As anyone with Type 1 diabetes knows, life can be an absolute roller coaster. I would like to take you on a personal journey of mine going into the darkest of hours, but coming out in the brightest of days. Back in June of 1988, my diagnosis marked not the first or second, but fifth Type 1 diabetes diagnosis for my family. Already having lost an uncle to Type 1 in the same year, my diagnosis likely hit my family harder than I will ever know. However, growing up having two family members who passed from T1D complications weighed heavy on my mind. It didn’t help that at a young age, I heard a doctor tell my mother, “if he sees 30, feel lucky.” Growing up, T1D never completely stopped me from doing things, but often had a way of interfering. Going to play soccer as a kid, I had a coach say I couldn’t play because he didn’t want a kid dying on his field. Name calling, being told I wasn’t good enough, and the like made me angry in the moment, but ultimately sat deeper within my subconscious for twenty years into adulthood, slowly taking its toll.
Getting out on my own is where my life took a darker turn. Around 2011, I fell into a deep depression and I almost didn’t make my way out. My blood sugars were rarely where I needed them to be. It was also a constant roller coaster at work. Eat then work, forget to bolus, go high, then crash, and repeat. Although I was consistently out of range, my reasonable a1c kept my doctor at bay, all while hiding the fact I was miserable mentally. Relationships were impossible to maintain with my depression and blood sugars as they were and I began to isolate myself alone with my thoughts. The thoughts escalated from “your diabetes has destroyed your life” to “your life isn’t worth living with diabetes.” Mind you, at this point in time I already had one beautiful son. I pushed the thoughts back as much as I could for his sake. However, in doing so it enabled my thoughts to escalate even further. I was telling myself that my son would be better off without a father. I started looking up those who completed suicide and how they did it. However, even with everything I was feeling, I couldn’t leave my family with the thought that I would do so on purpose. After having crashed my blood sugars numerous times over the years to counteract extreme highs, I decided insulin was my best option.
On a Saturday morning, I woke up in tears and decided that was the day. I got up and took a fatal dose of short acting and went about my morning routine with the idea that at some point, I would have an insulin reaction and go unresponsive. For whatever reason, by an act of God, the insulin took hours to work. Later that day, when I was on line to have lunch, the last thing I remember was reaching for a plate. I woke up surrounded by EMTs in my manager’s office. Lucky for me, the guys I worked with knew me and my diabetes very well. Upon coming to, one of the EMTs said it was the first time he had a patient so low it wouldn’t read on his meter. We still don’t know how low I truly was when they got there. I finally got to the point I could stand on my own and was feeling okay physically. However, my mental state was still in shambles. Per policy at my work, I had to be sent home. I begged with my manager to let me stay. I said “I’ll just sit in the back, no one will know I‘m there.” I couldn’t go home in the state of mind I was in. But none the less, I was on my way home. The short 5 minute drive was nerve racking, tears falling, thinking “should I try again” and “I can’t be alone” and “I don’t want to live.” My best friend was sitting on the couch as I walked into my apartment and he immediately looked up at me, knowing something wasn’t right. He put his arms around me, like any brother should, and gave me a much-needed embrace–the kind of hug that lets you know someone loves you. We ended up going for a long walk where I explained what I did. He was the only one who knew what I did for years. During our walk he said, “I know the greatness you have ahead of you, you just have to be here to find it.” His words have sat with me for years.
With my two children and the Betes Bros, I have a family that pushes me to succeed. Brothers who reach out for my support as well as check on me. The men and women who have come into my life have filled my cup and continue to make life even better. If you are struggling, that is okay. As someone who almost experienced an end to my life, if I had the support then that I do now, I probably wouldn’t have gone that far. If you’re ever in a place like that in your life, talk to someone. Seeking a professional counselor doesn’t make you weak, it actually makes you stronger. Reach out to a friend who may be struggling that you haven’t talked to in a while, let them know you’re there. A simple text, note, message saying, “I’m here if you need me” can literally save a life.
Get real with T1D! #RealLyfe
For additional resources on Depression and Diabetes, check out this article from our friends at Diabetes Daily!
Annual Patient-Driven Innovation Summit & Award in Oncology
The Award recognizes Patient Entrepreneurs demonstrating outstanding innovations which advance solutions in the prevention, management or care of cancer
MONACO, PRINCIPALITY OF MONACO, AND NEW YORK, NY, USA, September 17th, 2019: Helsinn, a Swiss pharmaceutical group focused on building quality cancer care, and Lyfebulb, a patient empowerment platform that connects patients with industry to support user-driven innovation toward solutions in chronic disease, announced the opening of applications for their third annual Innovation Summit in Cancer. Candidates are invited to submit applications at Lyfebulb-Helsinn 2020 Challenge page, where more information regarding eligibility criteria is available. Submissions may be made until November 17th, 2019.
The Summit is open to Patient Entrepreneurs building groundbreaking companies to advance the prevention, diagnosis, management or care of cancer. Patient Entrepreneurs include cancer patients, cancer survivors, or those having a close relative or loved one with cancer. Applicants for the competition must have established a company with impactful solutions to better manage and improve the quality of life of cancer patients with respect, integrity, and quality.
“While cancer is a broad-reaching disease, the impact of it is felt very personally by each patient and his or her family,” said Karin Hehenberger, MD, PhD, Founder and CEO of Lyfebulb. “We look forward to seeing the latest innovators who have been personally impacted by this disease and turned this experience and the insights gained into much needed solutions for our community.”
The 2020 Lyfebulb-Helsinn Summit will be held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on January 29th and 30th, 2020, culminating in the announcement of the winner of the 2020 Lyfebulb-Helsinn Award of $25,000 on January 30th, during the 14th Monaco Biennale of Oncology. An additional $25,000 Squinto-LePera Award in Oncology will also be awarded at that time.
About the Helsinn Group
Helsinn is a privately-owned pharmaceutical group with an extensive portfolio of marketed cancer care products and a robust drug development pipeline. Since 1976, Helsinn has been improving the everyday lives of patients, guided by core family values of respect, integrity and quality. The Group works across pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices and nutritional supplements and has expertise in research, development, manufacture and the commercialization of therapeutic and supportive care products for cancer, pain and inflammation and gastroenterology. In 2016, Helsinn created the Helsinn Investment Fund to support early-stage investment opportunities in areas of unmet patient need. The company is headquartered in Lugano, Switzerland, with operating subsidiaries in Switzerland, Ireland, the U.S., Monaco and China, as well as a product presence in approximately 190 countries globally.
To learn more about Helsinn Group please visit www.helsinn.com
About Helsinn Investment Fund S.A., SICAR
The Helsinn Investment Fund is focused on investments in areas of high unmet patient need. Backed by the Helsinn Group, and guided by Helsinn’s core values of quality, integrity and respect, Helsinn Investment Fund aims to help companies with innovative technologies to transform new ideas into commercial solutions with the potential to impact health-related quality of life of patients.
Drawing on Helsinn’s over 40 years of investment into research and development and commercial expertise, the investment fund selects companies with technologies in a range of areas including cancer therapeutics and diagnostics, cancer supportive care, metabolic and gastrointestinal disorders, and dermatology conditions. For more information, visit www.helsinninvestmentfund.com
About Helsinn International Services sarl
Helsinn International Services sarl is the Helsinn subsidiary which provides a range of advisory services and strategic activities to the Group and its specific companies. In particular, it acts as the advisory company to Helsinn Investment Fund.
About Lyfebulb
Lyfebulb is a chronic disease-focused, patient empowerment platform that connects patients and industry to support user-driven innovation. Grounded with its strong foundation in diabetes, the company has expanded disease states covered into cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, mental illness and migraine.
See www.lyfebulb.com, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Lyfebulb LinkedIn, and Karin Hehenberger LinkedIn.
For more information:
Helsinn Group Media Contact
Paola Bonvicini
Group Head of Communication
Lugano, Switzerland
Tel: +41 (0) 91 985 21 21
Info-hhc@helsinn.com
For more information, please visit www.helsinn.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Vimeo.
Lyfebulb Media Contact:
Karin Hehenberger, MD, PhD
CEO & Founder, Lyfebulb
Phone: + 1 917-575-0210
Email: karin@lyfebulb.com
Managing a chronic illness is challenging, whether it is your own or a loved one’s. Starting and running a business also poses unique challenges. If you struggle with a chronic illness, have started a business, or want to start a business, this blog series can help guide you. “Inside the Patient Entrepreneur’s Mind” offers key insights into chronic disease and mission-driven entrepreneurship by some of the most innovative patient entrepreneurs in the world.
Jon Margalit is CEO & Founder of Complete Start.
As a patient entrepreneur, can you describe your personal experience with IBD from diagnosis through your current daily management and how this experience drove you to innovate the space?
To make a long story short, I am a very social and outgoing person who enjoyed immensely being out with friends networking, in all types of social settings. I was also an avid gym goer and black belt martial artist. Once diagnosed with Crohn’s, I had to deal with all kinds of drugs and steroids to mitigate the ill effects of the disease and as a result transformed into a guy with acne all over who was afraid to leave the house at the risk of being too far from a comfortable bathroom.
With that being said, after trying different types of drugs, I realized really quickly that this wouldn’t change until I took matters into my own hands to find solutions. After some research, the one thing I found I really had control over was what I was consuming. I focused on what I could control and immediately thought to myself if I study this, and become an expert in food science, perhaps I might be able to make some drastic changes in how I’m feeling and looking. Inflammation causes the digestive tract to shrink so we [the IBD community] have difficulty digesting whole vegetables and roughage. I had the idea to freeze dry and grind them into a powder to consume micronutrient rich vegetables without digestive issues. I bought a freeze drier on amazon to test the idea.
What makes Complete Start unique and how does it meet an unmet need of the IBD community?
There are products on the market that are similar in nature, but we are the only ones completely organic and non-GMO. Our goal is to deliver the most complete and clean digestible nutrition for customers. As a result, the cost to produce has vastly increased. I quickly realized why our competitors didn’t produce the same quality of product because it narrowed the customer base. We are sticking to offering a premium product at price, staying true to our goal.
Are there any other unmet needs of the IBD community that you think take priority in working to address? How are patient entrepreneurs well-suited to meet these needs?
I think that the key to making a widespread, massive impact is to create more awareness for the products, services, and support that are available, so I’d love to focus more on community building. When I was first dealing with Crohn’s, I was not aware of the products, services, and people out there that were available to help me overcome. Out of instinct and pain I sought them out and created resources for myself, which was key to remission. If I could go back in time where that community already existed, and someone introduced me, then things would’ve been easier to deal with and I would’ve found a way out much faster. My goal is to try and bring us together in a community form beyond just introducing patients to Complete Start.
Where do you draw your inspiration and motivation from to keep forging ahead as an entrepreneur in the healthcare industry?
The real answer is I was initially afraid to leave the house. I was afraid to be seen and covered in acne—steroids destroy you. Now, I want everyone to know that the fear they are feeling is not just them and someone like me can help alleviate those fears and show them the path. If I was able to breakthrough and overcome, they can too. It’s others in the community and the validation that I get from them when they reach out and say I read your story and it made me believe that perhaps I can get there too who inspire me. Other people continue to fuel my fire and my desire to keep getting out there to make sure that others are aware and can receive the comfort of a blueprint for healing.
Lastly, what do you do for fun to manage the stress of running a business as both a person with IBD and an entrepreneur? Do you have any similar advice on work-life-disease management balance to others out there thinking of starting a business to meet an unmet need of a chronic disease patient community?
Absolutely. There is one key and I think that it is just as important as food—it’s exercise. I mean it very passionately—I am a daily hardcore gym goer and when I go to exercise, I go hard. When I do, I feel tremendously better. Movement and consistent exercise is the only way to complete the healing puzzle and again, that is another element that people have control over. 
I would recommend to anybody who is suffering out there first to test, then heed to Dr. Sandborne’s advice of eating what makes you feel good, and you’ve got to be consistent with exercise. Don’t just go through the motions—do it with purpose and passion. Push yourself physically because there is no bigger healing element in the world. The blood flow, endorphins and sense of accomplishment after a workout is the single most impactful driver to get me into remission. Two things people will never regret are eating vegetables and working out. The exercise is the stimulus to the right blood flow and right state of mind to tackle disease and career—both mental and physical battles. There is no better way to deal with the pain and discomfort of IBD than exercise.
The Ideal Self is an idealized version of yourself created out of what you have learned from your life experiences, the demands of society, and what you admire in your role models.
My former ideal self was a smart business owner and writer who had a funny blog and a thriving consulting business. She also wrote a book.
My real self was, and is, a person living with a chronic illness with symptoms that would never allow for any of that to become true. Symptoms like brain fog, racing thoughts, and clinical depression. I’ll get into specifics of each symptom in subsequent posts but here’s the definition of brain fog so you can get an idea.
Brain fog can make a person feel as if the processes of thinking, understanding, and remembering are not working as they should. It can affect their: memory, including the ability to store and recall information.
I clunge so desperately to my vision of what life should be. Of who I should be. Even though I could never be.
I wanted to be like everyone else.
But my brain isn’t like everyone else’s. I kept getting disappointed. And depressed. I remained insecure and I was my own biggest bully. Brain fog made me feel stupid, like a loser, and to me, there was nothing worse I could be. It was unacceptable.
It felt like my mind was a melting pot of chaos. And I wasn’t making it any easier. I was too busy trying to improve myself instead of healing myself.
It was a vicious cycle that was powered by a disturbed mindset. A mindset that said I was the problem. And if I would just change the bad qualities that were bestowed upon me by MS, I would be able to live a happy ideal-self life.
My mind was an unsupervised circus and I attempted to reign myself in with therapy, meditation, medication, spiritual stuff, Instagram quote stuff, religious stuff…ALL THE STUFF. I just wanted to feel better. But mostly, I wanted to achieve whatever goals I set for myself at any given time.
I probably released an ocean’s worth of cortisol during this time because as I’ve said, that is impossible.
CUT TO:
My mind didn’t allow me to let go of my expectations until it was ready.
It was a Thursday in January 2019 when it finally clicked. I was in therapy and verbalizing my racing thoughts. It just came out.
“I am a sick person playing the role of a healthy person.”
I shocked myself, and when the doctored uncharacteristically nodded his head yes, I knew it was time.
Saying it out loud made it real. But also, I had reached a dead end. Each time I tried something new, I did some mental gymnastics and found ways to convince myself this time was different. I wouldn’t fail because (insert skillful justification here.)
This time I tried to become a freelance writer and editor on Upwork. I was chill about the process but quickly learned I’m not capable. The market demands 5000 words for $2 and quick turnaround times. I’m slow like molasses. I realized there was no way I’d be able to deliver quality work consistently.
I gave up one last time. I retired. I was tired, mostly of myself. Things needed to be different. I had a new goal: no new goals. Retirement was about taking it easy. I had spent so much time on my self-help journey so I was already equipped with a mental health tool kit to take me through my days. I also had a new responsibility that was more important: Valentina.
Not trying to live up to an unreachable standard set me free. I felt empowered because I suddenly released the blame. Surrendering made me feel in control. I accepted my lane and no longer felt stupid. I felt like a person who has multiple sclerosis.
I let go and accepted my messy life. I try my best and give myself space when I don’t think it’s good enough. I’m figuring out what I think is good enough. It’s always going to be a journey. For now, I’m buckled in and ready for what’s next. I will certainly keep you posted.
Originally posted on Medium.
The Award recognizes Patient Entrepreneurs demonstrating outstanding innovations which advance solutions in the prevention, management or care of cancer
MONACO, PRINCIPALITY OF MONACO, AND NEW YORK, NY, USA, August 29th, 2019: Helsinn, a Swiss pharmaceutical group focused on building quality cancer care, announced that it will partner with Lyfebulb, a patient-empowerment platform that connects patients with industry to support user-driven innovation, to host their third annual Innovation Summit and Award in Oncology.
The Lyfebulb-Helsinn Innovation Summit will be held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on January 29th and 30th, 2020, culminating in the announcement of the 2020 Award winner on January 30th, during the 14th Monaco Biennale of Oncology.
The Summit is open to Patient Entrepreneurs building groundbreaking companies to advance the prevention, diagnosis, management or care of cancer. Patient Entrepreneurs include cancer patients, cancer survivors, or those having a close relative or loved one with cancer.
All candidates are invited to submit applications through the Lyfebulb-Helsinn Innovation Summit & Award website, where more information regarding eligibility and key criteria is available. Submissions may be made between September 16th and November 17th, 2019.
Riccardo Braglia, Helsinn Group Vice Chairman and CEO, commented: “Cancer patients and their real life experience are at the heart of what the Helsinn Group does. We are strongly committed to supporting inspired Patient Entrepreneurs who have a unique insight into products and solutions which can bring respect and integrity to the patient community and quality solutions to the challenges they face.”
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Helsinn again to help accelerate solutions that patients have identified as much needed into the marketplace,” said Dr Karin Hehenberger, CEO and Founder of Lyfebulb. “Getting this group of select Patient Entrepreneurs together not only increases their exposure, but also fosters a unique collaboration between innovators with a shared mission of serving patients’ unmet needs.”
About the Helsinn Group
Helsinn is a privately-owned pharmaceutical group with an extensive portfolio of marketed cancer care products and a robust drug development pipeline. Since 1976, Helsinn has been improving the everyday lives of patients, guided by core family values of respect, integrity and quality. The Group works across pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices and nutritional supplements and has expertise in research, development, manufacture and the commercialization of therapeutic and supportive care products for cancer, pain and inflammation and gastroenterology. In 2016, Helsinn created the Helsinn Investment Fund to support early-stage investment opportunities in areas of unmet patient need. The company is headquartered in Lugano, Switzerland, with operating subsidiaries in Switzerland, Ireland, the U.S., Monaco and China, as well as a product presence in approximately 190 countries globally.
To learn more about Helsinn Group please visit www.helsinn.com
About Helsinn Investment Fund S.A., SICAR
The Helsinn Investment Fund is focused on investments in areas of high unmet patient need. Backed by the Helsinn Group, and guided by Helsinn’s core values of quality, integrity and respect, Helsinn Investment Fund aims to help companies with innovative technologies to transform new ideas into commercial solutions with the potential to impact health-related quality of life of patients.
Drawing on Helsinn’s over 40 years of investment into research and development and commercial expertise, the investment fund selects companies with technologies in a range of areas including cancer therapeutics and diagnostics, cancer supportive care, metabolic and gastrointestinal disorders, and dermatology conditions.
For more information, visit www.helsinninvestmentfund.com
About Helsinn International Services sarl
Helsinn International Services sarl is the Helsinn subsidiary which provides a range of advisory services and strategic activities to the Group and its specific companies. In particular, it acts as the advisory company to Helsinn Investment Fund.
About Lyfebulb
Lyfebulb is a chronic disease-focused, patient empowerment platform that connects patients and industry to support user-driven innovation. Grounded with its strong foundation in diabetes, the company has expanded disease states covered into cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, mental illness and migraine.
See www.lyfebulb.com, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Lyfebulb LinkedIn, and Karin Hehenberger LinkedIn.
For more information:
Helsinn Group Media Contact
Paola Bonvicini
Group Head of Communication
Lugano, Switzerland
Tel: +41 (0) 91 985 21 21
Info-hhc@helsinn.com
For more information, please visit www.helsinn.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Vimeo.
Lyfebulb Media Contact:
Karin Hehenberger, MD, PhD
CEO & Founder, Lyfebulb
Phone: + 1 917-575-0210
Email: karin@lyfebulb.com
Managing a chronic illness is challenging, whether it is your own or a loved one’s. Starting and running a business also poses unique challenges. If you struggle with a chronic illness, have started a business, or want to start a business, this blog series can help guide you. “Inside the Patient Entrepreneur’s Mind” offers key insights into chronic disease and mission-driven entrepreneurship by some of the most innovative patient entrepreneurs in the world.
John Wilcox is the CEO & Co-Founder of Diatech Diabetic Technologies, Inc.
As a patient entrepreneur, can you describe your personal experience with diabetes from diagnosis through your current daily management and how this experience drove you to innovate the space?
In 2005, I was diagnosed on my ninth birthday. I figured the only way to come out on top was to make it a positive experience. Growing up, I really identified with the disease and now use it as an opportunity to empathize with others with chronic disease. I wanted to go to medical school, and still might, but this opportunity came up in college to develop intellectual property—what is SmartFusion today.
I took on the business full-time post college graduation of May 2019. My diagnosis gives me a leg up on how to develop technology to help diabetes patients. As a collective community, we can appreciate when someone with a disease can relate to us and effectively create change. My condition is something that I can share and allows me to connect to people and understand how other people are struggling—it is one of the best gifts that I could ever ask for. I don’t know what I would do with my career without this diagnosis because it has turned into a passion to help others and a lesson on how to make the best of situations.
What makes SmartFusion unique and how does it meet an unmet need of the diabetes community?
SmartFusion is a new infusion set that can more accurately tell you if insulin delivery is actually getting into your body. SmartFusion is unique in the fact that it helps patients understand if they are getting insulin. Insulin pumps on the market right now are not really meeting the standard of being able to tell patient users if their insulin delivery is effectively working. We noticed the issue of infusion set insulin delivery failures where pumps can have issues with insulin delivery efficacy.
Personally, I have had issues going into DKA because of insulin mis-delivery. I went to an endocrinologist in college who blamed me for poor A1C control rather than it being a technology/pump failure. I want to provide technology that can deliver alerts before hyperglycemia because it happened to me and it is very dangerous. Fixing this unmet need of pump reliability can take one thing off the list of what patients and caregivers go through regarding issues with diabetes care.
Are there any other unmet needs of the diabetes community that you think take priority in working to address? How are patient entrepreneurs well-suited to meet these needs?
In the future, I would love to focus on software for pumps. There has been great work on hardware that is safe and effective for patients with diabetes but a real gamechanger could be software that pairs any type of CGM with any type of pump. The diabetes “hacker” community is already pairing their own CGMs with pumps but are not following standards of the industry.
Additionally, there is a lot that needs to be addressed in education, especially how to learn to effectively use diabetes technology for parents of children with the disease.
Where do you draw your inspiration and motivation from to keep forging ahead as an entrepreneur in the healthcare industry?
My inspiration and motivation comes from talking to people who have the condition. I want to make sure the diabetes community is affected and impacted in a positive way. Stories from patients about issues with diabetes care like insulin mis-delivery keep me up at night.
Lastly, what do you do for fun to manage the stress of running a business as both a person with t1d and an entrepreneur? Do you have any similar advice on work-life-disease management balance to others out there thinking of starting a business to meet an unmet need of a chronic disease patient community?
I love to run whenever I can and I find it a very clearing activity. My goal is to 
run the Boston marathon for the JDRF. In terms of advice for other patient entrepreneurs, we have a disease that can help connect us to other people that have the same chronic illness. However, each patient story is unique so taking the time to recognize that is important. For example, my parents helped me get appropriate care at a young age by providing insurance coverage. How dare I compare my journey to patients I meet now, who are in their twenties, who are still without coverage to get insulin. In a nutshell, know that your story is unique and craft a connection to fellow patients based on that fact.
Technology is so embedded in our everyday lives that I’d challenge anyone to go more than a couple of minutes without using something digital.
But what is the future for digital when it comes to helping people with MS? When I was diagnosed ten years ago, I ended up feeling very disengaged from the healthcare system. Now I wonder whether digital solutions could have helped me have a better experience.
How technology helps me with my MS
I use technology for many things relating to my MS and the biggest emphasis is on information and knowledge. When I was diagnosed with MS, I gathered enough literature to fill a bookshelf.
Now, the majority of my information needs are met digitally. I have access to a wider variety of digital information, via the internet, smart devices and patient portals. I’m more informed and can make shared decisions with my healthcare team. The next step is that I want to be able to more easily share my health records with all my doctors, because I’m not just my MS.
People around the world play SuperBetter to be stronger and more successful at achieving goals and overcoming challenges across many areas of their lives, including their mental health.
Today, we have great news to share — especially for those playing SuperBetter to tackle depression, anxiety and other challenges related to mental health. Psych Hub has partnered with SuperBetter to provide access to a library of high quality educational videos featuring mental health topics. These videos are available at no cost to the SuperBetter Community.
Psych Hub is a mission-aligned organization that has created a library of short, educational videos on various topics related to mental health such as depression, anxiety, bipolar, PTSD, eating disorders, and evidence based treatments. It was founded by Marjorie Morrison, former CEO of PsychArmor Institute, (a non-profit organization dedicated to providing free online courses about an array of issues of interest to the military community and their families), and Patrick J. Kennedy, former congressman of Rhode Island, mental health advocate, and founder of The Kennedy Forum.
Psych Hub’s mission is to spread greater knowledge and awareness about mental health issues and to decrease the stigma associated with them. By combining clinical research with the art of storytelling, Psych Hub videos provide mental health education that is accessible to everyone.
Psych Hub is partnering with respected organizations like SuperBetter as part of its commitment to bringing accurate and reliable information about mental health to a broader audience. As a partner we have our own page on Psych Hub for the SuperBetter Community. On this page are many videos that we think SuperBetter fans and users may find of interest. We invite you to click over, check them out, and share them with your family, friends, colleagues, and communities!
Justin tells his side to healing and how to check your testicles, read more on CancerLyfe.
Katie:
In May of 2019, I joined Lyfebulb as the new Community Manager. Like many patients (including Ambassadors and Entrepreneurs) part of the Lyfebulb community, my health journey has not been easy. I struggled with chronic, neurological Lyme disease for close to a decade. The lack of awareness of this chronic illness prolonged my receiving of adequate treatment because of the inability to get properly diagnosed. Once diagnosed, I spent years researching all that I could about chronic Lyme and making all possible lifestyle changes within my control (diet, exercise, sleep hygiene, chemical-free product substitutions) to get myself out of a state of illness and into one closer resembling “wellness”.
After I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and observed marked changes in my symptoms, I learned how important support drawn from shared chronic illness experiences are to improved disease management and in certain cases, remission. Through this realization, I went to culinary school to learn the intricacies of preparing healthy yet still delicious food so that I could more thoroughly stay true to my commitment to wellness. My chronic illness ultimately taught me how to thrive in life, directing me towards likeminded people who have had similar health journeys.
At the age of 27, I now work for Lyfebulb in order to help build the chronic disease community that I wish I had from the start of my health journey–especially during my sickest years. Chronic illness strips you of hope and the natural instinct of a chronically-ill person is to curl up and isolate from the rest of the world. My goal is to encourage others who are either creating community or innovation around their disease to come together so that we can make the impact of patient-driven innovation and messages of how to thrive with chronic illness, or of wellness, that much stronger.
Jamie:
I joined Lyfebulb in June of 2019. My role includes the development of partnerships, execution of Innovation Summits, and the management of Lyfebulb’s Patient Entrepreneur Circle. I came to Lyfebulb with a different background than most of my colleagues. Unlike Katie, Karin, and our extended community, I do not suffer from chronic disease, nor do I have loved-ones who do – or so I thought prior to joining Lyfebulb.
Though fortunate on to this end, health and wellness has always been a high priority. With northern California roots, it was instilled upon me at a very young age that it is more than just a lifestyle choice – it is necessary to keep the body and brain sustainable.
Formally, I geared my educational studies towards art history and business. After school, I landed a dream job in the field at an art market transparency company. Four years later, I found myself feeling unfulfilled. Though art will always be a passion, I sought out to find a field where I could make more of an impact.
I found Lyfebulb by chance, attending the UnitedHealth Group Summit activation event for depression and anxiety. Shortly thereafter, I joined the Lyfebulb team and brought the UHG Summit to fruition. Though grateful for my time spent in art, I am grateful to have returned to my path of wellness and health, and look forward to where it will take me.
