We were lucky to catch up with Scott Healy recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Scott thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, let’s start with trends – what are some of the largest or more impactful trends you are seeing in the industry?

Two major trends we are seeing in the world of mental health are the increased willingness of people to embark on a treatment path, and the proliferation of evidence-based treatment options that are focused and highly effective, but that can be confusing as people try to identify the best treatment approach for themselves or their loved ones. Traditionally, the default for people who were open to treatment was to undergo talk therapy, which can be helpful but is often unstructured and leads to mixed results. There are now specialized treatment programs that are specific to individual conditions such as OCD, eating disorders, and …. This increases the need for more guidance for those trying to figure out their best options for care.

As far as people’s increased willingness to seek care, while stigma still exists, the necessary shift toward virtual treatment opened people’s eyes to there being a more convenient and accessible way to get help. At the same time, many public figures, particularly athletes such as Simone Biles and Michael Phelps, began to speak publicly about their mental health struggles in a way that made it more acceptable for less famous people to be more open about their struggles as well. We still need to work to fully eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health, but we’ve made a lot of progress in recent years, which is huge.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m really proud to be leading Psych Hub, a company founded by therapist and mental health entrepreneur Marjorie Morrison and former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, both of whom have been major advocates for the adoption of more effective, targeted, evidence-based practices in mental health treatment. The company has a strong mission to improve access to the best mental health care and to improve outcomes for those that are struggling with their mental wellbeing or addiction. Tens of thousands of therapists, social workers, and psychiatrists, as well as other healthcare providers who need to support their patients with mental health struggles, use Psych Hub’s online training videos and materials to stay up to date on the latest, most effective practices.

I joined Psych Hub a little over a year ago to help grow the company and expand our impact. I had spent much of my previous 15 years helping to build Care.com, a similarly mission-driven business which is now the largest resource in the world for child care, senior care, and other forms of care needed by most families. I was attracted to Psych Hub because, like nearly all of us, I have close friends and family members who have struggled to find high quality care for mental health and addiction challenges. Similar to Care.com, I saw the opportunity with Psych Hub to expand upon our core training and education mission to also provide individuals and families with objective guidance on how to find and connect to the best care for their specific needs. We’ve recently launched this free resource for consumers at www.psychhub.com, further expanding our impact in the world of mental health.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I started my career working in large, well established companies. I didn’t get exposed to the concept of startups until I’d been working for about 10 years, but I had friends that were doing entrepreneurial things and they just seemed more alive and passionate about their work. So, shortly after becoming a new dad and the sleepless nights that come with that, I left my relatively stable, big company job and took the plunge to join an early stage startup. Once I got in there, it became apparent pretty quickly that the company was much less far along than had been represented to me, and that there wasn’t much of a market for what we were trying to sell. (This was the first time I experienced the common occurrence of founders who are well-intentioned, but so passionate about what they’re trying to build that they will stretch the truth to attract people to join them!) Anyway, this forced me to buckle up, help to figure out a path for the business that could work, and embrace the roller-coaster ride of an early startup. Eventually, we pivoted the business to a market that had lots of opportunity, and it became a big success. While my early time there was one of the most stressful periods of my professional life, it got me hooked on the entrepreneurial path and helped me to develop resilience and belief in not only myself but in the power of teams that come together to solve hard problems and to build something great.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

I have a few things that I’ve come to really believe in over the years when it comes to how to approach work and your career. 1) Think positively and optimistically. You need to be realistic about how attractive the opportunity is that you’re going after, but lots of success comes from taking a glass-half-full approach, believing in yourself and your team, and going hard after your goals. 2) Stay focused. Too many businesses try to do too many things, and spread themselves too thin by getting distracted by the next shiny object. Be rigorous about defining what your “must do’s” are to achieve your goals, and spend the vast majority of your time, effort, and creative bandwidth on those. 3) Don’t spend time worrying about things you can’t control. People waste a ton of time fretting about things they have no control over. While you may need to react to external events or changes in the landscape, think about what you and your organization are going to do proactively in response, and go make it happen. 4) Have fun along the way. Building a business is a marathon, not a sprint. Life’s too short to not enjoy the journey. Make sure you have fun as a team, build a culture that cares about people, and regularly celebrate successes, even the small ones. Overall, being positive and focusing on controlling your own destiny makes you and your team feel empowered and energized.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://psychhub.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/psychhubeducation/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scotthealy