Stigma Podcast - Mental Health

What is the future of legal cannabis from a retail / e-commerce perspective?  Today's guest, Socrates Rosenfeld, Co-Founder and CEO of Jane Technologies explains.  Jane is an e-commerce solution for the Cannabis space that supports nearly 3,000 dispensaries and handles more than 20% of the legal Cannabis transactions in the U.S. each year.  Prior to founding Jane, Soc was a consultant at McKinsey and Company.  Before that, he served in the US Army as an Apache Helicopter Pilot from 2004-2011.  Soc earned an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and his undergrad degree my alma mater, West Point. Soc has a very personal reason for building Jane, that he's going to share with us in a few minutes.  He's one of the most impressive founders I've ever met and we at What If Ventures have had the chance to get to know him in 2021 as we were a small part of their most recent funding round and have been able to witness first-hand what an amazing operator he is.  You can connect with Soc here:  LinkedIn What If Fellowship: https://whatif.vc/fellowship   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Soc shares his journey from the Army to eventually founding a Canmnabis retail tech platform beacuase of his own personal experience struggling with mental heatlh after the Army. We discuss Jane's platform and how Jane is not only revolutionizing the Cannabis retail world, but how Jane's novel approach to e-commerce will transform broader e-commerce which hasn't seen real disruption since the creation of decades old platforms like Amazon. Soc shares what it was like to face the stigma around Cannabis and the challenges/benefits that came with creating a company in this space. We discuss the legistlative environment around Cannabis, false information about the plant (and industry) that has been spread over the years, and the effect it has had on people finding and using this solution. Soc talks about what Jane is focused on today while they await legislative changes and a more broad based acceptance of cannabis usage in the U.S.  Soc tells us about the biggest challenges that come with being an entrepreneur and the importance of believing in yourself. We discuss tips for entrepreneurs who are wanting to get into the Cannabis space and what advice Soc wishes he would have received when he first started.   Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: What If Fellowship, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)

Alyson Watson is CEO and co-founder of Modern Health, a mental health unicorn!  Modern Health is a global mental health benefits solution for employers that covers the spectrum of mental wellbeing needs from tech enabled solutions to professional support solutions on one platform. You can connect with Alyson here:  LinkedIn What If Fellowship: https://whatif.vc/fellowship   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Alyson shares her background with mental health, her education, and how it led her to the mental health space. She also shares about Modern Health and what their mission is. Alyson talks about Y Combinator, what the process looks like as a startup who applies, the benefits from it and the difference it made for her when starting up Modern Health. We discuss the stigma and lack of access that used to surround mental health support from employers and how Modern Health is helping to solve these issues. We talk about how mental health problems limit productivity and how this is a societal problem, not only in the workplace but in personal lives as well. Alyson shares what more she thinks companies can do to promote mental wellness with their employees. We discuss the vision for Modern Health and where she sees the company going in the future. Alyson shares her advice for those who are wishing to start up their own company and what she wishes she knew when she started.   Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: What If Fellowship, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)

April Koh is the youngest female founder to ever take a startup from just an idea to unicorn status.  We are so excited that she's accomplished this in the mental health space, and we are excited for you to meet her and learn more about her Company, Spring Health!  For those who may not be familiar, Spring Health is a provider of mental health benefits to employers for their employees, and their employees' families.  Spring Health's product is a "precision mental healthcare" platform that matches a company's employees to the most effective care for each employee. These care solutions that employees are matched to include (but are not limited to) mindfulness and meditation applications, care navigation tools, access to coaching services, therapy, and medication management. To date, Spring Health has raised $300mm of capital and April and her team are truly pioneers in the mental health benefits space.  Their recent funding round valued the company at $2 billion and April herself, is now the youngest female founder to lead a unicorn startup!  She's truly amazing and I'm excited to share our conversation! You can connect with April on LinkedIn: April's LinkedIn Page Spring Health Website:  https://www.springhealth.com/ What If Fellowship: https://whatif.vc/fellowship   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: April shares the founding story of Spring Health with us. She explains how she came up with the idea and tells the impressive story about how she put a minimum viable product (MVP) together in short order, impressed her soon to be co-founder to join her team, and brought a business to life at lighting speed. April is the youngest female founder to grow a startup to unicorn status, EVER! We talked with her about what this accomplishment means for her, for female founders and for the mental health space in general. April shares about her journey to realize there was a problem worth solving in this space, coming up with an idea, deciding to start a business and the path that she and the business took in the early days. April talks with us about what Spring Health looked like in those early days including how she recruited her co-founder, which is quite an interesting and inspiring story. We talked further about exactly what Spring Health is from a business point of view, how they win customers, what exactly they provide, and how they get paid. April shared her vision for the future of the business and more broadly, the future of the mental health care landscape. We always love to ask pioneers in the mental health space where they view the biggest opportunities in our space (of course, outside of what they are currently building) and April's answers there were certainly insightful for anyone looking to build a mental health startup. Finally, April provides advice and “lessons learned” that she wished she had known in the early days. I found her answers to be so helpful I believe every founder in this space could learn from April.  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)  

Dr. Amit Etkin is pioneering a revolution in the way mental health medications are designed, developed, prescribed, and brought to market.  Precision psychiatry is the future of mental health treatment and Dr. Etkin is leading the way with his drug development platform, Alto Neuroscience.  In this episode, Dr. Etkin explains why psychiatric drugs have failed, what he is doing about it and why it will work.  Prior to Alto Neuroscience, Dr. Etkin was a tenured professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and a member of the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. Dr. Etkin has received multiple awards, most notably the NIH Director's Pioneer Award in 2017. He is trained as both a psychiatrist and neuroscientist. The overarching aim of his work in this field for the last 10 years is to understand the neural basis of emotional disorders and their treatment, and to leverage this knowledge to better understand how the brain works and to develop novel treatment interventions. In support of this goal, Dr. Etkin also collaborates with neuroscientists, engineers, psychologists, physicians, and others to establish a new intellectual, scientific, and clinical paradigm for understanding and manipulating human brain circuits in healthy individuals and for treating psychiatric disease. You can connect with Amit here:  LinkedIn Alto Neuroscience Website: https://www.altoneuroscience.com/ What If Fellowship: https://whatif.vc/fellowship   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Etkin shares his background, why he got into the field of neuroscience, and why he is building Alto Neuroscience. We discuss the biggest needs in the clinical psychology world is and how Alto Neuroscience will solve some of the greatest needs in the mental health space. We talk about measurement & testing, as well as biomarkers in the mental health space at large and why we are so far behind other healthcare verticals when it comes to measurement and testing in the mental health space. Etkin explains that one of the primary reasons bio-pharma companies haven't focused as much as they should on Central Nervous System (CNS) drug development in the last couple of decades is because we can't effectively measure how the drugs are working. All of that has changed now with the creation of Alto Neuroscience.  Amit talks about the concept of “precision psychiatry”, how precision is utilized in other fields of medicine, and the importance of using it in the mental health space to improve treatment options. We discuss how the combination of measurement and precision psychiatry can change psychiatry, drug development, and treatment of mental health disorders both broadly on a macro level and specifically with respect to his work at Alto Neuroscience. Amit shares about what Alto Neuroscience is currently working on, the drugs they currently developing, and their vision for the future of psychiatric medication.   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)

Amanda Eilian, Founding Partner of _able Partners joins us to talk all things mental health startup investing. _able Partners is an early-stage VC firm supporting visionary founders in the positive living space. Their investments focus on companies that improve the daily lives of people, making them healthier, happier, and making their lives more meaningful. Some specific investment areas include mental health, addiction, women's health, sexual wellness, wellness broadly, coaching and continued learning, child care, and self-expression. Amanda has led incredible early stage investments in companies like Spring Health, Compass Pathways, ATAI Life Sciences, Alma, Alto Neuroscience, and many others. You can connect with Amanda here:  _able Partners Website, LinkedIn What If Fellowship: https://whatif.vc/fellowship   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Amanda shares her background that led her to venture investing, creating _able Partners, and the focus of _able Partners. We discuss the areas and companies where _able has focused on which have been stigmatized in the past including mental health and addiction. Amanda shares about her team, how they are non-traditional, and what that looks like in terms of their professional interactions as a company. We discuss current themes in the mental health space and where investors should be looking to get involved in this space including accessibility, personalized care, and measurement and monitoring. Amanda shares what type of funding _able is interested in, their focus in early stage investing, and what criteria they look for when choosing who to work with. We talk about why stigma is starting to decrease and the possible causes for this wave of de-stigmatization. We discuss the lack of access, the shortage of psychiatrists across the country, and more issues surrounding mental health care and Amanda shares her ideas for what needs to happen to address these issues.   Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: What If Fellowship, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)

Today's guest is John Donoghue. He is well known for his groundbreaking work developing Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) to restore movement for people with paralysis, known as ‘BrainGate'. BrainGate was the original BCI system created by a company called Cyberkinetics, of which John was a co-founder. In this episode, John gives us a primer on BCIs.  What are they? How do they work? When will they be widely adopted?  Are they safe?  How do we know?  We cover these questions and much more. Many people consider John to be the founder of the entire discipline of neuroprosthetics which is the combination of neuroscience and biomedical engineering. He was a member of the U.S. B.R.A.I.N. initiative's first NIH Working Group and is a fellow of the National Academy of Medicine, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as several other academies. His awards include the German Zülch Prize (2007), the Roche-Nature Medicine Prize (2010), the Schrödinger Prize (Germany, 2012), and the first Israeli Brain Technology Prize in 2013. Links Mentioned:  BrainGate Website, John's email What If Fellowship: https://whatif.vc/fellowship   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: John shares his background in biology, his fascination with the way our brains control and plan movement which ultmiately led him to explore how we can use computers to restore that functionality via Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) one day. John has spent more than 30 years focused on the potential of using BCIs to solve some of the most debilitating physical ailments that humans face. In this conversation, John gives an in-depth explanation of what a BCI is, how it works, the different types that are available, and the variety of uses that can come from each type. We discuss where BCIs started in the early 2000's in human trials, the advancement of the technology since then and where we are today. John shares how he sees this technology being used on a larger scale, what is currently holding it back, and what it will take to get it to be used in more humans in the coming years. John shares where he thinks the opportunities are for entrepreneurs in this space and how to get involved in this technology and transform it for more uses. We discuss the ethical considerations around reading brain signals and using computers to send signals back to the brain telling it how to move the body and eventually, adjusting how people think and feel.   Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: What If Fellowship, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)

Today's guest is Elyse Cohen, VP of Social Impact and Inclusion at Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez and a mental health advocate.  Elyse is an expert on purpose driven brands, social impact, and has been hand selected by Selena Gomez to lead the impact efforts at Rare Beauty and the Rare Impact Fund addressing mental health. Previously Elyse has worked at the White House for First Lady Michelle Obama as Deputy Director of the former first lady's legacy Let's Move initiative, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, and various marketing agencies leading social impact initiatives and leveraging business and celebrity assets to create change on critical issues. You can connect with Elyse here:  LinkedIn Links mentioned in the show: GoFundMe, Rare Beauty Website What If Fellowship: https://whatif.vc/fellowship   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: We talk about Rare Beauty as a purpose driven brand, The Rare Impact Fund which addresses access and gaps in mental health, and the growth of the brand over time. We also discuss ways for people to get involved with the growth of the Rare Impact Fund. Elyse shares her background, both personal and professional, and why mental health is so personally important to her and her family. As part of her work, Elyse has mapped out who is doing what, and who is being impactful in the mental health space for the purpose of knowing where to deploy Rare Impact Fund capital. Elyse shares some of the insights she gained by doing that work including which companies are doing great work in the mental health space and where she wants to see capital deployed. We discuss barriers to mental health care including stigma, cost of care and access in our current system, and what we need to do to address the issue of stigma around mental health. Elyse shares about what the Rare Impact Fund plans to do with the capital that is raised and what benefits will come from these actions. We discuss the lack of practitioners, why there is such a deficit in this field, and what changes could be made to fill the gap. Elyse talks about the white space that still exists in mental health especially in education and technology, and why filling these spaces with more support will be beneficial in the long term.   Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email, What If Fellowship Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)

You can't fix what you don't measure.  Measurement and testing of our mental health lags the same capabilities in physical health care.  Dr. Nick Allen, our guest today, is building a mental health measurement solution for clinical use.  Today we talk to him about the challenges, and opportunity for his startup, Ksana Health. Nick is leveraging the tools and technologies that he developed as the Director of University of Oregon's Center for Digital Mental Health into products and services that are transforming mental health care. Nick is a clinical psychologist and social neuroscientist who investigates the interaction between biological, psychological, and environmental risk factors during adolescent development and measures these factors to focus on prevention of mental health problems. You can connect with Anthony here on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-allen-42256218a/ Ksana Health website:  https://ksanahealth.com/ What If Fellowship: https://whatif.vc/fellowship   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Nick shares his background in psychology, his focus on adolescent mental health, and about his decision to build Ksana Health starting in 2019. We talk in depth about Ksana Health, how the technology effectively measures mental wellbeing on a continuous basis, and where they are with the platform today. Nick talks about the type of data that is being collected through Ksana Health, what this data is indicative of in terms of mental health, and what clinicians can do with this data to further treat their patients. We talk about what is coming next for Ksana Health post fundraising, two big projects that they are currently pursuing, and what benefits will come from these expansions to the company. Nick shares about which groups they are most interested in working with, why these groups fit with their current business model, and how it will lead to less crisis in mental health overall. We discuss the previous attempts at digital phenotyping, why it did not work as well in the past, and how Ksana Health is doing it more efficiently. Nick gives advice for those who are just starting to explore this space as investors and entrepreneurs, and what other opportunities are out there for people to get involved in who are interested in this space.     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)

Dr. Anthony Hassan, President and CEO of the Cohen Veterans Network (CVN) joins us today.  CVN is a network of 25 non-profit mental health clinics providing care to veterans and their families.  The facilities are located in or around historically dense veteran and active duty military communities. Dr. Hassan is a veteran of the United States Army and Air Force with 30 years of experience in military behavioral health. He holds a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration from the University of South Florida and is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School. You can connect with Anthony here:  Cohen Veterans Network, Email What If Fellowship: https://whatif.vc/fellowship   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Anthony Hassan talks about his 30 years of experience in the military, focusing on the mental health of active-duty service members. We discuss the unique problems military members and veterans face regarding mental health and why finding help isn't easy. We discussed the stigma around mental health specifically in the military and veteran communities and why it seems to be worse at times than in other communities. Anthony explained what mental health care services are in place for veterans, and where the gaps exist today and how the Cohen Veteran Network was created to fill those gaps. We talk about the workforce inside the clinics, the shortage of mental health workers in America, and how the Cohen Veterans Network fosters their network of clinicians on staff. The Cohen Veterans Network is continually experimenting with new technological advances and cutting-edge treatments that they believe can help veterans with their mental health. The CVN platform has become an incubator or pilot partner of choice for many up-and-coming technologies serving the mental health space. Anthony shares what the long-term goals are for the clinics and what is needed in terms of support to make those goals a reality.   Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: What If Fellowship, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)

Today's guest is Jon Kostakopoulos who was the first study participant in the NYU Psilocybin clinical trial. After years of struggling with alcoholism and after trying other options including in-patient programs, out-patient programs, AA, and pharmaceutical treatments, nothing was working for him. Finally, at age 25, Jon joined the clinical trial and underwent three different Psilocybin treatment sessions and has not craved alcohol since his first treatment session. Jon has been interviewed on 60 minutes by Anderson Cooper regarding his Psilocybin treatments and since then has launched the Apollo Pact which is a non-profit funding medical research for mental health. You can connect with Jon here:  Email, Apollo Pact Website What If Fellowship: https://whatif.vc/fellowship   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Jon shares about his struggles with alcoholism, early signs that showed his irregular relationship with alcohol, and how addiction impacted his life. We discuss the time put into his recovery and all the different options he attempted to get sober from ages 16-25. Jon shares how he learned of the clinical trial at NYU, the screening process, time leading up to the beginning of the trial and what the user experience was like for him. Jon goes into depth about the process of the clinical trial, what therapy was like before and after each Psilocybin experience, and what the aftermath was like during his year in the trial. We discuss the effectiveness of psilocybin in treating mental health issues and how it works by getting to the root of the problem with a wide variety of mental and behavioral health disorders. Jon shares about the work he is doing in the mental health space with Apollo Pact and how to get involved with this program. We talk about reasons why we think the government is not providing more support to these solutions when the efficacy is high, what needs to happen to finally get that support, and the unseen benefits for the government. We discuss the potential timeline for psilocybin to be more of a mainstream treatment with Oregon leading the way.   Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: What If Fellowship, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)

Today’s guest is Dan Housman. He’s the co-founder and CTO of Courage Therapeutics. We met Dan when he came through our first cohort of the What If Fellowship Program. His startup is a biopharma drug development business focused on eating disorders (anorexia nervosa specifically).   You can connect with Dan here: LinkedIn, Courage Therapeutics Website Links mentioned in the show: NEDA, Feast, Daniel Le Grange Research What If Fellowship Program: https://whatif.vc/   HERE ARE SOME THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT Dan tells us about the history of Courage Therapeutics and why his personal experience surrounding eating disorders inspired him to use his background in molecular biology to find a solution to this problem. We discuss the state of the market and current solutions available for eating disorders. Dan shares some of the reasons that he believes these current treatments only do so much. We discuss the drug that he has been working on developing, the effects that it is meant to have on those who struggle with anorexia, and Dan shares his hope that it can help to reduce the need for more severe treatment options. We talk about where Courage Therapeutics is at in the drug development timeline and what the next steps are to make sure that this drug will work and that it will be available as soon as safely possible. We discuss the statistics around eating disorders, specifically anorexia nervosa, and what this problem looks like in the United States, but also globally. Dan also shares that it’s not about how big the numbers are that necessarily make a product successful. There are many contributing factors. Dan shares about the stigma that surrounds eating disorders and why people are feeling unable to talk about them more. Dan shares resources for those who are interested in knowing more about eating disorders, who want to find resources to help themselves or a loved one who may be struggling with anorexia, and for general research papers around the topic itself. Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: What If Fellowship, 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)  

Today’s guest is Ali Abramovitz. She is the co-founder of Chorus Meditation and she is here to talk about the work she is doing to make meditation a group activity. In this episode, we will talk about why group meditation is beneficial, how to do it, and what exactly the benefits are.   You can connect with Ali here: Linked In, Chorus Website, Facebook, Instagram What If Fellowship: https://whatif.vc/fellowship   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Ali shares about her background in business and as an investor, and how her own personal journey with meditation led her to create Chorus Meditation. We discuss the stigma around meditation, what roadblocks exist for traditional meditation, and how Chorus is finding ways around these roadblocks. Ali shares the ideas behind making meditation a group activity, the story of their development of Chorus, and how making meditation a shared experience benefits an individual. We discuss the power of shared experiences and how it changes the mindset of the individuals involved, and the resulting relationships that can form from this. Ali shares that the main problem they’re helping with is stress and how stress can affect your life and relationships. We discuss how the group dynamic has changed since the pandemic, the changes that were made to Chorus, what changes had to occur to continue to bring these benefits to people, and what the user interface looks like post-pandemic. We discuss where Ali sees Chorus going in the long run and what goals they have for the company. Finally, Ali shares her final thoughts on consistency being the key to real change and how Chorus can help everyone.   Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: What If Fellowship, 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)

Sean McBride, VP Partnerships at Lyra Health joins us in this episode to talk about Lyra, behavioral health care broadly, and he experience working to reform the healthcare system throughout his career.  Sean was the first employee at Lyra Health and shares with us about how the Company has scaled into a unicorn over the last 6 years.  Lyra Health is focused on making behavioral health care more accessible and easier to find.  Prior to Lyra, Sean worked at Castlight Health, The White House’s National Economic Council, and The Brookings Institution’s Health Care Reform Center among other positions. You can connect with Sean here: LinkedIn What If Fellowship: https://whatif.vc/fellowship   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Sean shares his background in the healthcare industry, how it led him to Lyra Health, and his personal struggles with mental health. We discuss what Sean thinks is the thing keeping employees from using the tools that their employer provides and what an employer can do to create a supportive culture in the workplace. We talk about value-based care, what it is, and if we are moving in that direction in our system. We discuss the need to get our society to focus on our mental health and make it more of a priority like our physical health. Sean shares about Lyra Health, who they are, what they do for companies that they work with, and what benefits the employees get from an employer who works with Lyra. We discuss what Lyra Health looked like in the early days and how the objective of the company remains the same since then. Sean shares what he thinks is the ideal partner or customer for Lyra and what their marketing strategy looks like to reach this ideal audience. Finally, Sean gives his opinion on where he sees the most opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs who are just starting out in this space and where the problems that need to be fixed are. Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: What If Fellowship, 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)    

In this episode, we are talking about entrepreneur mental health.  Our guest, Matthew Cooper, stepped down from his role as CEO of EarnUp after growing the business successfully for 7 years after creating it.  When he stepped down, he cited mental health as the primary driver and wrote an incredibly authentic, vulnerable and amazing blog post about his decision on December 18, 2020. You can connect with Matthew here: Blog, Twitter, Linked In What If Fellowship: https://whatif.vc/fellowship   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Matthew shares his story about his history of mental illness and how it led him to the place that he is at today in both his personal life and his career. We talk about the stressors that come with starting a business and how certain beliefs can lead to a feeling of isolation while being successful at the same time. We discuss what options are available for real support to entrepreneurs and founders of companies to prevent a mental health emergency or burnout. Matthew shares what tools he has tried and what worked for him, his experiences with in-patient treatments, and his mental health cycles that he has gone through. We discuss how mental health is not a linear journey for many people and how worth it it is to keep trying to find the right solution to your problem. We talk about what we can be doing to better support entrepreneurs as an ecosystem of founders and investors, but also as friends or family members of entrepreneurs. Finally, Matthew shares that human connection with safe people is a huge factor in keeping your mental health in a positive space as well as just sharing your story and being open with where you’re at mentally. Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: What If Fellowship, 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)    

In this episode we chat with long time healthcare startup investor, Esther Dyson.  Esther has been very influential in the healthcare investing space for quite some time.  It’s very hard to run into anyone doing anything meaningful in the broader healthcare space and not find a connection to Esther in some way. She’s the executive founder of Way to Wellville, a non-profit dedicated to demonstrating the value of investing in health, including how the benefits of investing in health accrue over time and not always to the investors directly. Esther spends her time investing in startups, a lot of them in the health space, and she is a board member at a bunch of companies such as 23&Me, Meetup, Yandez, as well as being an early investor in Square and many others. You can connect with Esther here: LinkedIn, Twitter, Wellville Website What If Fellowship Program: https://whatif.vc/fellowship   HERE ARE SOME THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Esther shares how she found her way into the mental health space as an investor and as an advocate encouraging more people to invest in the space. We talk about the difference between short-term and long-term thinking regarding health solutions and how society needs to decide to invest in better health overall rather than focusing on only the individual. Esther shared her opinion on what is actually beneficial to making a healthier society. It’s not what is being focused on now because we are too busy focusing on the short-term solutions. There’s a disconnect between the number of people who want to fix the healthcare problems and the money that is actually being put towards the solutions. Esther shares why she thinks there is a disconnect and what can be done about it. We discuss the wide range of the meaning of the word addiction and how it is not a moral failing, but rather a learned behavior. Esther shares what early investors should be looking for when choosing which companies to invest in to avoid investing in predatory companies and how to evaluate your investing opportunities to find the right one for you. We talk about what is the most important problem to focus on in the health space and how your personal mission affects your opinion on which problems are the main priority. We talk about the effect that the poor educational system is having on our country and how fixing the health issues around kids in school will hopefully lead to a better future with a healthier society with better access to care.   Connect with the What If Ventures and the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: What If Fellowship, 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)  

In this episode we speak with Dr. Errol De Souza, PhD, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors at Bionomics.  Bionomics just raised nearly $16mm to conduct clinical trials on their revolutionary drug to treat PTSD.  Dr. De Souza is one of the premier entrepreneurs in the biotech space with a special focus on development of therapeutics for treatment of Central Nervous System disorders. During his career as an entrepreneur, Dr. De Souza has raised several hundred million dollars in capital in both private and public markets and has taken companies public (Neurocrine Biosciences IPO) and sold companies (Synaptic sale to Lundbeck). Over Dr. De Souza's career, he has served in a number of high-ranking R&D roles, including SVP and U.S. head of Aventis (1998-2002), co-founder and EVP of R&D at Neurocrine (1992-1998) and Head of CNS at DuPont Merck (1990-1992). Dr. De Souza is currently a Director of several public and private companies and currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Catalyst Biosciences (CBIO). He has previously served on the board of directors of several public companies including IDEXX Laboratories (IDXX), Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX), Palatin Technologies (PTN) and Synaptic Pharmaceuticals (SNAP).  HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: De Souza shares his background and how it led him to the biopharmaceutical industry. We discuss what goes into the process of developing a drug for the Central Nervous System and ways that this process is the same and different from the development of other pharmaceuticals. De Souza discusses the two categories of disorders that come from the Central Nervous System, psychiatric and neurological, and the drug development history of the two dating back to the 50’s. We talk about the story behind Bionomics, their new compound BNC210 which is used for the treatment of PTSD which received a “Fast Track” designation from the FDA. De Souza helps us break down exactly what is PTSD, how it occurs, what’s going on in the brain and talks about how we can use that knowledge to develop biopharmaceutical treatments for PTSD (which is what Bionomics is leading the way on right now). He talks about current PTSD treatments and their shortcomings as well. We talk about the Bionomics collaboration with Merck which uses similar compounds in the clinical treatment of cognitive deficits in Alzheimer’s disease and why there are similarities between Alzheimer’s and PTSD based on the neurochemistry of the brain. Finally, Dr. De Souza gives some advice for entrepreneurs who are starting out early in their career and investors that are coming into this space who lack the background knowledge. 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)    

In this episode, we chat with Doug Drysdale, CEO of Cybin.  Cybin, is a life sciences company advancing mushroom based psychedelic pharmaceuticals and non-psychedelic nutraceutical products as potential therapies for psychiatric and neurological conditions. Cybin is developing technologies and delivery systems aimed at improving bioavailability to achieve the desired effects of psychedelics at low dosage levels.  Doug is an extremely accomplished and experienced CEO who has chaired a NASDAQ-listed company and has built and turned around 3 different pharmaceutical companies over the last 12 years.  He has more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare sector broadly and brings a level of expertise to the psychedelics space that is truly incredible. You can connect with Doug here: LinkedIn, Doug’s website, Cybin website Links mentioned in the show:Press Release:  Cybin Completes Reverse Take-Over Transaction Benzinga Article: Cybin Corp: Canada’s Largest Go-Public Financing in the Psychedelics Sector Forbes Article: Pharmaceutical Startup Developing Sublingual Psilocybin Raises $34 Million to Fund Clinical Trials What If Fellowship Program: https://whatif.vc/fellowship   HERE ARE SOME THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT Doug tells us about his 30 years of experience in the healthcare field and how it led him most recently to the psychedelics space. Doug shares that his experience working in a hospital lab gave him the motivation to begin work in the mental health field. In his time in the ER, he shares that he saw many teenage suicide attempts and drug overdoses. Like so many of us, his personal connection to depression and addiction is another contributing factor to wanting to work in this space. We discuss how the pandemic has affected the psychedelic space and how mental health issues have been elevated through recent events. We talk about the speed at which psychedelics are growing as a treatment for mental health differences and whether or not it this growth, and the ensuring hype are sustainable or not. Doug explains that while it may seem that psychedelics are this “new solution” that these treatments have been around for more than 50 years, but they are just now coming into the light. Doug explains that the decriminalization in Oregon is a potential “pilot” of sorts, for the rest of the United States. Doug talks about the data that has been collected on psychedelic treatments lately and what we are learning about how these drugs work in ways we never even knew before including by opening up new connections and networks so that the brain is essence, healing itself. We discuss the comparison of the psychedelic space to the cannabis space and how they are quite the opposite of each other. Doug explains the long history of scientific research supporting the use of psychedelics spanning 4-5 decades.  Doug shares his hope that we will see a strong network of compassionate use programs or palliative care centers being developed in the future. People at the end of their life have anxiety and depression, so they could benefit greatly from the use of psychedelics during this particular journey. Finally, we discuss how the future of psychedelics look as investors. Doug advises to start looking beyond just psilocybin as the only molecule that can help people. There could be better compounds out there that we haven’t discovered yet because politics has dampened the growth in this space.   Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: What If Fellowship, 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)  

In this mental health market update episode, we are covering valuation trends, investor sentiment, and our 9 key takeaways from the mental health startup market heading into 2021. We cover public and private market valuation trends impacting mental health startups, and we dig into results from a 150-investor survey we recently conducted on valuation expectations and market sentiment.  We also share our 9 key takeaways on the mental health startup market going into 2021 based on our 2020 experience investing $5.4mm dollars into 9 startups in the space at What If Ventures. Links Mentioned: Blog: Mental Health Investor Sentiment Survey: Extreme Optimism Going Into 2021 What If Fellowship:  https://whatif.vc/fellowship   Connect with the What If Ventures and the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: What If Fellowship, 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)

Steve Gatena is the founder of Pray.com, the word’s #1 app for daily prayer and faith-based audio content. Prior to becoming an American Entrepreneur, Steve was an NCAA Champion. He played football for the University of Southern California where he won a Rose Bowl Championship as well as UC Davis where he won a Great West Conference Championship. As a young entrepreneur, Steve started his first company at 22 which was a video agency. In 2012, he launched his 2nd company which quickly grew. In 2014, Steven was honored as an “Entrepreneur of the Year” at the United Nations. In 2016, after the loss of his close friend and mentor, Steve started Pray.com. You can connect with Steve here: LinkedIn, Pray.com What If Fellowship Program: https://whatif.vc/   HERE ARE SOME THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT Steve tells us his story of personal loss and how it led him to the creation of Pray.com. We discuss how Covid has had a huge impact on the popularity of Pray.com and their services, both free and premium. Steve shares how Pray.com has experienced stigma and pushback but that there has been a lot of positive feedback and support. He shares about how stigma doesn’t hold him back and how his faith gives him the strength to continue forward. Steve discusses what the future of digital faith looks like and what his vision for his company is moving forward in the next couple of years. We discuss tips for entrepreneurs who want to grow in the religion and faith space, and how to follow your calling. We finish by talking about how the group of people you choose to work with and the dynamic between these people has a huge impact on your entrepreneurial success Connect with the What If Ventures and the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: What If Fellowship, 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)

Tom Insel is the mental health “czar” of the State of California, he’s a co-founder of Mindstrong Health, and formerly Director of the NIMH.  Tom is someone I look up to greatly as a trailblazer in the mental health space around what can be done, what is being done and what could be done to improve access to high quality care.  Tom has a rare combination of skills as a highly experienced neuroscientist, founder, entrepreneur, and investor in mental health startups.  His advice and thought leadership help lead policy initiatives around the country on the topic of access to high quality, evidence based mental health care.  This episode is an excerpt from a Zoom call between Tom and the first cohort of founders from the What If Fellowship. The audio quality isn’t perfect as it was not originally intended to be a “podcast”, but the insights from decades of experience trying to solve for better access to care are priceless and I am excited to share these insights with you. If you are a founder building in this space, you will want to consider what Tom has to share from his experience.   Links: Tom’s LinkedIn, Humanest Website,  Tom’s Ted Talk: Can Smartphones Solve the Mental Health Crisis? What If Fellowship Program (Mental Health Accelerator): https://whatif.vc/fellowship   HERE ARE SOME THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT Tom talks about his experience in the mental health space, about his book that will be released next year, and he reflects on how 2020 has changed the mental health landscape. We discuss the huge shift in the need for telehealth resources in 2020 due to the pandemic and how there will be a huge market for it even after the pandemic is finished. Tom shares what he calls the three P’s for mental health and addiction recovery: 1) People, 2) Place, and 3) Purpose, and how long-term solutions need to take these three things into consideration. Tom shares what he thinks is the recipe for a good startup company in this space and tips for how to build and grow in this space. We talk about how the current system is broken for patients and their families when insurers and companies are the ones footing the bill and at the same time, trying to reduce costs for het sake of profit. We discuss how we could tear down the whole system and build something new! Tom shares his idea for what hasn’t been done yet for the mental health space but that could be a true game changer he would like to see by 2030. Finally, Tom weighs in on the use of psychedelics in the treatment of mental disorders.   Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: What If Fellowship, 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)    

Today’s guest is Megan Bell, Chief Strategy and Science Officer at Headspace where she directs a team focused on global corporate strategy, technology strategy, and new ventures including Headspace’s digital therapeutics subsidiary, Headspace Health. She also oversees medical and clinical affairs, behavioral science and clinical research, and design research including implementation of a human-centered design process in product and content development. Prior to Headspace, she was chief science officer and scientific founder at digital mental health startup, Lantern, whose core IP went on to become part of Omada Health, Ginger, and others. As part of her incredible, pioneering digital health research, she developed and validated over 20 digital health interventions.  Megan is an adjunct clinical assistant professor at Stanford as well. You can connect with Megan here: Megan on LinkedIn, Headspace Website   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Megan Bell joins us to talk about her background in the behavioral health world as a family member and daughter of someone who experienced severe mental health issues chronically. Additionally, as someone who has recovered from her own mental health disorders. Megan shares how her past experiences led her to be an advocate for others who faced similar struggles and how she was determined to change the culture around mental health. Specifically, she wanted to focus primarily on prevention strategies. When asked about her role in Headspace, Megan shares that she has been there for four years and how the company has evolved from a startup since she has been there. She shares that while she has had the title of many different roles over her time with the company that the passion remains the same: to make preventative mental health care more accessible to people. We asked Megan about evidence-based care and why it’s so important. She shares that it requires commitment from all involved and holds them accountable for the help they are wanting to provide to members. Not only are they focused on solutions to the problem that your customers are having, but you are focused on the effectiveness of your solutions when you have evidence-based care. How does Headspace measure to determine their effectiveness? Megan explains that Headspace is focused on resilience to stress and reduction of stress and that there is great evidence that mindfulness-based interventions can improve these areas. Megan talks about entrepreneurs who are interested in innovating in the mental health space. She gives advice to those interested to pay close attention to who your target audience is, how you can sustain your company, and how many different things you want to introduce to the market at once when you are just starting out. We discuss development teams and how it takes more than just passion to make changes in the mental health space. You need expertise in order to make a product that is beneficial to the consumer. Megan shares about the importance of changing the culture around mental health and addressing mental health when one is healthy, not just when it becomes a disorder. Finally, Megan discusses the ethics behind supporting a company that works in the mental health space and making sure you are choosing to invest in something that has processes in place for risk management, quality assurance, and overall choosing to support something that is making the world a better place. 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)  

Michael Acton Smith, co-Founder of Calm joins us to talk about building the #1 app for sleep, meditation and relaxation, with over 75 million downloads and over 700,000 5-star reviews. Michael tells us about how the idea was born from his own personal discovery of the power of meditation. In our conversation he tells the Calm founding story, and talks about the journey to making medication accessible to tens of millions of people while taking on stigma around meditation and mental health long before the recent surge in interest around the space. In addition to being the co-founder of Calm, Michael also was the founder of Mind Candy and creator of Moshi Monsters, the online world for children that grew to 80 million registered users and expanded offline into books, toys, games, magazines, music and movies. Michael is also the founder of Firebox.com, Ping Pong Fight Club, and Berwickstock music festival. In 2014, he was awarded an Order of the British Empire for his service to the creative industries. You can connect with Michael here: LinkedIn, Twitter, Calm Website What If Fellowship: https://whatif.vc/fellowship   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Michael Acton Smith joins us to talk about how he came to find meditation as a resource for himself in his personal life. Michael shares the story of how his experience in the entertainment industry left him feeling burnt out and how meditation is the most valuable skill he has learned in his lifetime. Calm origin story: With his co-founder Alex Tew, Michael wanted to bring meditation to people through something that was accessible, relatable, and simple. The app creation was their idea to achieve all of these goals in their attempt to change the world of mental health for the better. Michael talks about how meditation is so much more than just sitting quietly and breathing. It is a neuroscience that helps to rewire your brain to get out of the fight or flight mindset and how to help your prefrontal cortex frequencies to be normalized. How has Covid-19 and the pandemic affected Calm? Isolation mixed with anxiety surrounding the pandemic has caused mental health to be on the forefront of everyone’s minds. Michael talks about how his business was growing before this but now it has grown dramatically. He tells about his sense of responsibility to react to this current situation and to provide more content for subscribers. Michael shares how calm has extended its reach to not only individuals but to companies as well. Calm is being used in businesses to learn how to manage stress, how to connect with colleagues, and how to increase emotional intelligence within the workplace. Not only is this an affordable and life-changing choice for companies, but he states that it is a no brainer. If companies offer gym memberships to increase physical wellness, they should be offering calm memberships to increase mental wellness too. How do you see the business of Calm evolving over the next few years? Michael talks with us about the breadth of growth opportunities in front of the business in the coming years. He compares it to the scale of Netflix or Spotify subscriptions. In addition to that growth, he would like to see Calm being offered on a global scale in multiple languages. Michael discusses expanding calm into a lifestyle brand featuring clothing, hotels, even a resort on an island of Calm! When asked about what a Calm island would look like, he described it as a week or two getaway to focus on recentering yourself with healthy food, exercise, and meditation services. Advice for mental health founders: We talked about what founders in the mental health space could do if they are just starting to splash around in this space. Michael recommends above all else, patience. He says to not go after the first idea that pops into your head. He gives other tips to get yourself into the right mindset to find the big opportunities. To expand on this, we discussed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are most important to pay attention to early on as a founder. Michael shares that finances are so key to tracking as well as being incredibly mindful with hiring and workspace. Additionally, Michael shares that in order to keep retention up of your customers, you need to create new content and how you want to keep your business on the front of your customers' minds. Michael talks about the importance of teaching meditation to younger generations. He shares his excitement surrounding how we are seeing mindfulness education in schools.  He raises the question, “what is more important than teaching the next generation how to improve their emotional intelligence?” Finally, Michael shares how meditation is a skill that you can learn, and that means you have to be taught how to utilize it. Not only that, but you need to practice using it in your daily life in order to get better at it. We are starting to move in a direction where more and more people are using these skills in their life and being more open about mental health. Michael shares how he feels privileged to be able to be a part of this movement.                                Connect with the What If Ventures and the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: What If Fellowship, 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)  

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)  

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: alcarton@keepappy.com   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)  

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)  

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, Email Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures  

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 LinkedIn Check 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)  

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        

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 The purpose of this new segment is to leverage our platform for a few things: 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. 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)  

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 HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: 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. 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, Email Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures, Mental Health Rolling Fund, Rolling Fund FAQ  

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)  

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)

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, Nicoletta.Tessler@uhsinc.com 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 shifts   4. 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? Nicki explains the three areas of innovation that are most exciting to the team at UHS. These are: Configuration – This is where focusing on the innermost working of the business systems, networks, processes, technologies, channels, brands can improve the business. 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)    

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)    

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. LINKS REFERENCED IN THE SHOW: Livongo earnings call details: 8/6, Dial-in 270-215-9499; ID: Livongo 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 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)      

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 HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: 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. 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, Email Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)

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)      

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/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)

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 HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: 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. 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)  

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/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)

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)  

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 Blog Items 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 HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: 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. 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)

Kevin Dedner is co-founder and CEO of Henry Health. Henry Health is a digital community that provides self-care support and culturally sensitive teletherapy.  Henry Health's initial target audience is black men who have the lowest life expectancy of any population. In fact, the stated goal of Henry Health is to increase the life expectancy of black men by ten years within the next twenty-five years.  Kevin has over 15 years of experience in public health (he also has a Masters in Public Health degree) -  He’s worked on a variety of issues including childhood obesity, HIV/AIDS, and tobacco control. He has worked with numerous public health entities including the nation’s largest public health foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. You can connect with Kevin here: LinkedIn, Henry Health Website, Henry Health on Twitter, Kevin on Twitter Links mentioned in the show: Kevin’s Blog Post: Bernard Tyson was our leader, Why do Black Men die so soon? Dr. James Sherman’s 1994 Report: John Henryism and The Health of African-Americans Kevin’s Blog: We All Deserve to Have Our Culture Honored, Especially in Therapy Startup Health: Meet the Health Transformer Addressing Racial Disparities in COVID-19   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Kevin Dedner is an expert in public health and has been a public health advocate for many years. He has worked on all of the major public health issues over the last decade from HIV to childhood obesity and tobacco control.  Kevin shares his own experience with mental health. He talks about how mental exhaustion led to depression and a search for help via therapy. He worked closely with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to address health disparities. In that space Kevin became keenly aware of black men having the lowest life expectancy of any population. He talks about how in all of his career he never heard anyone talking about this even though the data has existed for quite a while.  The deeper he looked he found a correlation between mental health and un-managed stress. Untreated mental health is a driver for chronic disease and premature death. After dealing with his own depression and realizing it was stress that really drove him into that depression, he wanted to do something about it and found his way to helping found Henry Health to help black men with their mental health. We talked extensively about how we get more black men to focus on their mental health, and how we get society to focus on this problem. Kevin talks about how we need to teach people how to use tools like meditation, breathing techniques, etc. to manage our stress and mental health. Kevin talks about Dr. Sherman’s research that shows that black men are living life at a higher sense of awareness. Many times, people are unconscious of this. This causes blood to move through our veins faster, strains organs, weakens immune systems and more.  This is why we must solve the mental health issue in order to extend the life expectancy of black men. We talked about how we can get more black men to become aware of their need for help with their mental health, increase their access to care, and providing access to services and content that help black men improve their mental well-being. Kevin explains that while mental health products are exploding on the market, there are very few, if any, culturally sensitive offerings for populations such as black men, or the LGBTQ community. Kevin talks about where Henry Health is in their business life cycle as a seed stage startup, what traction they have had so far, and their strategy for bringing their solution to market. Kevin explains that a lot of people seek culturally competent solutions for mental health regardless of being apart of a certain population or not. For something to become a public health issue, we have to have the political leadership pointing government resources at the problem. We believe that mental health will be the public health issue of the next decade.  We do need to see political will and change though, for this to happen.   Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Patreon account, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)

In this episode I spoke with Jesse Stern, founder of KoreVoices. KoreVoices is a community of over 200,000 people overcoming mental health issues by sharing stories and offering support.  The mission of KoreVoices is to build a movement that allows people to find solutions to their mental health issues, while also helping others.  Here at the Stigma Podcast we feel their mission aligns very closely with ours! Jesse built KoreVoices after spending nearly 10 years producing issue driven documentaries all over the world for National Geographic and the Discovery Channel.  KoreVoices has an incredible reach and helps untold numbers of people with the mental health, and with connectivity. You can connect with Jesse and KoreVoices on their website and these Instagram accounts: KoreVoices Website, IG: MyDateMyStory, IG: ThisLifeHappens, IG: Courageousmoments, Contact Form     HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Jesse talks about his time going to remarkably interesting, often dangerous places, to give voice to people that did not have a voice. He was making films for National Geographic and Discovery Channel telling stories that the world needed to hear. Jesse started an Instagram account that allowed people to anonymously submit stories of dating experiences. At first, he thought it would be a bunch of funny tinder date stories.  However, it did not take long for the stories to get serious and focus on long term relationships, stuff they were going through after years of dating, or marriage even.  People started submitting very real stuff and asking questions and asking for advice.  This led to an incredibly positive and powerful community. We talked about how this community evolved into a discussion of feelings and eventually mental health. We talked about how important this community has become for users and how the users migrate between the various accounts, and platforms associated with KoreVoices. Jesse and I both shared about being authentic, sharing, vulnerability and how we’ve both experienced these things in our lives. We talked about how people come up with the courage to share their stories and ask for help. The timing and process is different for everyone and we all come to a place of seeking vulnerability and connectivity in different ways and at different times. Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following ways: Patreon account, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture Fund)

Mental Health Market Update: 5/29/2020 – Who is Investing in Mental Health Startups?  Investors have placed over $850mm into mental health startups in the first 5 months of 2020.  This far outpaces 2019 mental health startup funding for the entire year. Q1 2020 Mental Health Funding Article is here: https://whatif.vc/blog/explosion-of-mental-health-startup-funding-in-q1%C2%A02020 Link to the investor list is located on our Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/stigmapodcast Original blog post from early 2020 on the mental health startup investor landscape: https://whatif.vc/blog/top-100-mental-health-startup-investors  You can support Stigma Podcast 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)

Jason Finucan and I both live with type-1 bipolar disorder.  We have had vastly different experiences with the illness.  In this episode, we explore what this disease looks like, how it manifested itself in our own lives and how we got better.  We challenge the public perception of bipolar disorder and how the media portrays it.  One of the key takeaways from this conversation is how differently two people can experience the same mental illness. Today, Jason is an author, mental health advocate, stigma fighter, professional speaker, and founder of StigmaZero, Jason is also the creator of the StigmaZero Online Training Academy, where he combats work-place stigma and helps employers to create a stigma free working environment. You can connect with Jason here: StigmaZero, Jason on LinkedIn, Jason’s Book - Jason:1, Sigma:0, StigmaZero on Twitter, Email: hello@stigmazero.com, Referenced in the conversation:  Book: “Moodswing”   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: What is bipolar disorder? How is it different from depression, or other mental illnesses?  We talked about how bipolar manifests itself in our lives and draw distinct comparisons between how different it has been for each of us. We compared and contrasted our experience identifying that we had a problem, that we needed help, and how we both came to get that help. Jason explains that when he first realized he had an “illness” that he immediately started to stigmatize himself and avoid treatment at first.  We talked about our varying cycle times, what that looks like, and how public perceptions of what a bipolar cycle looks like vary from reality. Jason explains what severe depressive episodes look like for him and how he would navigate his way out of them.  We talked about what manic episodes look like as well and importantly, how you can tell the difference between a “normal” elevated state, versus a hypomanic or manic state, especially once you become aware of having this illness. Jason talks about his 3-week stay in a psychiatric hospital, when he got diagnosed and how that led him to finally get the help he needed, and how he has lived symptom free due to his treatment regimen since 2005. We discuss the Hollywood portrayal of bipolar disorder as well as public perception of bipolar disorder. Jason explains that people tend to think bipolar is this “thing” that looks like X or Y, or Z.  However, it does not fit in a box.  You cannot stereotype it.  It is quite different for everyone who experiences it. Pop culture is a real problem.  In the media the bipolar representation is skewed heavily toward the manic, dangerous episodes.  They never portray the 16 hours in bed per day during depressive stays so public perception is that everyone with bipolar is running around un-hinged all the time which is extremely far from reality. Do you miss the mania? This is a question Jason fields quite frequently when speaking in public.  He explains that he has learned to understand the difference between healthy positive feelings, that are sustainable, and unsustainable manic episodes which are ultimately very destructive and while they feel good for a minute, can lead to long term pain and agony. We talked about how you know when a reaction is a normal elevated response, versus a sign that there is a problem coming on. This requires some vigilance.  In his first 2 years Jason worried that every time he felt good, that maybe he felt too good.  He tracks his sleep, and energy over time and as able to use that to baseline how he feels.   Jason shares that he has not experienced even the mildest hypomania since June 2005 when started treating the illness. We compare our diets, the medication we take, our regular routines, sleep patterns, and how we manage our illness broadly. 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)

Mental Health Market Update: 5/22/2020 – Mindstrong Raises $100mm Series-C Mindstrong Health announced a series-C investment of $100mm in a press release dated yesterday, Thursday 5/21/2020. This funding round included capital from What If Ventures, General Catalyst, Bezos Expeditions, Foresight, ARCH, 8VC, and others. Press on TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/21/with-an-ex-uber-exec-as-its-new-ceo-digital-mental-health-service-mindstrong-raises-100-million/ Mindstrong job postings: https://mindstrong.com/careers/ Tom Insel video explaining digital phenotyping: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZKAaqfaX8I&feature=youtu.be Support for claim that most anti-depressants are prescribed by general practitioners: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5473964/   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)

“I launched a Company While Serving Time for Coke Smuggling” – Emily O’Brien I’m so inspired by our conversation with Emily O’Brien.  Emily is a keynote speaker, entrepreneur, consultant and convict.  Emily is an entrepreneur, who started her current business from prison.  She overcame far more than most entrepreneurs have to deal with, to start her business.  She is the founder of Comeback Snacks where the website proudly proclaims, “We broke the law, but we fix good snacks!” In this episode, Emily talks about why she went to prison, how her perspective on life changed during that time and how she started her business from prison. We talked about where she is with the business today, how it is scaling and what is next for her.  Her story is incredibly inspiring. Check it out! You can connect with Emily here: Emily’s personal website, Emily on Instagram, Comeback Snacks on Instagram, Emily on LinkedIn, Comeback Snacks Website,   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Emily experienced a very “normal” upbringing. Nothing spectacular to note, and in fact, she was a rather “good kid.”  She made great grades, did not get in trouble, and did all the right things.  Sure, she liked to have a good time, and party a bit, but nothing too outside of the lines.  In her early 20s she found herself starting to use drugs not just to “celebrate” a good time but to medicate the tough parts of life.  As her drug use increased, she found herself hanging out with, dating, spending time with people who were doing the same things. This led her to a situation where people she was with brought drugs back across the border.  They got caught, and she was sentenced to a 4-year prison sentence. While she was in prison, she wanted to create something good and make use of her time in a positive way. So, she started a popcorn business.  In the podcast we talked about how she came up with the idea, how she started the business and how she created momentum for the business ahead of her release. Emily shares about how she focused on what she did have access to, rather than what she did not have. Sure, in prison, her resources were extremely limited, but she had the ability to write letters, so she did.  She sent letters to journalists who had written about prison reform or crime in the area.  She also sent letters to authors, and podcast hosts who cared about entrepreneurship or prison reform.   These letters led to a lot of opportunity that we discussed in our conversation. She explains that entrepreneurship is all about risk and in prison you do not find a lot of people who are afraid of risk. Some entrepreneurs are on the wrong side of the law, taking the wrong risks, and end up in prison. That does not mean they were bad at being entrepreneurs, in fact, there are a lot of really successful entrepreneurs in prison who, if they applied their skills differently, could build phenomenally successful businesses.  We ended up agreeing that prison could be a funnel into the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Emily has been out of prison for just over a year now and is starting to scale her business. We talked about how she is making that happen and the challenges ahead for her as she navigates scaling the business.  Emily also talked about prison reform as well as second chance hiring and how she tries to primarily hire people who have spent time in prison. 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)  

Arielle Dyment is an influencer in the recovery community, and a highly sought-after sober coach.  She joins us to talk about addiction, getting sober, and how she’s helping people who are falling through the cracks of the existing recovery solutions in the market. Arielle built a recovery coaching platform called My Sober Compass in order to help people get sober and stay sober.  In this podcast, she tells her story of addiction, how she found her way to recovery, and why she started a platform to help others get well.  You can connect with Arielle and My Sober Compass here: Instagram, Facebook Community Page,  LinkedIn, Website, Book a Coaching Call   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Arielle and I commiserate about experiences we both had during our pre-sobriety years. She explains some of the problems she faced, what she was like then, what has changed and what she is like now. We talked about the experiences we have both had in the recovery community, the various resources available to those living in recovery and where the holes are in that “market.” Arielle explains how My Sober Compass works to help people get well, why she started it and what she does to help people as they work through her program and lean on her as a coach during their recovery journey. 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)

Market Update 3 – Sizing the Mental Health Market & What Can We Learn From One Medical's Q1 Earnings Report? We dig into 8 research reports on various sub-markets of behavioral health that I believe add up to give us the size of the mental health market.   Overview of One Medical's Q1 earnings report and what founders in the mental health space can learn from key metrics around volume, virtual mix and reimbursement, etc. Links to public sources: NAMI Stats What If VC (mental health startup investing) ONEM Earnings Press ONEM Q1 Earnings Call Transcript

Today’s guest is Nyemade Boiwu.  Nyemade recently wrote blog post on the NAMI website titled “It’s Okay If You Need Meds to Be Okay.”  This post caught my eye because I’ve been a part of several conversations lately about stigma where taking medication has been the focal point.  In today’s conversation Nyemade and I tackle the stigma of mental health medication from the perspective of two people who both take medication for mental health differences.  I hope you learn as much from her perspectives as I did. You can connect with Nyemade here and find links mentioned in the episode here: Instagram, Twitter,  Facebook, All her links on Link Tree, Nami Article: It’s Okay If you Need Meds to be Okay   HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Nyemade shares with us about her personal struggles with mental illness beginning around the age of 13 that ultimately lead her to attempting suicide. She explains that about 50% of people who will struggle with a mental illness begin showing symptoms by the age of 14.  We talk about how this is overlooked and brushed aside as “being a teenager” often. She describes her journey with her mental health after that time in her early teenage years as a long and winding road that took over a decade to travel until she finally got the help she needed in the form of medication, and effective therapy. She talks about having seasonal affective disorder (living in Rochester, NY) and how she tried to out-run her mental illness by moving to Florida at the age of 19 instead of taking medication or tackling the problems directly. She was hoping that medication wasn’t going to be needed, so she tried to run from it because of the stigma associated with taking medication for mental illness. Where does stigma associated with mental health medication come from? Nyemade explains that society has created this stigma and that the media perpetuates it. Generally people who are taking medication for mental illness are grouped into one of two buckets: 1) a “crazy” person who is running around hearing voices, or 2) someone who is overly emotional and needs to “get over it.” A lot of people who need help, don’t view themselves as being in one of those buckets so they avoid medication because of how they may be perceived by others as being in one of those groups mentioned above.   People think they should be strong enough to “get over it” if it is just an emotional thing.  Nyemade talks about her journey to find a therapist that worked well with her. She explains that often we aren’t going find someone we click with right away and you may need to try another therapist to find someone that gives you the space you need to open up and do real work. What advice would you give younger you about how to deal with this stuff knowing what you know now? Nyemade explains that she would give her younger self the advice to talk about things more and it doesn’t matter to who, it can be a therapist, or a friend, or someone else who is struggling.  She recalls being young, and feeling like she was the odd person out, but as she got older, and started engaging with people on the internet, she saw that she was not the only one struggling.  Growing up she felt as if she was the odd person out, but because of social media and connectivity online, she realizes many other people feel the way she does and there’s been a lot of comfort in talking with others (not just clinicians) about how she’s feeling. What worked for you, to get better and feel better? Nymade told me that she started feeling better once she got therapy right, with the right therapist and added medication to her routine. The therapy wasn’t enough for her but with medication, things started to get better.  She explains that depression is not the same experience for everyone and that it can be situational, but it can also be medical and ther are different ways to treat it depending on what’s causing it so you have to figure out what’s going to work for you. How do we fight stigma? We need to talk more about how we are feeling.  It’s ok to share what we are going through.  Most importantly, we need to hold ourselves accountable around the language we use every day.  We can’t be saying things like “crazy” flippantly.  She talks about hwo hard it was for her to change her language and why we need to be responsible for calling others out when they use language that doesn’t help reduce stigma.  We can start by just being aware of how often we say things like “crazy” etc.  This is really important because these words lose their significance when we abuse them out of context regularly.   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)