Stigma Podcast - Mental Health
93 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 66 ratingsStephen Hays is a recovering addict, living with type-1 bipolar disorder. He spent years living in addiction, and with untreated mental illness while he went from West Point graduate, to Wall Street Banker to nearly taking his own life when he hit bottom. On this show you will hear stories of addiction, mental illness, recovery, hope, and wellness. You will also hear from clinicians, experts, doctors, entrepreneurs and others who are trying to lead other people to wellness. We would love to hear your story too!
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Episodes
#42 - It's Okay If You Need Meds to Be Okay - A Chat About Depression with Nyemade Boiwu
May 13, 2020 02:00 - 30 minutes - 47.7 MBToday’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 pers...
#41 - Meru Health Founder and CEO Kristian Ranta
May 10, 2020 17:00 - 31 minutes - 29 MBKristian Ranta, founder and CEO of Meru Health, lost his older brother to suicide in 2005 pushing Kristian to build a mental health solution that could help others dealing with the same problems his brother had. Kristian joins us this week to talk about how his brother’s personal struggle with depression and substance use was never addressed, in part, due to lack of access to quality care. Kristian founded Meru Health in 2016 and the Company has evolved to become a tech-enabled telehealth...
#40 - Market Update 5/8/20: The Telehealth Revolution + CATASYS Q1 '20 Earnings
May 08, 2020 19:41 - 11 minutes - 26.3 MBCatsys: https://catasys.com/ Catasys latest investor presentation: https://catasys.com/presentations.html# Stigma Podcast: https://www.stigmapodcast.com/ Join our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/gMH3rX Stephen Hays: https://stephenrhays.com/ What If Ventures: https://whatif.vc/
#39 - Men's Mental Health with EVRYMAN Founder Lucas Krump
May 06, 2020 01:21 - 25 minutes - 23.8 MBLucas Krump joins me on the podcast this week to talk about men’s mental health. Lucas started a company called EVRYMAN, for the sole purpose of helping men, improve their mental health and wellbeing by focused on the unique dynamics that men deal with around mental health and wellness. Lucas is passionate about connection, community, and emotional wellness. As CEO and Co-Founder of EVRYMAN, Lucas together with EVRYMAN co-founders Dan Doty, Owen Marcus and Sascha Lewis lead a global move...
#38 - Zak Williams on Sobriety and Mental Health Advocacy After His Father Took His Own Life
May 03, 2020 17:00 - 39 minutes - 91.4 MBZak Williams joins us to talk about how he handled the passing of his father (actor Robin Williams) and how he found his way to sobriety, and eventually to mental health advocacy. Zak explains that finding ways to serve, and to help others, was a huge part of his path to wellness and that being vulnerable, is one of the most important parts wellness and sobriety for him. His story of substance use, and difficulties with mental health differences reminds me of my own personal experienc...
#37 - Market Update 1 – AbleTo Acquisition @ 10x Revenue – What it Means For You
May 01, 2020 05:11 - 19 minutes - 18.5 MBMental Health Market Update: 5/1/2020 Analysis of the UnitedHealth (Optum) acquisition of AbleTo and what it means for founders in the behavioral health startup space. Overview of April 2020 startup funding in the mental health space as well as mention of the $80mm funding round that Compass Pathways just did. Links to sources mentioned or referenced: What If VC Q1 Mental Health Startup Market Funding Analysis CNBC United – AbleTo Coverage Compass Pathways $80mm Raise One Medic...
#36 - Limitless Ventures Founder, Alexander Holt on Investing in Behavioral Health and Addiction Solutions
April 28, 2020 04:09 - 36 minutes - 33.5 MBAlexander Holt, Founder of Limitless Ventures, joins us today to talk about addiction, recovery, and investing in behavioral health and addiction-focused startups. His venture fund, Limitless Ventures is an impact investment firm, that looks to fund companies seeking to help people who need behavioral health and addiction treatment solutions. Their mission at Limitless is to combine venture capital and philanthropic capital to scale multi-disciplinary solutions for people impacted by menta...
#35 - Change Your Brain Chemistry, to Improve Happiness and Mental Health - Dr. Laura Murray from Johns Hopkins
April 20, 2020 13:52 - 35 minutes - 32.8 MBDid you know we can manually adjust our brain chemistry leading to increased happiness (and health)? Did you know that in countries like Zambia, people with a 4th and 5th-grade education are being taught to successfully administer mental health treatment to local populations? What can we learn from that effort to improve access and cost to much needed mental health care services in the United States? We discuss all of this, and how these learnings can be applied to help us manage our ...
#34 - Combating Loneliness and Isolation in College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Danielle Ramo from HopeLab
April 16, 2020 13:55 - 30 minutes - 28.5 MBDr. Danielle Ramo, from HopeLab joined me this week to talk about the launch of the Nod app. Nod was built by HopeLab in collaboration with Grit Digital Health. Nod’s mission is to reduce loneliness in young people and to prevent adverse effects during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond. Danielle is a clinical psychologist and the Senior Director of Research at HopeLab, which is a non-profit social innovation lab based in San Francisco creating behavior change tech to help teens and young adul...
#33 - How to Fix Mental Health Care in America – Ben Miller from Well Being Trust
April 13, 2020 13:56 - 40 minutes - 37 MBBen Miller, Chief Strategy Officer at the Well Being Trust joined me to discuss what’s broken, what works, and what the future of mental health care in America can and should look like. Ben is a clinical psychologist and spent a decade as a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine where he did extensive work to understand how we can better integrate Primary and Behavioral care resources and what an idea mental health care system would look like in America. Ben is one o...
#32 - Ginger Founder, Karan Singh on Building a Mental Health Startup
April 07, 2020 03:43 - 33 minutes - 30.8 MBKaran Singh, Co-founder and COO of mental health startup, Ginger, joins me in this episode. Ginger is one of the early pioneers within the mental health tech space and it’s an honor to have Karan join us to talk about the founding of Ginger, the mental health startup space, and his advice to aspiring mental health startup founders. He tells the founding story of Ginger, as well as how the business has evolved and grown into what it is today. Ginger has accomplished quite a bit in the las...
#31 - COVID-19, Isolation, Loneliness and Your Mental Health with Kasley Killam
April 03, 2020 15:43 - 23 minutes - 22 MBIn the time of COVID-19 and social distancing, it’s important to know how we can maintain our mental health. Kasley Killam, joins me for a conversation about loneliness, and isolation during this trying time and how we can protect our mental health even when we may not be able to connect physically with others. Kasley is a Masters of Public Health Candidate at the Harvard School of Public Health. She is also a World Economic Forum Global Shaper and a social health advocate as well as a C...
#30 - Using a Ketogenic Diet to Treat Mental Illness - with Dr. Chris Palmer
March 30, 2020 18:31 - 58 minutes - 54.3 MBCan the Ketogenic diet cure mental illness? Has it really been used to cure epilepsy? Is it safe? How does it work? We answer all of these questions in this conversation with Dr. Chris Palmer. Dr. Chris Palmer is one of the world’s leading researcher on the use of ketogenic therapies for treating neurological disorders. He has done extensive research on the intersection of psychiatric disorders and metabolic disorders (obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and inflammation). The...
#29 - Corporate Executive Mental Health Leaderboard with Rob Stephenson
March 24, 2020 21:59 - 29 minutes - 27.3 MBIn this episode, I spoke with Rob Stephenson who is moving mountains to defeat stigma around mental health. He’s one of the most active, and most impactful people I’ve met when it comes to fighting stigma around mental health. His motivation is driven by his own mental health struggle with bipolar disorder and the overwhelming response he received a few years ago when he decided to come out about his struggles. His main focuses today are: InsideOut Leader Board – An annual list of senio...
#28 - Coming Out About Mental Illness With Elizabeth Horner
March 10, 2020 03:29 - 28 minutes - 26.2 MBComing out about having a mental illness isn’t easy. Elizabeth Horner, psychiatric nurse, mother of 4, joins us to talk about how she decided to come out to her friends and family about her bipolar disorder. In our conversation we both shared our experiences from finding out about our bipolar diagnosis, to how we deal with it and what we can do to encourage others to speak their truth and de-stigmatize having a mental health difference. Elizabeth’s story of how she finally decided to g...
#27 - West Point Grad Talks Addiction, Rehab, and Mindfulness Journey in SE Asia - with Nick Padlo
March 02, 2020 20:47 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MBNick Padlo joins us for a very candid conversation about addiction, rehab, recovery, relapsing, and mindfulness. Nick is a long-time friend, and he’s a West Point classmate from the class of 2003. After a successful career in the Army, he obtained an MBA from Stanford GSB and ultimately formed a pledge fund to acquire and launch the Pet Loss Center. He drove the company to incredible growth. In the midst of all of the success he was having as an entrepreneur, he struggled with addiction....
#26 - What is the Role of the Church in Mental Health - with Michael Perron of Prestonwood Baptist Church
February 10, 2020 21:48 - 39 minutes - 36.5 MBMichael Perron is one of my sponsors in recovery. He is also a minister who created and runs the Life Recovery Program at Prestonwood Baptist Church. This program has been very influential in my recovery and was instrumental in saving my life from addiction and mental illness. Michael himself struggled for over 15 years with addiction to drugs and alcohol. In this episode he talks about a spiritual encounter that he had, that turned his life around and set him on a path to ministry an...
#25 - Homeless Naval Academy Graduate Gets Back on His Feet Via Entrepreneurship - Bob Moran
February 05, 2020 03:31 - 34 minutes - 32 MBBob Moran graduated from the Naval Academy in 1983. He served honorably as a Marine officer, but as he neared retirement from the military, he didn’t make the transition into civilian life as smoothly as others do. Like many veterans, Bob struggled to integrate into society, struggled to get the right jobs and perpetually under-earned versus his potential as a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. This struggle, combined with his own mental health differences led Bob to losing rel...
#24 - Afghan Refugee - Mental Illness Startup Founder - Sophia Mahfooz
January 28, 2020 04:18 - 46 minutes - 43.3 MBSophia Mahfooz is a survivor, she is a role model and she is one of the most inspiring people I’ve met. She was born pre-maturely, as her village in Afghanistan was bombed while her young parents fled to a refugee camp. This trauma shocked her mother into labor and left Sophia with very little chance to survive. Shortly after this, her family quickly fled the war-torn village where she was born after their home was destroyed. Sophia spent many of her formative years living as a refugee...
#23 - Streamlining the Pathway to Mental Health Care with Strong365 Founder, Chantel Garrett
January 21, 2020 00:19 - 37 minutes - 34.5 MBChantel Garrett, Founder and Executive Director of Strong365 joins me for a conversation about psychosis, schizophrenia, and how we can help people when they first start to struggle. One of the biggest problems we face in helping people who struggle from mental illness is reducing the “pathway to care” from the first symptoms until treatment. The average duration from symptom to treatment in the U.S. is 15 months when the World Health Organization says it should be under 3 weeks. Stron...
#22 - Congressional Candidate Lindsey Boylan (D-NY) on Making Mental Health a Priority Issue in The Election
January 13, 2020 17:21 - 48 minutes - 45 MBIn our latest episode, I had the chance to speak with congressional candidate Lindsey Boylan. She is a candidate for Congress in NY’s 10th district. I found myself getting emotional a few times during my conversation with her. She has a very personal reason for pushing a mental health agenda as part of her campaign. If you do nothing more than watch her short video on why mental health is such a big part of her platform here. In this episode, Lindsey explains how the people in her d...
#21 - Walk and Talk Therapy in NYC with Clay Cockrell
January 07, 2020 00:37 - 41 minutes - 38.2 MBIn this episode, Stephen Hays chats with Clay Cockrell. Clay is a therapist in New York, NY and has gained quite a bit of notoriety for the medium through which he meets his clients. He meets his clients for walks. Clay started Walk and Talk Therapy in NYC after realizing many busy professionals simply don’t have time to transit to therapy sessions. Clay has been featured on numerous TV shows, and in many publications including Good Morning America, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The Ti...
#20 - Stigma, Discrimination, Recovery, and Politics - with Ryan Hampton
December 23, 2019 16:23 - 54 minutes - 49.5 MBIn this episode Stephen Hays chats with Ryan Hampton about Ryan’s personal addiction journey that has led Ryan to the forefront of our national conversation on addiction and recovery. Ryan shares his story and talks about where we are as a country on combatting addiction, fostering recovery, and defeating stigma. Ryan really tells it how it is, and if you are at all concerned about how the government is dealing with (or not dealing with) drugs or addiction, you will feel better when you he...
#19 - PsyberGuide - 'Consumer Reports' for Mental Health Apps with Dr. Stephen Schueller
December 17, 2019 03:25 - 51 minutes - 47.1 MBIn this episode I chat with Dr. Stephen Schueller about the role of technology in treating people for mental health conditions as well as the landscape of existing technology solutions, and those that are yet to be built. Dr. Schueller is an assistant professor of Psychological Science at the University of California in Irvine and he is also the Executive Director of PsyberGuide, which is a non-profit functioning as the ‘consumer reports’ agency of the mental health technology world. Dr. ...
#18 - Let’s Talk About Sex (Addiction) – Dr. Alexandra Katehakis
December 10, 2019 02:47 - 44 minutes - 61.7 MBDr. Alexandra Katehakis is a pioneer in the area of sex addiction, and healthy sexual behavior. In this episode, we talk about what sex addiction is, where it stems from, how to treat it, and how to know if you need help. It’s a provocative conversation on one of the most stigmatized addictions we face. Dr. Katehakis is a Marriage Family Therapist, Certified Sex Addiction Therapist/Supervisor and Certified Sex Therapist/Supervisor, and Clinical Director of the Center for Healthy Sex in L...
#17 - Getting Sober with Alex Wilhelm of TechCrunch
November 25, 2019 23:24 - 41 minutes - 37.7 MBIn this episode, my friend Alex Wilhelm joins me to talk about our shared experiences in recovering from addiction. Alex was most recently, the editor in chief of Crunchbase News, and is currently the host of the Equity Podcast on TechCrunch. He’s been covering the tech world as a journalist for many years and has had a wide variety of experiences in the entrepreneurial and startup ecosystems. Alex had a huge impact on my decision to get sober, and my decision to get help when I got to t...
#16 - Suicidal Ideation and Self Harm - What to do When it's Your Child
November 19, 2019 03:25 - 39 minutes - 36.3 MBI had a raw, personal, and honest conversation with Robbie Millward about mental health, suicidal ideation, self-harm and how he struggled with these things in his life, and what he’s done to overcome them. Robbie is a military veteran and now serves on the Board of Directors for NAMI in New Hampshire where he has taken part in drafting materials that guide how New Hampshire’s state level first responders handle mental health crisis situations. Robbie has overcome a lot with respect to h...
#15 - Opioid Addiction Prevention – with Yossuf Albanawi Founder of Pilleve
November 11, 2019 14:15 - 43 minutes - 39.7 MBIn this episode, I speak with Yossuf Albanawi, co-founder of Opioid addiction solution, Pilleve. Yossuf is a graduate of Wake Forest University, he is a fellow at the Halcyon Incubator in Washington DC. This conversation is about the Opioid crisis. This is such a huge problem in our society, and we need solutions faster than we are bringing them to market. While there are traditional resources available for people once they become addicted, there are no solutions on the market focused ...
#14 Children’s Mental Health and the Role of Educators
November 04, 2019 20:32 - 44 minutes - 40.4 MBIn this episode of the Stigma Podcast, I had a chance to speak with Mandy Froehlich. Mandy is an educator, and personally, opens with us about overcoming PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Mandy is an experienced educator who leverages her professional experience, and her passion for learning, to teach, train, and inspire other teachers to renew their excitement for teaching, and re-engage with their profession in an innovative way. Currently, she spends her time consulting school distric...
#14 - Children’s Mental Health and the Role of Educators
November 04, 2019 20:32 - 44 minutes - 40.4 MBIn this episode of the Stigma Podcast, I had a chance to speak with Mandy Froehlich. Mandy is an educator, and personally, opens with us about overcoming PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Mandy is an experienced educator who leverages her professional experience, and her passion for learning, to teach, train, and inspire other teachers to renew their excitement for teaching, and re-engage with their profession in an innovative way. Currently, she spends her time consulting school distric...
#13 - Heart Rate Variability – Learning to Self-Regulate - Rohan Dixit of Lief Therapeutics
October 14, 2019 22:55 - 35 minutes - 32.4 MBWhat do monks, startup founders, and Ph.Ds in cognitive neuroscience have in common? They all have a heartbeat. Today’s guest, Rohan Dixit, founder of Lief Therapeutics joins us to talk about how our heartbeat, can tell us more about our mental health, than any other biomarker, and how we can learn to use it to self-regulate our mental well-being. Rohan explains how Heart Rate Variability (HRV) data can be used to help us learn to self-regulate our emotional state by taking biofeedback a...
#12 - How Psychotherapy Can Become Mainstream - Dr. Cameron Sepah
October 08, 2019 01:46 - 58 minutes - 53.5 MBI had the most educational, and enlightening conversation with Dr. Cameron Sepah and I’m lucky that I captured it digitally and can share it with everyone! We talked about a range of topics from his education at Harvard and UCLA, to his time growing a digital health tech startup from 6 to 300 employees and now his efforts running his own private practice while advising multiple venture capital funds on their investment strategies in and around digital health investing. Dr. Sepah is a ve...
#11 - You Are Not Alone - Marie "Mxiety" Shanley
October 01, 2019 01:44 - 43 minutes - 39.9 MBMarie “Mxiety” Shanley joined me for a conversation about mental health, depression, streaming on Twitch/Mixer, and how to get help when you are struggling. She shares her own story of overcoming debilitating depression, PTSD, and anxiety. Since getting help, Marie felt compelled to create a place that connects people who are currently struggling with people who have struggled, so nobody ever has to be alone in their time of need. She has built a community on streaming platforms Twitch...
#10 - Automated Mood Tracking Tech - Dan Seider
September 24, 2019 07:39 - 51 minutes - 47.3 MBIn episode 10, we have a conversation with Dan Seider, founder and CEO of Misü. Dan talks to us about his experience living with bipolar disorder, getting diagnosed, how he thinks about his mood states on a regular basis and taking medication (Lithium). We also talked about how Dan became very aware of his mood state after his diagnosis. Dan’s personal desire to track his own mood state over 100,000 times, drove his efforts to try to automate the mood tracking process. Dan’s startup, Mi...
#9 - Recovery & Second Chance Hiring - Cheri Garcia
September 16, 2019 22:34 - 51 minutes - 47 MBMy conversation with Cheri Garcia, founder of Cornbread Hustle was very raw, very vulnerable and opened my eyes to the movement around second chance hiring that’s growing quickly here in America. Cornbread Hustle is a staffing agency for second chances (people getting out of prison or living in recovery). Cheri is passionate about helping felons, and people in recovery find transformation through employment or entrepreneurship. Cheri’s story of addiction to methamphetamines, and alcoh...
#8 - Stigma is a Squirrel. Run at it Shouting! - Mark Freeman
September 09, 2019 16:00 - 47 minutes - 43.6 MBI’m excited to share my conversation with Mark Freeman. Mark is an author (Book: “You are Not a Rock”), mental health coach, workshop facilitator and someone that I follow closely as his frequent tweets and public commentary on mental health and wellbeing are helpful for me as I live in recovery from addiction and live with bipolar disorder. In addition to talking about stigma, mental health care and treatment for anxiety, Mark discusses his own struggles with addiction, anxiety and OCD. ...
#7 - Access to Therapy via Amazon Alexa - Bea Arthur
September 02, 2019 22:43 - 40 minutes - 36.9 MBBea Arthur is a Columbia University trained psychotherapist, founder and CEO of The Difference, and an author who works with high-performance individuals. Bea was the first African-American female founder in Y-Combinator and was named as an Entrepreneur to Bet On by Newsweek Magazine as well as one of Bumble’s 100 Most Inspirational New Yorkers. I had a blast during this conversation, and I learned a lot. Bea is just all-around amazing and I learned a lot from my conversation with her. ...
#6 - Mental Health, Stigma and Vulnerability - Jordan Brown
August 27, 2019 05:24 - 41 minutes - 38 MBIn this episode of the Stigma Podcast, I spoke with Jordan Brown, an advocate for mental health, a social worker in the mental health field, writer, poet and key member of a mental health-related startup. He has also spent time volunteering with the National Alliance on Mental Illness as well. He’s a part of a team helping to build “AnswersNow” which is a solution that helps parents raising children with autism by providing access to board-certified clinicians via desktop and mobile device...
#5 - 'Asking For Help' Is Not Weakness. It Is Actually Strength - Micah Baldwin
August 20, 2019 02:54 - 30 minutes - 27.9 MBMicah Baldwin is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Graphicly which was acquired by Blurb in 2014. We are very fortunate to have him share his experience recovering from addiction and battling mental illness as a child and throughout his adult life. He has a lot of wisdom and experience living in the recovery community and helping others do the same. Micah grew up in Silicon Valley and started his first company at the age of 9. After selling Graphicly, he spent time at Amazon where h...
#4 - Esports and Gaming - Mental Health and Addiction - Scotty Tidwell of GFuel
August 07, 2019 22:29 - 52 minutes - 48.3 MBIn this episode we talk with Scotty Tidwell, Chief Community Officer at GFuel, the official energy drink of esports. We dive into the intersection of mental health and gaming. This has been a topic that has come up for many of us, our entire lives from our parents telling us video games are bad for us, to finding out later in life that you really can be addicted to video games. Scotty is a bit of a legend in the esports community. He’s been around since the early days of esports and ha...
#3 - Founder Wellness, Meditation and Mindfulness - Kunal Gupta
August 02, 2019 02:02 - 50 minutes - 46.1 MBI had the chance to sit down with Kunal Gupta, founder and CEO of Polar, a trusted-web platform provider for global media publishers. He is a member of the Board of Directors at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Canada (CAMH) which is an organization with over 3,000 team members operating a hospital, providing mental health education and advocacy in Canada, and has one of the largest research teams in the world focused on understanding and solving mental health conditions. Kun...
#2 - Entrepreneur Mental Health - Dr. Michael Freeman
August 02, 2019 00:28 - 57 minutes - 52.6 MBDr. Michael Freeman is a practicing psychiatrist and psychologist in San Francisco. He has performed intensive research on the topic of entrepreneur mental health. His work has been published in numerous journals, books and publications. Most notably, he co-authored a report called “Are Entrepreneurs Touched with Fire” in 2015 – which is a study that shows the link between entrepreneurs and mental illness. This study has been cited numerous times and most recently in Forbes, as well a...
#1: Stephen Hays - Welcome to Stigma - My Personal Journey
August 02, 2019 00:06 - 9 minutes - 9.07 MBWhat is the Stigma Podcast? Our focus is on the intersection of mental health, addiction, and entrepreneurship. We will be talking with founders, investors, and leaders of all types about how mental health has impacted them. We will be talking with psychiatrists who have done extensive research on the link between mental illness and entrepreneurship. You will hear from CEOs who can tell you specifically how their leadership styles changed once they incorporated meditation and awareness in...