Psychoeducation as the first step to mental well-being

Every zloty invested by the employer in mental health returns him in PLN 4 - say Paweł Chrzan and Darek Milewski, who run Wellbee, a company specializing in psychotherapy and personal development.

What made Wellbee come into being?

Paweł Chrzan: For many, many years, I have been intending to set up my own startup. I have also always been interested in the topic of mental health from the philosophical side. It must also be said openly that this company would not have been established if it had not been for the pandemic. Like many companies, for which it was a turnaround in the market, where all services that had previously been performed almost fully offline had to switch to online, even if no one did it well at first. So this paradigm shift just created an opportunity. Darek and his path fit into all these circumstances. 

Darek Milewski: In my case, it's the result of many years of reflection, but also of actions I took before Paweł and I started developing Wellbee. I had become interested in the mental health sector many years earlier. Over 10 years ago, working in corporations, I saw more and more people around me who faced various challenges - often in combining professional life with private life, family life, building relationships, and I already knew that one day there would certainly be support in accessing specialists in the field of improving mental well-being. At that time, however, it was far too early for such activity. Awareness of the condition of mental health was much lower, and it was rather a taboo subject in companies. Therefore, this business had to wait.

A few years ago, I already had an idea to consolidate the market of physical facilities that offer access to offline psychotherapist specialists. However, the pandemic came and it was necessary to create a service that would meet a very specific market need, closely related to isolation. Before the pandemic, there were definitely more offline visits - about 98 percent. We met Paweł through our first investor, Tar Heel Capital. We decided that we have a similar vision and we want to develop it further together. And so three years have passed.

How do you define wellbeeing at the level of Polish mentality and language?

Paweł Chrzan: This is not a simple definition. In short, a good translation into Polish is the word “dobrostan”. We mean, of course, mental and psychophysical well-being and multidimensionally satisfying life, giving the feeling that we have control over it and the ability to correct what is not going well. An important aspect of wellbeeing is self-awareness - awareness of your emotions, values and cognitive mechanisms.

Darek Milewski: The topic is very broad, as Paweł said, and can also include other areas that have not been associated with wellbeing before, such as financial wellbeing - meaning a healthy relationship with money, with one's budget. There is no single definition now and it will probably be shaped for many years to come and will be broad. 

Are we already touching on psychoeducation in defining this concept?

Paweł Chrzan: When it comes to the definitions of psychoeducation, it is an extremely important element of this whole process - recovery, development, and building self-awareness. First of all, it builds this awareness and inspires people to notice certain things about themselves and their relationships in which they are and to take action later. 

As part of dedicated psychoeducation, we have introduced a new service to the market - therapy supervisor. This is a person who helps a potential client choose a specific specialist and, as a result, obtain a better, more targeted service in the field of building mental well-being.

Darek Milewski: Often many people wait up to 10 years to seek the help of a specialist. From the moment problems arise to the attempt at therapy, it is often a very long process. Often the main reason why people reach out for help only after many, many years is the appearance of triggers in life that suddenly "bring to the surface" some problems. A good example can be the first job, when, for example, you need to have relationships with people at work who you may not quite like. Another situation is, for example, a wedding, a family or the death of a parent. 

It is worth knowing that psychoeducation is needed in many other contexts of our lives. If you don't have it, then a collision with such a trigger causes serious problems. The way you build a relationship with your spouse, how you raise your children, what attitudes and behaviors you pass on to them, what you are like in professional relationships, etc., is very important, and having more access to this psychoeducation and raising awareness, you can avoid many negative events in the future and have a chance to build a generally better life, personal and professional. That is why we try to convey the idea of psychoeducation, share content in this field through our platform.

To what extent are we, as a Polish society, prepared for this knowledge, brave and aware enough to want to use it? Where do you think we get our role models and inspiration when it comes to our approach to wellbeing?

Paweł Chrzan: It is set in a large cultural context. We have some belief that in cultures historically derived from Catholic influences, there is lower therapeutic use. For a long time, this role was fulfilled by the church as an institution. As far as Poland is concerned, we have certainly been "behind" the Scandinavian or Anglo-Saxon countries so far when it comes to therapeutic awareness and the scope of its use in building a good quality of life. 

The pandemic has changed the approach to mental health in our country very radically. And of course, psychotherapy is still not a common service for the majority of society, but it is really used by a significant part of it. However, as we know from research, as soon as the pandemic began (spring 2020), a surprisingly large percentage of people, in different age groups and locations, benefited from some kind of support. Contacts with psychotherapists, even in older age groups, so far sporadic, are now becoming more and more common. We certainly live in a culture where holistic care for mental well-being is not yet a standard, but this is the direction we are heading in as a society, especially in metropolitan centers. Mental well-being has become a topic of conversation between friends, emotional problems are no longer a taboo subject, people who psychoeducate can have gigantic followings on social media. Psychotherapists are still more often than psychiatrists.

Topics such as neurodiversity are even erupting in the social consciousness, they are no longer associated with shame, they go through acceptance, and in many people even pride in their uniqueness, and such people are increasingly open to sharing these topics. For now, it is a narrow social group, but this is how every change begins and this phenomenon will certainly spread.

We know that unconscious needs are much greater than conscious ones. There are crowds of people who, if they had used specialist psychological help, their lives would have been much easier. However... If they actually decided to make such a move, there would be a shortage of specialists/psychotherapists at least several times. So it really saves us from a collapse on the supply side. Therefore, it is very important to build therapeutic solutions that are well scalable and that are able to support people in their mental health needs and give them the tools to develop and cope with objective crises in order to prevent significant mental crises.

We have very good, large studies on depressive or anxiety disorders, which are extremely common for burnout - they already affect one third of corporate employees. In addition, developmental therapy is important - focused on communication, setting boundaries or assertiveness. And all this our clients can find in the area of psychoeducation.

Darek Milewski: I will also refer to the question about the differences between Poland and other countries. People are not that different when it comes to the level of emotional problems, regardless of the part of the world in which they function. We provide the opportunity to obtain online psychological support by employers - regardless of their location - who buy such a service from our company. 

For example, we have a client that we serve in many countries outside of Poland. It turned out that his employees in the Mongolian office had started using our services, and at a higher level than in some other countries in the region. This is what shows that people in every culture form similar relationships with other people and have very similar problems.

Who is Wellbee's current client?

Darek Milewski: The dominant customer - about 80 percent - of Wellbee are women, aged 25-50. Although these proportions are slowly changing in favor of men. We also observe other interesting trends - one is that when men come forward, they seek specific help when they already have a problem. Women, on the other hand, first observe, think, reflect, and decide to be active in therapy when they already have a critical moment in the problem. 

Another observation says that if we look at the people who follow us on social media, probably 80 percent of these people are women. When it comes to the website - 70 percent are women, but when it comes to clients who use therapy - 85 percent of these people are women.

Another trend in psychotherapy visible in the use of our services is couples therapy. This is related to the percentage of divorces, which is still growing in Poland. It is therefore understandable why interest in this type of therapy is growing. The second such area, in which there is also an increasing demand, is support for children. The pandemic has had a very negative impact on their mental health. More and more children, at an earlier stage of their lives, face emotional problems and require mental health support.

To what extent is the increase in people's awareness of the importance of mental condition the result of psychoeducation? Are there already data on this subject? Does it make people more willing and more likely to be interested in therapy and want to use it? Or is it the result of circumstances and phenomena intensified by the pandemic or unrest related to, for example, the war in Ukraine?

Paweł Chrzan: My perspective is that problems at the level of emotions and the increase in their awareness and legitimacy of using therapy have been growing at a very slow pace over the last 10 years. The pandemic has primarily caused a significant acceleration in the growth of awareness. People started to think about their lives in a different way - whether they like how they work, whether they need bigger changes, what they could change, etc. The pandemic has been a catalyst for major changes not only in thinking, but also a motivator for making new decisions. It showed that you can live differently than before, in new circumstances, experience something new, have more contact with nature and yourself. This, in turn, motivated me to think about mental health, its condition and look for methods to improve. And so the interest in the topic of mental health increased. 

Your services are addressed primarily to companies that buy them for their employees. Are there already studies on the results of these services - to what extent the employee's condition is better, to what extent he or she is less affected by burnout and the accompanying bothersome symptoms, and to what extent is his or her quality of work improving?

Darek Milewski: I think that in the near future, using therapy, also in an organized way, with the participation of the employer, will become a standard. This can be seen in the number of inquiries from the business customer and the type of companies that come to us. Psychotherapy services are no longer another benefit for employees, but are becoming a response to their real needs. Indeed, a lot of large manufacturing or logistics companies (and not only service or technological ones as before) are starting to use such services because they see their effects translating into business.

There is, of course, a number of studies saying that the return on the dollar's investment in mental health comes out to 1 in 1.5, depending on the effects of research and testing. The most common number is from 1 to 4. Such data is also provided by the WHO (World Health Organization). Every zloty invested by the employer in mental health returns him in PLN 4. If we are talking about numbers, on our website (https://wellbee.pl/dla_firm) you can see data from the WHO or ZUS. 

As you can see, we are talking about huge numbers when it comes to the impact of psychotherapy-related activities. The WHO says that employee turnover can be reduced by up to 66 percent if the employer provides access to psychotherapist support or otherwise takes care of their mental health.

What makes us even happier is the fact that our service is no longer a specificity of companies in a specific sector, and is starting to be very common, our clients are groups of companies from broad sectors, with different employee structures. Of course, you have to communicate your service to them a little differently and implement it differently.

We also see how much depends on the approach to employees' mental health on the awareness and maturity of people on company management boards, their approach to broad support for employees and the culture of the entire organization, and not on the market area in which the company operates.

What makes Wellbee have competitive services compared to similar companies?

Paweł Chrzan: It seems to me that this is actually an advantage resulting from the team of people who work with us. In addition to the fact that they are specialists, they are also real enthusiasts, they "live" what they do, it is simply important to them.

When it comes to business decisions - creating a "therapy supervisor" was a very good one - that is, support and education to come to the decision to choose and start therapy. This is when it comes to individual customers. However, if we are talking about business - our competitiveness results from the fact that we have arranged our service in such a way that it is the best and most effective for the organization that associates the end customer. We have developed the competence to be a strategic advisor, a consultant of organizational culture and a focus on mental well-being. We have created and conduct education to support companies in the field of well-being projects. In addition, we have organized a marketplace, now about 200 thoroughly verified specialists, who are its great value. They help us and share our mission of supporting individuals and organizations with their well-being. 

How did you get to the point where the therapy supervisor would strengthen your competitiveness?

Paweł Chrzan: This is certainly something new in therapeutic services. And I must admit that it is a result of my experience with the National Health Fund. It is in opposition to a situation where a person in a health crisis struggles with a soulless system, which almost always causes a mental crisis. And at such a moment, the "advisor" is worth its weight in gold, who is always available, is able to properly guide the client, empathize with their needs, help formulate expectations or define results. 

Unfortunately, most people also have a problem with distinguishing what to go to a psychologist and what to go to a psychiatrist. In addition, we have therapists who work in various streams. There are also the specializations of specific people, their profiles, their features. This gives the opportunity to really select the most effective therapist. And such a therapy supervisor is able to understand the client's needs, name the area in which he needs help and direct him to a specific trend and a specific specialist.

We will add more options that will support such a therapy supervisor with technology, so that the client gets the most tailored specialist to their needs. There is already a greater focus in other medical industries on personalized therapies for a specific patient who is struggling with a specific disease. In the same way, we can choose specialists who will best establish this relationship with the client and the effect of the therapy will be faster and better.

Darek Milewski: In addition, in addition to access to specialists and a therapy supervisor, we also give our clients access to content that can help them build their mental well-being. We have content on our platform in the form of video, audio and written texts. We try to adapt to different ways of reception.

As a company, you declare a high level of comprehensive services, a holistic approach to the client, and diversity in mental health care. What can a potential customer who sees such slogans expect?

Darek Milewski: A holistic approach means that we provide not only support, i.e. access to high-quality specialists, but also prevention, including: access to high-quality psychoeducational materials (courses, webinars, exercises, articles, etc.) to raise awareness. We provide diversity through the access of qualified psychotherapists of many streams (psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, psychoanalytic and many, many others), psychodieticians, psycho-oncologists, sexologists, sports psychologists, psychiatrists and coaches. We are also constantly expanding the scope of specialization, and visits can be made both online and offline in many cities throughout Poland. At the same time, we provide support to adults, couples, families, as well as children and young people. 

We also achieve comprehensiveness by offering clients several options for reaching our specialists - clients can choose themselves from the listing, schedule a free video consultation with one of our Therapy Supervisors, or contact our support team via chat or phone.

I saw these course announcements on your website.

Darek Milewski: We already offer access to our courses for individual clients and companies. We've divided our courses into several key categories to make it easier for our users to find the content they're interested in. At the same time, people interested in a given topic are quickly able to find specialists, specialized in a specific selected topic, with whom we can deepen the issue raised during the course. We plan to further develop the platform with additional content and new functionalities.

What are the barriers when it comes to using psychotherapy remotely? Has the pandemic at least abolished them to some extent? You mentioned that about 10 years ago such a business could not be possible because of them.

Darek Milewski: At that time, even technologically, it was difficult at that time. The second issue was people's low awareness of mental well-being, sports cards or medical care were standard benefits at the time. 

Today, the barriers are certainly much smaller than before the pandemic, remote therapy is common and acceptable. But it is important to know that there are cases when it is not advisable (such as in severe eating disorders).

Still, some people do not trust this form, which is why we educate and advise that it is as effective as the traditional way. A part of the society from the older generation that is not familiar with technology does not trust online therapy. This is one of the reasons why you can also make an appointment with us offline.

What does the management of the company look like in the team you represent?

Paweł Chrzan: Darek and I have very complementary characters and approaches, although sometimes, of course, there are also frictions. We also have a very coherent vision, we probably differ in micro-details. Our different competencies and characters mean that we actually work on appropriate, separate things. Everyone works on what they are more effective at. We are building a team of people around us who complement our competence deficiencies, but are also specialists in their areas.

Darek Milewski: The key is to create an organization that has people smarter than us, and our role is to set the vision and direction and make them get along with each other. Provide tools so that they can realize themselves and enjoy what they do, so that they can grow and then the whole company will grow. 

We are at a point of development and we have such a team that we can give up more fields and focus on other topics. We spend more and more time talking to investors, on fundraising, which also takes a lot of time.

What should cooperation with the fund look like, what can be changed in our cooperation?

Paweł Chrzan: We are a developing company, focused on growth, for which it is necessary to raise money, and funds are a good source of this. They are also a channel that supports us in terms of content and networking, as well as in obtaining new contracts. 

Darek Milewski: I would also like to add that this network and acquiring B2B business customers is very important to us. But also help in the access of specialists, advisors in various fields, such as the recent support in applying for a grant, which we appreciate very much.  

Thank you for the interview. And education:)

Interviewer: Ewa Pysiewicz; June 2023