Bravely & Rob Cartwright, paving a way for mental health.

Bravely is what happens when enough people come together and say, “There’s got to be a better way”.

Mental health is a sticky subject, isn’t it??

But have you ever stopped to wonder why?

Why is it weird and off-putting to talk about something that 99% of us struggle with?

This week I had the absolute privilege of meeting with product manager Rob Cartwright of Bravely, a company with the goal of accessible and affordable mental healthcare to the average consumer, and not just someone who can afford to spend $200 on a face-to-face meeting once a week.

Built on a foundation of scientific research, and backed by both independent and public research, I had such a great time understanding exactly why Bravely was created, and how it functions.?

Let's start at step one.

Bravely was created after the founder Mel, was diagnosed with Leukaemia. I have studied Mel’s story closely, and it truly was heartbreaking, yet so inspiring in terms of how far she has come.?

I will link the entire article at the of this blog, but this portion stood out to me straight away.

Mel mentions how her entire life changed the moment she was diagnosed.

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“It’s a battle against cancer — and your own mind

With cancer, you don’t just lose your hair, you lose your whole life (and possibly your?actual?life). The list is endless, and heartbreaking.

• I went from being a person to being a patient.
• I went from running businesses to running to the loo.
• I went from looking at profit-loss sheets to filing hospital bills.
• I went from talking to business investors to raising medical funds on?GoFundMe.
• I went from being a freedom-loving traveller to being shackled to a hospital bed.
• I went from valuing my independence to valuing my life.
• I used to be afraid of rejection, now I’m afraid of dying.
• I used to be anxious about not being good enough, now I’m anxious I’ll never be okay again.
• I used to worry what the future might bring, now I worry there will never be a future again.

And the list keeps on going… Writing my will at 29 — when only 6 months ago, I was running 2 businesses, traveling, skiing and enjoying life — feels like continuous sucker punches to the heart.”

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Rob, with a background and a history in psychology, mentioned to me that when Mel was fighting her battle, people told her that she was 'brave'.

To them she said “I do not feel brave, I just feel sick. Where is the realistic mental health support that I needed?”

And from here, the concept of Bravely was born.?

The goal of Bravely is to fill the gap between therapy and Googling?

Rob, the Product Manager that helps to bring Bravely to life, originally studied economics. He did a psychology paper and loved it. He knew he wanted to spend his life working with people, and was introduced to Bravely in Feb 2020, during its early concept stage.

His background in psychology (obviously) contributed towards his customer and user research processes, and he was able to find a way to use his skills in a way that positively influenced the world.?

Mental health is undoubtedly a huge part of all of our lives. Each of us has either personally been affected, or knows someone who has personally been affected by mental health. So I wanted to ask Rob, ‘Why mental health?’.

He highlighted how he was fed up with the lack of resources available to those struggling with mental health, and that he was tired of the lack of willingness by the government to get involved. He knew there and then that he wanted to be a part of the solution.?

I listened to him tell me about his day to day activities, and his core responsibilities in terms of assisting to take Bravely to market.?

To be honest, I felt kind of jealous of Rob.

Not many of us are lucky enough to be working in an industry or on a product that directly improves the lives of others in such a dramatic way that Bravely does.?

Imagine how great that must feel? The strong sense of fulfilment knowing that your fingertips are creating a piece of material that has the ability to save lives.

He mentioned to me that one of the most rewarding parts of his job, is to get the verbal validation from customers that ‘this product works’. Wether it be users telling Rob about how Bravely has improved their day to day lives, or if it is Rob seeing the positive outcomes of each Bravely process, he knows that he is making the world a better place, bit by bit.?

In the workplace, we can be embarrassed to talk about mental health. We feel like it can show weakness, or we are worried that the stigma attached to mental health can negatively affect our careers.

Bravely is being used as a tool that businesses can take advantage of, to make sure that their employees are taken care of.?

And thank goodness for that.

Working in recruitment, I have spoken to impeccable Product Managers who choose their roles very carefully, and if a company invests in the mental health of their team, it is a MASSIVE selling point to candidates choosing where to work.?

From detailed and deeper insights into your own brain, to being used as a tool for therapists and psychologists to assist in their practise, Bravely has massive plans for 2022, and to be honest, I cannot wait to see what Rob, Mel and their team have in store.?

Thank you again Rob, it was an absolute pleasure.

To read Mel's story - https://thedesignnomad.medium.com/i-launched-a-mental-health-startup-while-battling-leukaemia-13f385e5fc92

To read more about, and to use Bravely - https://bravely.io/