, Jessica on LinkedInCheck Out Her Book: Wired This Way
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:
Jessica Carson, author of “Wired this Way” joins us and talk about her own personal journey and how she was drawn to the mental health space by her own desire to understand herself. She talks about how she has struggled in the past with her own mental health, and physical health and how some of her greatest, brightest and most productive strengths started to backfire on her because she was doing everything to the extreme.
She talks about how early in her career she found herself fascinated by the duality of traits she saw in creators and entrepreneurs. She talks about the “light” qualities such as ambition, productivity, intuitive, charismatic, open to experiences, etc. and how those light qualities seemed to always be paired with “dark” qualities such as depression, addiction, arrogance, distractibility, and others. She observed that creators are this complex set of “opposites.”
We talked about her book, “Wired this Way”, and how she came to write it based on her own experiences light and dark qualities, what those qualities mean and how we can harness them for good as entrepreneurs.
One of my favorite parts of this talk is when she explains how entrepreneurs can turn their focus toward understanding themselves in order to learn to leverage their light and dark qualities for positive outcomes even after making mistakes along the way.
Jessica explains that a lot of our struggles and strengths are one in the same. This sounds really simple, on the surface, but it’s far more complex than I originally thought. Jessica and I spent time unpacking what that means and how entrepreneurs can leverage knowing this and using it to know themselves better.
We talked about how the “dark” components of entrepreneur mental health have “light” components to them that are an asset to the entrepreneur. Jessica explains this in the context of potential energy, or the difference between north and south poles, or the power differential that exists between positive and negative like with protons and electrons. This differential, or potential energy is a lot of what drives entrepreneurs to great success but if unmanaged, and unchecked can also be the downfall of many great entrepreneurs. We talked about why, and how entrepreneurs can learn to avoid the downsides of their light/dark qualities while maximizing the upsides.
We talked about traits like charisma. Charisma is an essential quality of the entrepreneurial spirit. We discussed how important this trait is for things like fundraising, etc. However, there is also a dark side to charisma. The dark side can include inauthenticity, manipulation, suppressing your feelings, or pretending to be someone else. The stronger the light, one could argue, the stronger the dark side (fake it ‘til you make it, etc.).
We discussed the idea of vulnerability and how we can foster an environment in the startup ecosystem where founders, entrepreneurs, investors, and others can be vulnerable together and how that vulnerability could (and likely will) drive better outcomes for all stakeholders including investors in the long run because creating that space for the entrepreneurs to be well, is what allows them to create, and drive maximum value.
Jessica helped me catalyze this thought that’s been swimming around in my head that my role as an investor is to show up in a way that creates space mentally, emotionally, and physically for my founders to maximize their creativity. This creates maximum value in the long run for everyone. It took me years of self-discovery and people like Jessica to help me realize this.
We talked about why entrepreneurs are blown up by the press and cast aside when they make a mistake. We do not seem to give entrepreneurs room to make mistakes, and improve, and do better. We crucify people who make mistakes and write them off which is perpetuates the negative dynamics in the ecosystem in a way that paying for therapy (by VCs, for founders) is not going to fix.
We discussed how we can do better as investors, entrepreneurs, and an ecosystem when it comes to allowing entrepreneurs to create, win, fail, evolve, improve, and learn themselves, so they can improve and do more, better, faster, further next time. Jessica explains that at the end of the day, the degree of a creator’s self-understanding really drives their ability to leverage their complexity, and the duality of their spirit. This energy to do well exists already, the entrepreneur just needs to be given space to create and leverage that potential energy.
I asked Jessica for advice on how to learn more about myself and get to this place of harnessing the light and the dark qualities of ourselves. She said she encourages us to leverage creative outlets, outside of our primary business pursuits that let our minds explore, think, learn, and digest.Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Patreon, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)
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Charlie Hartwell and his wife, Maureen Pelton, MSSW, join us this week to talk about their experiences in the mental health space.
Charlie is the Managing Partner at Bridge Builders Collaborative, the most active investor in the mental health startup space over the last decade by far and co-founder of the ShiftIt Institute. Maureen is a Co-Founder of the ShiftIt Institute, is a pioneer in the field of embodiment - aligning our true nature, attuning our highest potential, and holding space for divinity.
I view Charlie as a mentor and trailblazer in the mental health startup investment domain. In this episode I asked him for some advice on the space, how to be a better investor, and what responsibility we have as investors in this space broadly.
Links mentioned in the show:
Maureen on Twitter, Charlie on Twitter, Maureen’s Course In Conscious Breathing on Insight Timer, https://www.shiftit.com
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:
Bridge Builders Collaborative is one of the most active, if not the most active, investor in the mental health startup space. I talked to Charlie about how they found their way into investing in this space, how they view the space and how Bridge Builders Collaborative operates as an investing group.
We talked and traded ideas about the white space in the mental health startup space and what we are both seeing by way of investment opportunity including what we’ve focused on lately, and where we want to be focused in the near future.
Maureen recently launched a conscious breathing course on the Insight Timer app. She talked to me about what conscious breathing is, her course, and explained the impacts of conscious breathing on us as people and why it’s important. She explains what proper breathing is, what sciences tells us about breathing, and the simplicity of breathing as a tool to regulate ourselves.
I spent some time asking Charlie and Maureen for some personal mentorship and advice on being an investor in the mental health space. We also talked about what responsibilities investors in this space have not only to make good investments, but more broadly, when it comes to the greater well being of not just founders, but society at large.
I asked Charlie and Maureen for advice on how we can “do no harm” as investors in this space and avoid funding things that don’t work, or could hurt people because we are not doctors or experts in the science of clinical effectiveness. They gave me some excellent insights.
Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Patreon, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures
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We are trying something new. We want to leverage our platform to tell the story of those entrepreneurs who are building in the mental health space that do not get the air time they deserve.
In this new segment, you will hear from a handful of mental health startup founders. Each of these entrepreneurs has been given 3 minutes, uninterrupted, un-edited, to tell their story. They will explain why they are working in this space, what are they building, and how far along are they.
We intend to publish founder spotlights a couple times a month.This is not a fundraising pitch. In fact, some of these entrepreneurs are not building what you would consider a venture-backed business (however, some are). This is not intended to be "shark tank."
Featured in this episode:
Resurgo - https://www.resurgo.co/
MiResource - https://www.miresource.com
Listening Inn - http://www.listeninginn.com/
Bipolar Documentary - https://www.bipolardocumentary.com/
ARC Fitness Ltd - http://www.arcfitness.co.uk/
Other Links Mentioned:Mental Health Startup Slack Community
Stigma Podcast Patreon Page
Provide visibility for entrepreneurs building mental health solutions. You aren't going to be hearing from the high flying, big names in the space like Ginger, Mindstrong, and others here. This is a place to learn about the founders who receive less fanfare, and less attention.
The purpose of this new segment is to leverage our platform for a few things:
Connect entrepreneurs to people who may be able to help them.
Give our audience a sense of what ideas are being built which may encourage more people to get involved in the space and maybe even help match talent, resource, and capital with entrepreneurs.Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Patreon, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)
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Today’s guest is Richard Skaife. Richard is Founder of the Conscious Fund which invests in early stage startups pioneering plant powered medicine with a focus on psychedelics. To date, they have invested in startups such as ATAI Life Sciences, Bexson Biomedical, Cybin, Gilgamesh, Hive, Microdose, Numinus and more.
Richard talks about how he found his way into VC, and gives a great summary of the psychedelic startup ecosystem including an overview of the current regulatory environment.
Connect with Richard: Richard on Twitter, Conscious Fund on Twitter, Richard on LinkedIn
Other Links Mentioned: 1961 U.N. Drug Convention, https://maps.org/, Psychedelic Industry Job Board
Richard talks about his path to VC and how he ended up starting a plant-based medicine focused venture fund (the Conscious Fund). We talked about why he is drawn to the mental health space and specifically the psychedelics space.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:
The Conscious Fund likes to invest in the earliest stages and looks for founders who have a true alignment with the psychedelic medicine space. They also participate all the way up to series-B as well.
We walked through the regulatory landscape around psychedelics, why they are illegal, and we went all the way back to the 1961 U.N. Drug Convention. We talked about how we got to where we are legally, and where we are going from a regulatory perspective in this space.
The amount of information around efficacy and safety is extensive and we’ve had a lot of that information for many decades and is now being resurfaced.
We talked about the size of the startup market in the psychedelic medicine space. There are probably 140 to 160 companies in the space and there are more entering every day. WE talked about ancillary business opportunities outside of the compounds themselves as well.
Richard explained where the white space in the industry is today. He talked about medical conditions that are not being serviced by other psychedelic medicine companies in areas such as joint pain or specific addictions, etc. He also talked about how wide the ancillary services market is for tech creation.
The Conscious Fund launched a jobs board for the entire psychedelic space as well. Link here: https://theconscious.fund/psychedelic-industry-jobs/
We talked about the efficacy levels of psychedelics versus other treatments for things like mental health differences and addiction.
Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Patreon, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, EmailConnect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures, Mental Health Rolling Fund, Rolling Fund FAQ
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Mental Health Market Update: 8/5/2020 – Teladoc Acquisition of Livongo
Big news today, August 5th, in the world of disruptive healthcare companies, Teladoc is acquiring Livongo for a valuation of approximately $18.5 billion dollars. In this episode we do a little bit of analysis of the deal then talk about what it means to entrepreneurs in the digital health space.
Links mentioned in the show:
What If Ventures rolling fund: https://angel.co/v/back/what-if-ventures/
Join webinar with What If Ventures and AngelList on 8/14: https://forms.gle/PSCiSiVS8mHk1gf8A
Mental Health Startup Slack Community: Slack Community Link Here
TDOC’s management presentation on the M&A deal: Deck Link Here
You can support Stigma Podcast and get deeper insights and white papers here on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stigmapodcast
Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)
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How we breathe can have a profound impact on our mental health and wellness. Humans are one of only a few species that can proactively manipulate our breathing patterns and those patterns are associated with various emotional states of being. In today’s episode we learn about the physiological and psychological impacts of breathing
Max Gomez and Addie Conner, created their early stage startup, Breathwrk, to help people consciously improve their breathing in order to achieve health and wellness. In this episode we dig into how breathing impacts us, why it does and the formation story of this startup looking to revolutionize the way we breathe.
You can connect with Max and Addie here: Max on LinkedIn, Addie on LinkedIn,
Links mentioned in the show: https://www.breathwrk.com/
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:
We talked about why breathwork is worthy of its own category separate of meditation. We talked about the differences between meditation and breathwork as well as how they are similar.
Max, a neuroscientist by education, explains the science of breathing and meditation.
Max explains that a lot of people try meditation and feel like they fail when they are not able to focus or stay on task in their first few sessions. So, they give up. Breathing is easier to start and have success with.
They explain how the Breathwrk app was built intentionally to be different than the meditation apps such as Calm and Headspace.
Max is from a small town in New Jersey. Studied Neuroscience at USC. He talks about falling in love with how the body and brain works. He realized med school wasn’t for him, picked up a minor in entrepreneurship and found a passion for applying neuroscience to business.
Max talks about going through some tough personal challenges. He found himself in a very anxious state and it led him to depression that found him spending an entire month in bed. He started looking for a solution that could help him get out of this anxious state.
Max talks about going to a coach and being exposed to simple breathing exercises. He talks about how within 15-30 seconds he already felt better. He realized this is the solution.
The vertical of breathwork is quite diverse from waking up in the morning, to high performance athletes, Navy SEALs, sleep improvement, and may more applications.
There is a physiological and psychological reaction that takes place during breathing exercises.
Max looked in the app store to see if there was a breathwork app and could not find anything dedicated to breathing. So, he decided to spend a couple weeks building a prototype of an idea, mainly for his personal use, to help him with his own breathwork.
Max and Addie met through a mutual friend. And immediately hit it off and realized they were passionate about this at the same time independent of one another. The universe brought them together and they began to work on this product together.
Addie talks about her immense experience in online advertising. She had early access to Facebook ad APIs. Eventually built a huge Facebook ad agency.
Later Addie went to Mexico to live in a nudist commune for 3 months. She met a shaman, then went to the Amazon jungle and was working with Shamans while being on a journey to find herself. Along that journey she reconnected with an old mentor of hers who is an expert on flow states (neuro semantics of high performance). He made her aware of breathwork.
Breath became her favorite modality. She talks about trying to get into meditation, but it never working for her. She realized that breathwork was far more powerful in her life and it was easier for her to develop a daily habit around.
They tell the founding story of Breathwrk and how they decided to build a business and how that’s gone so far.Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Patreon, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)
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Today’s guest is Nicki Tessler (Psy.D, MBA) the Divisional Vice President for Behavioral Health at Universal Health Services (UHS) where she provides senior-level leadership for multiple hospitals across multiple stages for UHS. She joins us to talk about innovation in the behavioral health space and how UHS is leading the way with their “Innovation Hub” that supports behavioral health entrepreneurship.
Nicki is an extremely accomplished, and experienced Behavioral Health Executive with an impressive 20-year career in the space that began in Jackson Behavioral Health Hospital, leading to Hospital Corporation of America and now Universal Health Services.
At UHS, Nicki has led the charge on innovation within the Behavioral Health Division by developing the “Innovation Hub” internally which promotes entrepreneurship in order to drive growth within the UHS business through innovation, speed, and urgency.Nicki has stellar academic credentials which include her Psy.D. in Psychology from the University of Denver; Executive M.B.A. in Health Sector Management & Policy from the University of Miami; and M.A. in Psychology from Pepperdine University. She’s also earned designations as a Licensed Psychologist and Six Sigma Champion.
You can connect with Nicki here: LinkedIn, [email protected]
Stigma Podcast Patreon Page: Stigma Patreon Page
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:1. Nicki gave us an overview of UHS with some facts about the business including:
-Founded in 1979, now a Fortune 500 (ranked 281)
-2019 Revenue $11.4 billion
-90,000 employees
-Headquarters: King of Prussia, PA
-26 acute care hospitals
-328 behavioral health hospitals
-42 outpatient facilities
-Operates in 37 states, DC, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom
-In 2019, they served 3.5mm patients across acute and behavioral health
2. How does UHS think about innovation in the behavioral space?
UHS realizes a need for innovation in the behavioral space and is in a very unique position because of the data, experience, knowledge, and exposure they have as one of the largest operators of inpatient psychiatric facilities in the world. UHS is focused on fostering innovation in the space and has built and “Innovation Hub” to encourage entrepreneurs to build in the space, to interact with UHS and approach UHS about partnership.
3. How do we innovate in behavioral health without hurting people, but still going fast?
Nicki talks about how a methodical systematic approach is needed that is sensitive to the fragile nature of healthcare. At UHS, they look at innovation in a very systematic way which Nicki highlights in our conversation. UHS focuses on innovations that can drive major shifts in one of these areas:
Business model shifts Platform shifts Customer experience shifts4. What is the “Innovation Hub”?
In August they launched the Innovation Hub, which is an innovation ecosystem where UHS supports a culture of innovation balanced with discipline to develop test and grow new solutions outside of the traditional internal UHS processes. The hub has 3 primary goals which include operating within the behavioral health division, growing the business, and promoting entrepreneurship while attracting talent.5. How does it work?
Entrepreneurs approach UHS and present an idea for innovation. They are paired with a UHS facility to run a 90 day pilot / beta. At the end of the pilot, outcomes are assessed and if the metrics are good, then UHS begins to scale the solution across more locations. Success is determined by a proprietary internal ROI calculator.6. What makes it through the filter into the program?
Configuration – This is where focusing on the innermost working of the business systems, networks, processes, technologies, channels, brands can improve the business.
Nicki explains the three areas of innovation that are most exciting to the team at UHS. These are:
Offerings – Core services. How do services connect or bundle with UHS’ current offerings? How can we improve interoperability, and connection between offerings?
Experiences – This is anything touching the customer facing elements of the behavioral health world. This can include service innovations and often includes ways to make the increasingly impersonal electronic and remote service offices feel more personal and drive better engagement. Anything that drives a compelling engagement for the patient that leads to more patient engagement would fall into this area.7. What would you build if you could build anything to help humans with mental health?
Nicki talks about how her dream solution would be an “Imperfection Lab” where people are encouraged and allowed to feel vulnerable and where imperfections could be celebrated.
8. How does an entrepreneur get in touch with UHS?
Reach out to Nicki and brainstorm what a pilot could look like internally.
Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Patreon, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)
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Martin Schappell spent 15 years as a leader at Universal Health Services (the largest inpatient psychiatric hospital operator in the United States) as a Senior Vice President in the Behavioral segment. He joins us to talk about the behavioral health care industry, how care has evolved over the last 30 years, and the impacts of our current climate on the mental health of the seniors in our population.
In this episode we talked at length about why behavioral healthcare has changed so much, what is good about those changes as well as what is bad. We also discussed where the opportunity is for entrepreneurs in this space.
Martin now serves as president and CEO of Shell Point Retirement Community where he has been for the last 4 years. Shell Point is the second largest single site senior living community in the United States with 2,500 residents and 1,200 employees in Florida. Martin’s behavioral health care industry experience and his firsthand knowledge from operating Shell Point give him unique insights into the mounting mental health differences
Links mentioned in the show: Universal Health Services, Shell Point Retirement Community
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:
Martin shares observations from his career which began as a licensed marriage counselor, and eventually led him to behavioral health care hospital management and into senior management at one of the largest providers in the country.
Martin talks about how he believes he was really wired for “business” versus being a “clinician” but that his clinical training made him a great leader. He told me that learning about people, their motivation, understanding mental illness, etc. has influenced his leadership style.
As Martin transitioned from the non-profit clinical world to Charter Behavioral Health, he transitioned into a business management role. Eventually, Charter failed, and sold hospitals to UHS in bankruptcy during 2000. That led Martin to land at UHS where he served as a Senior Vice President in the Behavioral segment.
The delivery of behavioral health care has evolved greatly over the last 30 years. Delivery has become more efficient. 30 years ago, it was very common for people to be hospitalized for 3 months at a time for acute mental health problems. Now it’s more common to be hospitalized for 3 days or less at a time. The industry has prioritized efficiency over individualized care as the reimbursement model has shifted over the years and while here are positive consequences on system capacity, there are negative consequences on the quality of individualized care as well.
We talked about the natural evolution that a person goes through during treatment and how this process takes time. It’s a very personal and individual process that is different for everyone. So at some point, standardization is not in the best interest of the people this system is trying to help. Everyone’s pace may be a bit different. But to accelerate that beyond someone’s ability to gain insight is rushing the process.
What drove this duration change?
Some of this is because of the cost of treatment – we reduced length to reduce cost. We are automating, and standardizing treatment when it is a very individual thing. Therapy is by design, a very inefficient process so it is not going to be possible to standardize it for everyone.
We talked about the Art versus the Science of recovery and treatment. We got into the balance between the two concepts and how getting that balance right leads to a highly individualized level of care which the modern-day system is leaning away from.
Where is the greatest opportunity for entrepreneurs in the mental health startup landscape? We talked at length about this. Martin was clear that his top priority is around testing and measurement. He explains that we need to find solutions that standardize the assessment, diagnosis, and validation of diagnosis in the early days of treatment. Often times, due to a lack of accurate testing, we misdiagnose and then establish a treatment plan that does not work leading to years of bad experiences and an unhealthy human.
We spent time talking about senior mental health care and how seniors are disproportionately being driven into self-isolation and loneliness during this time of COVID. There are consequences to that isolation and withdrawal. Ove the next 6-12 months we will likely see an escalation of mental health issues in seniors as a result and we talked about what we can be doing about it since we know we can predict it.
Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Patreon Page, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)
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Mental Health Market Update: 7/17/2020 – 2Q 2020 Disruptive Healthcare Earnings Preview –
With 2nd Quarter 2020 earnings announcements just around the corner, I thought it would make sense to take stock of where our disruptive healthcare peers are trading, how they have performed so far this year and what to expect and watch out for as their release earnings in the coming weeks.
In today’s episode we are focused on a subset of our “Disruptive Healthcare” peers which as a group broadly, includes Teladoc, Livongo, One Medical, Health Equity, Progyny, Health Catalyst, Phreesia, Ontrak (which was Catasys prior to this week but they changed their name as you’re aware).
In this episode we digest what startups and their investors in the digital health space should be focused on, what those bits of information mean and what we can take away from how these companies are performing as well as what they report by way of Q2 earnings.
Livongo earnings call details: 8/6, Dial-in 270-215-9499; ID: Livongo
LINKS REFERENCED IN THE SHOW:
One Medical earnings call details: Date: TBD; Dial-in: TBD
Teladoc earnings call details: 7/29 at 4:30pm ET, 833-968-2101
Mental Health Startup Community Slack: Link HereYou can support Stigma Podcast and get deeper insights and white papers here on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stigmapodcast
Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)
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Eric Dresdale joins me to talk about building startups in the mental health and addiction space. Eric was one of the earliest entrepreneurs to build a startup in this space called “Next Step” which he sold to True Link Financial back in 2016.
He now spends a lot of time advising startups in the mental health space and has some unique insights into care models, care delivery, addiction treatment, and where entrepreneurs can find opportunity to innovate today.
Links: Eric on LinkedIn, KNWN Technologies
Eric was one of the earliest entrepreneurs to build a business in the mental health and addiction recovery startup space. Eric came up with an idea based on his experience in early recovery called, “Next Step.” Next Step was a reloadable prepaid MasterCard / debit card program that allowed families and behavioral healthcare providers to be able to fund cardholder's accounts and set customizable spending parameters in real time.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:
Sold the Company to True Link Financial and has focused on advising startups in the behavioral health space in recent years.
In this conversation, Eric shares his story of addiction to pain killers and how he led him to crash and burn from his high paying job working for the chairman of Cushman and Wakefield in NYC as a real estate broker.
He shared about his initial experiences going to 12-step meetings to get help and how he didn’t feel like he fit in. Eric shared that he quickly gave up on those meetings because he felt like he didn’t find anyone else in those meetings that seemed to be like him.
After getting fired from his job, he had a night of binging on drugs that should have killed him. Then, he finally asked for help and found his way to rehab in October of 2010.
Eric was one of the earliest innovators in the mental health space and has been advising a lot of startups in the space. He gives a number of insights on startups in the space, business models, care models and more.
Eric does a great job of breaking down the treatment center industry and categorizing the types of treatments centers.
Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Patreon, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, EmailConnect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)
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Mental Health Market Update: 6/26/2020 – Teladoc Overview: Teladoc (Ticker: TDOC) provides integrated healthcare services including telehealth, mental health, expert medical services remotely.
In today’s market update, we dig into the company’s primary business units, its growth, valuation, M&A history, growth prospects and what we in the behavioral health startup ecosystem can learn from digging into the numbers around Teladoc.
SOME OF WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE:
What exactly Teledoc does, how they have grown via relationships with UnitedHealth, CVS, Medicare/Medicaid and through an aggressive M&A strategy.
We highlight their M&A history and what they paid for a lot of their key acquisitions.
We dig into their current stock price, valuation levels, peer group, and how the Company has traded versus its peers lately, and in recent years. We make note that the Company started to out-pace its peers in terms of valuation long before COVID happened.
We question whether the Company should trade at 20x revenue or 200x EBITDA and what it means that they are trading at those levels as of today.
What is the stock worth? Should it be trading at $200 a share?
Finally, we give two key takeaways that founders of behavioral health or really any digital health startup should take into consideration based on the performance of Teladoc and how they position their business.LINKS REFERENCED IN THE SHOW:
Teladoc March 2020 Investor Deck: https://s21.q4cdn.com/672268105/files/doc_presentations/2020/03/InvestorDay2020.pdf
Q1 2020 earnings press release: https://s21.q4cdn.com/672268105/files/doc_financials/2020/q1/Teladoc-Health-1Q20-Earnings-Web.pdf
Mental health startup slack community: https://join.slack.com/t/mhealthstartups/shared_invite/zt-cfi5utx3-iE4pHU58NjCEXXMpaOiVxQ
You can support Stigma Podcast and get deeper insights and white papers here on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stigmapodcast
Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)
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Mental Health Market Update: 6/19/2020 – Universal Health Services Overview – Universal Health Services (Ticker: UHS) is the largest inpatient psychiatric hospital operator in the United States.
In this episode, we give an overview of the business, scale, the differences between their acute care and behavioral segment and talk about how much better performance has been through the downturn within their behavioral segment than the acute segment. We discuss what all of this means for those of us building or investing in mental health startups.
You can support Stigma Podcast and get deeper insights and white papers here on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stigmapodcastConnect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)
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How can we use technology to stop suicide?
How can we leverage technology to encourage vulnerability and connectivity to help people deal with difficult times? We dig in to these ideas today with Be A Looper Founder and CEO, Amanda Johnstone. Amanda and I met during a mental health tech conference (Transformative Tech Conference) in Palo Alto during November 2019. We had such a great conversation about suicide prevention, mental health, tech, and other stuff that I just had to ask her to come on and share her insights with our friends.Amanda is from Australia. She is a social impact technologist, an inventor, an investor, a speaker an entrepreneur and has been recognized globally for her efforts around suicide prevention. Recently, she was awarded Time Magazine’s Next Generation Leader award for 2019. Past winners of this award include Greta Thunberg, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd and others.
In this conversation we talk at length about the power of vulnerability, connecting with others, and how we can do a better job showing up in the world in a way where we encourage and promote others to be vulnerable and open in order to both live well, and manage through difficult times in their lives.
There are a number of ways to connect with Amanda including on social media which will be linked in the show notes.
You can connect with Amanda here: Personal Website, Be A Looper Website, Transhuman Website, LinkedIn
Mentioned: The Power of Vulnerability with Brene Brown (Ted Talk)
Download Be A Looper here: https://www.bealooper.com/downloadlooper
Time Magazine: Interview with Amanda Johnstone on Innovating to Stop Suicide
How can we use our mobile phone, the thing that is in our hand every day, to bring us closer together? This is the question that drove Amanda to build a social support platform to encourage vulnerability and connectivity, called, Be A Looper.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:
Be A Looper is a circle of friends who care about you and check in, in a vulnerable way on a daily basis. As someone struggles with their well-being, or starts to feel distressed, then your circle is notified to provide support.
Amanda talks about how she has struggled to be authentic and how she struggles to present herself in the media and in business one way, but that in reality she feels another. She talks about how she was sleeping on her friend’s couch, and her life was falling apart, and at the same time she was presenting herself as a successful entrepreneur. She needed to be real. She needed to be authentic. She needed to check in with herself and with others and she needed a way to do that. Her solution, Be A Looper, provides a way for her to be real, even if just briefly each day, in a way that helps her check in with herself, and evaluate the narrative she’s putting out there and how that’s impacting the ability of others to be authentic with her as well.
The science of how Be A Looper works is very interesting. See below… (these descriptions can be found on the Be A Looper website here):
Social Support - Be A Looper is driven by social support, with the emphasis on reducing isolation by providing a sense of safety and community. We know from Self-Determination Theory that the concept of relatedness as a powerful need and driver of behavior has been proven out in many settings. Allied to this concept is the need to support autonomy and competence, related to self-efficacy, all part of ways to prevent the onset of helplessness, which is a driver of suicidal ideation.
Chain Diffusion - We also know that when someone close has suicided, the barrier to suicide of persons close to them weakens. Individual behaviors such as this can spread across groups and cultures through a process called chain diffusion. This occurs when an individual first learns a behavior by experiencing someone else doing this, and this then serves as a model through which they and others learn the behavior, and so on. Relatedness in this way backfires, so modelling a more positive approach to dealing with despair is crucial.
Self-efficacy - Outcomes in behavior change to healthier options, as with all intrinsic drivers depend on a sense of effectance, competence, self-efficacy, concepts all related to Allbert Badura’s concept that the way we approach life’s challenges is heavily influenced by our sense that the actions we are about to undertake will achieve the desired outcome, the opposite in a way to the sense of helplessness and hopelessness that may accompany suicidal ideation. Scaffolding a sense of efficacy, a sense that one swipe will alter the outcome, or similar low-threshold action will change the present in favor of a more definite future, has underpinned our Be A Looper approach. Choosing a behavior in the here and now that will have the best outcome over the temporal future, valuing this future over the now, is key to our desire to save lives one trusted contact at a time.
Role Modelling Vulnerability - Observational learning theory suggests that an individual’s environment, cognition and related behavior all integrate and ultimately determine how that individual functions, and ultimately determine how that individual will function. Based on the above, learning to express distress in a non-confronting way that supports rescuing actions by others, can lower the barriers to communicating distress by modelling it for others in a process of chain diffusion.
The science of how Be A Looper works is very interesting. See below… (these descriptions can be found on the Be A Looper website here).
They are coming out with a version that allows a provider or employer to provide this to their populations.
They have several years of anonymized data that shows how helpful this intervention has been with people who were in distress.
We spent a lot of time talking about vulnerability and how important it is in reducing stigma, helping ourselves, helping others, and creating connectivity.
Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Patreon Page, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)
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Mental Health Market Update: 6/12/2020 – Acadia Healthcare Overview – One of the largest providers of behavioral healthcare services in the world reports some of the best data on demand, market dynamics, payment trends, and other macro insights that can be extremely insightful for startups building within the mental health space.
In this episode, we give an overview of the business, their geographic footprint, growth and margins across segments, trading levels, demand data, recent management commentary and we talk about their valuation, leverage and attempted sale of their underperforming UK based business.
You can support Stigma Podcast and get deeper insights and white papers here on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stigmapodcastConnect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)
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Jay Stringer joins us to talk about unwanted sexual behavior (pornography, buying sex, affairs, etc.). Jay is a licensed mental health counselor, ordained minister, author, and speaker on the subject – his research revolutionized my view of this topic. His research shows a strong tie between past experiences, and sexual behavior and what we can learn from that connection.
He’s spent the last decade helping men and women gain find freedom from unwanted sexual behavior by helping them identify the unique reasons that bring them to this behavior in the first place. Jay talks to us about his book, “Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing” and the research he conducted on over 3,800 people living with unwanted sexual behavior.
We explore how the standard response by many people to the topic of sexual brokenness looks a lot like what we call “lust management.” This approach seems to work temporarily with some people, but ultimately it fails to bring people to lasting freedom. Jay explains that by listening to our lust, we can reveal the unaddressed and unresolved stories of our life in order to find true healing.
You can connect with Jay here: Jay’s Website, Jay on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Email
Book: Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing (link here is to Amazon, but the book is also available on Audible)HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:
What is sexual brokenness? In this conversation we define the topic, what the behaviors look like, how to know if you need help, and where to get help. We talk about how our understanding of sexual brokenness has evolved over time and what the latest research tells us about this behavior.
Where does sexual brokenness come from? Can we predict it based on childhood and life experiences? Jay’s research says, YES, and explains why.
“Unwanted sexual behavior” vs. “sex addiction” – Jay and I explore the language of unwanted sexual behavior, how we talk about this behavior, how society has labeled it and why these words matter based on his decade of research on the topic.
What does the science say? We talked about the neuroscience of sexual addiction / unwanted sexual behavior and why these behaviors exist, when they are learned / formed, and what we can do about them.
The main thesis of Jays’ book is that our involvement with unwanted sexual behaviors / sexually compulsive ideas is not random. These behaviors are often driven by some key childhood drivers (family system, sexual abuse, etc.) and "unconscious" arousal which should be explored, and understood, not ignored and punished in order to seek freedom.
We talked about his research on this topic and what Jay found including that how our porn or sex fantasies could be predicted, based on the parts of our story we have not engaged with. Knowing this, makes our treatment efforts far more effective than ever before. Jay explains in his book, and this podcast.
We talked about the role the church, and faith communities in addressing sexual brokenness and how stigma plays a part in people getting help, especially at church.
Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)
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Steve Schlafman is a friend, mentor, a sponsor of sorts to me, and a very experienced Venture Capitalist who also has 5-years of sobriety under his belt as of today, June 5th, 2020.
After 1 year of sobriety, Steve wrote a blog post under a pen name (which you can find here) explaining his experience getting sober and what it meant to him. Today, he’s sharing that blog post under his own name, for the first time. Steve talks to me about how important it is to share openly because that’s what gives others the strength to get help and open up as well.
Steve explains that sobriety is a superpower. He talks about how his life has been radically transformed by sobriety as well as what life was life before, what changed and what life is like now.
You can connect with Steve here: Twitter, LinkedIn, Website, Instagram, High Output (coaching practice), Steve’s Personal BlogItems mentioned during our chat:
Original 1-year blog post: https://medium.com/@todd.s.bauers/healing-through-openness-8cc280eb182b
Books: The Power of Now, Integral Recovery, May Cause Miracles
Steve talks about when he first became aware that he should consider whether or not he was using substances too much. A therapist started to ask him questions about the frequency of his use, and eventually recommended that Steve try to stop using by attending a 28-day intensive out-patient program after work. He explains what this experience was like in our chat.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:
Steve ended up getting 6 months of sobriety under his belt after this out-patient program, but he recounts, that he was not really “ready” to go all in. He talks about how his spiritual condition was not where it needed to be to really stay sober. It would be 10 years before he got to the point where he was ready to really take that step.
Steve talks about how his life wasn’t in shambles, he didn’t leave a wake of carnage, he didn’t hit a “rock bottom” – he talks about how he figure out that he needed help without having to have that stereotypical rock bottom moment.
Steve started to realize that he was reaching outside of himself for things like validation, and love and that at the end of the day, he was never going to achieve those things if he kept seeking it externally.
Steve talks about how he embraced transcendental meditation and how that practice shed a light on how he really felt about many things in life, including his use of substances.
Steve knew he was not well. He appeared fine on the outside, and he knew it, but inside he knew he needed help. He was sick of living that way and just did not want to live that way anymore.
It just came down to wanting a better life and wanting to feel amazing and wanting to perform.
Steve tells the story of going to his first AA meeting, how he found his way there, what it was like, what happened and how he felt during it.
Steve talks about the first year of sobriety and how he handled it. He talks about what was hard, what wasn’t, and how he managed to get through those early cravings in the first few months of sobriety.
Steve talks about the blog post he wrote about getting sober and why he is talking about it so openly today.
Steve feels a responsibility to use his platform to share his story so that it can provide strength to others who may need help or to share their story. This is directly aligned with our mission here at the Stigma Podcast. He also talks to us about how substance abuse has not been widely discussed in the tech community the way mental health has been and he wants to help change that.
We talked about addiction as an epidemic, why Steve calls it that and how prevalent it is.
Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Patreon page, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)
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