WEBVTT - One on One with Talkspace CEO, Dr. Jon Cohen 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:05.480 No matter what twenty twenty five holes. A Talkspace therapist 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:08.600 can help you get ready for it. Through convenient virtual 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:12.280 sessions and messaging therapy. Your therapist will help you build 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:16.440 resilience and discover opportunities for growth in the year ahead. 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:21.320 Talkspace is in network with major insurers. Most covered members 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:24.919 have a copey of fifteen dollars or less, or you 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:27.880 can get eighty five dollars off of your first month 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:30.800 with promo code Katie when you go to talkspace dot 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:40.000 com slash Katiekuric. Hi everyone, I'm Katy Kuric and this 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:48.120 is next question. The statistics are pretty staggering when it 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:51.440 comes to the mental health of the United States. Forty 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:55.840 percent of Americans sixty five and older self identifies lonely, 0:00:56.280 --> 0:01:00.560 and according to the NIH, approximately seventy percent do not 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:04.720 seek mental health treatment. In fact, many older Americans think 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:08.080 declining mental health is just a normal part of aging, 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:11.839 and of course, for young people, the numbers are even 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:16.600 more distressing. Forty percent of high schoolers report feeling persistently 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:20.520 sad or hopeless. One in five high school students seriously 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:26.119 considered attempting suicide in twenty twenty three, and suicide deaths 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:30.200 among ten to twenty four year olds increased by sixty 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:35.680 two percent from two thousand and seven to twenty twenty one. Obviously, 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:38.800 we're in the midst of a serious mental health crisis. 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:43.960 My guest today, doctor John Cohen, is the CEO of Talkspace, 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:48.440 the leading online platform making therapy more accessible than ever. 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:51.760 He's had quite a professional journey, as you'll hear in 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:55.400 our conversation, from winning the science fair in fifth grade, 0:01:55.840 --> 0:02:01.200 to vascular surgeon, to COVID leader to now health innovator. 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:05.880 And here's a big highlight. Talkspace is expanding into medicare, 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:10.560 bringing much needed support to seniors. Talkspace is feeling a 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:14.639 hugely important need. I've long been interested in mental health 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:18.240 and the obstacles many people face when it comes to 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:21.400 getting the care they need. But that's a problem John 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:28.480 Cohen really wants to solve. Doctor Cohen, may I call 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:31.919 you John, absolutely, thank you, Thank you so much for 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:35.680 being here. Wow, You've had such an interesting career, and 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:40.000 I'm always fascinated by people's origin stories. So I want 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:43.600 to start from not the very beginning, but when you 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:46.120 realized you wanted to be a doctor. 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:49.320 Sure so thank you and thank you for the opportunity. 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:53.800 So I grew up in Queens and in fifth grade 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:55.720 I won the science. 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:58.280 Fair yay, and I was do you remember what your 0:02:58.320 --> 0:02:59.000 project was? 0:02:59.120 --> 0:02:59.600 I actually do. 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:03.000 It was actually a dissection of a calf's heart, which 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:05.600 I presented in this in this certain fashion. 0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:07.880 Well that was very predictive, a. 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:12.480 Little bit of prediction. And I just loved science. 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:14.560 I love to read when I was growing up, and 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:16.359 I think it was from that point forward that I 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:17.840 said I really want to be a doctor. So I 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:20.440 don't that's the one event that I could point to 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:21.680 in my life early on. 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:26.680 You ended up becoming a vascular surgeon. That cow's heart 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:30.440 was really fascinating to you. Absolutely tell me about what 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:33.560 led you to that specialty. 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:36.920 So when you're in training and surgery training, it's a 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:40.360 five year surgical training program, which is I did a 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:43.520 New York Presbyterian Wild Cornell where I didn't meet my wife. 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:46.200 We met as residence and got married our second year. 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:47.800 Who's also a surgeon by the way. 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:53.880 Son in law. Thank you for that. Yes, And I. 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:57.800 Definitely wanted to be a surgeon for a long long time. 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:01.080 I don't know when that happened. I was quite honestly, 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:05.280 probably influenced by Mash the TV program. Really Alan, There's 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:07.600 no question that Hawkeye Peis was a hero of mine. 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:09.520 I think it's so funny. 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:11.480 I think it had some influence on me. And so 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:13.960 I trained for five years of surgery, and then trained 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:17.719 in VASCA surgery for a post residency up at the 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:21.039 Brigham and Women's Hospital at Harvard, then came back to 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:22.880 New York and then have been here ever since. 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:25.400 I have a dumb question, and I should know this 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:28.479 because I am really interested in medicine and science. I 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:33.280 think partly because of my husband's diagnosis of colon cancer, 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:37.880 I had to learn very quickly about cancer. And my 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.400 brother in law was the head of cardiology at the 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:44.080 University of Virginia, my alma mater, and so I know 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:48.120 a little bit about heart stuff, but I don't actually 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:51.800 understand what a vascular surgeon does. Is that embarrassing? 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:55.080 No, No, listen, not at all embarrassing. I'm not surprised 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:56.480 because most people don't. 0:04:57.200 --> 0:04:57.760 Most people. 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:01.640 So the difference is between cardio surgery and vascal surgery 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:04.320 is vascal surgeons operate and all blood vessels except for 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.880 the heart so it's all the biginst of all blood cells, 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:10.960 the carotid arteries that supplied blood to the brain, a 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:13.280 orders that supplied blood to the rest of the body, 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:17.240 and so all of those blood vessels have certain abnormalities 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:20.520 during people's lifespan, and what we did is what we 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:24.200 do is vask In surgeons, is fix those abnormalities, whether 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:26.960 it could be fixing the blood vessel to the brain, 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:30.040 the crotid artery, whether it's fixing blood vessels to your 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:32.520 legs so people don't lose their limbs, or whether it's 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:36.960 fixing the aorta for something called ordic aneurisms that can burst. 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:39.640 So that's the specialty of Vaskal surgery. So that's what 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:42.440 I did for almost twenty years. 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:45.000 So you were less interested in the cow's heart and 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:47.400 more interested in what made that heart tick. 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:49.880 Oh, more about how you got the blood there and 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:52.240 how the blood left there, that's right, and the diseases 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.120 associated that. So that's in and of itself as its 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:55.960 own specialty. 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:59.560 What was your most frequent surgery that you'd perform? 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:03.320 Aerotic aneurisms, which are bubbles which form on very large 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:06.799 blood vessels. So the most common surgery it was aortic 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:11.320 aneurysm repairs and a lot of famous people including actually 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:15.680 Albert Einstein died of a ruptured aortic aneurism. Many people 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:19.560 much much early in the forties, fifties and sixties until 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.160 the techniques were developed to be able to repair them. 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:24.200 So that was my most common surgery. 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:27.720 So do you get a warning that you have that 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:31.760 problem or I mean, how do you operate on that? 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:36.640 So the ertic aneurisms are a silent killer. You only 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:38.880 would know it if you happen to get an ultrasound 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:41.240 or a cat scan and someone discovers it. You can 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:44.080 discover it on if they get very large on physical exam, 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:47.640 but most of them were discovered with people who do 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:50.960 not have symptoms. Now the other things I operate other entities. 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:54.800 I operated on corotid arteries, which is people frequently have 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:57.960 warning signs of a stroke. People who have leg problems, 0:06:58.040 --> 0:06:59.880 we knew that they had those problems because see the 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:03.240 threatened limb loss or they had pain when they were walking. 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:06.280 So the different types of surgery, but for me personally, 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:08.240 it was mostly aortic and years of repair. 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:14.120 So after your career as a vascular surgeon, you transitioned 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:16.760 to a lot of other roles. You are a man 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:20.840 of many hats. You were leading the large scale COVID 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:25.840 nineteen testing efforts at Bioreference Labs during the pandemic. Yes, 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:27.000 what was that like? 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:30.960 So I was very fortunate. Yes, I've had a very 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:32.320 circuitous path. 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:36.800 Nice way of described haven't even gotten ye right. 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:39.560 Which is a sort of a nice way of saying 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:43.800 that I did a lot of things. So Bioreference I 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:46.040 was there for. I was the CEO and executive chairman 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:50.080 for about a year when COVID hit, which is just 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:54.040 an extraordinary event as we all remember or try not 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:58.680 to remember at this point. So we were faced by 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:02.520 references about the largest laboratory in the country, and we 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:06.280 were faced with the trying to figure out how to 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:08.720 make the diagnosis of people and how to get COVID testing. 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:13.280 So we did end up being the leader in a 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:17.040 lot of the customized solutions. So we ended up testing 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:20.720 for the NBA Bubble, if you remember, we did the 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.680 exclusive testing for the National Football League all fall two 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:28.120 hundred and fifty six games to Super Bowl. We relaunched 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:33.160 the cruise industry with Royal Caribbean and eventually was testing 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:36.000 out of ten or eleven ports around the country, and 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:39.400 then we were running most of the New York City 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:43.720 school testing, testing thousands of children and hundreds of schools 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:47.440 every single day. We did the overwelming majority of school 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:49.439 testing for New York City and other school districts. So 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:54.040 I had a very unusual experience with a great team 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:56.640 of people, and as you know, I ended up writing 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:58.760 about it about what it's like to be a leader 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:03.120 during a crisis, which is a very different crisis. So 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:06.840 there are crises that happen and then you have to react. 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:10.920 COVID was very different. One of my actually one of 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:13.760 my favorite quotes is COVID is where intuition goes to die. 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:16.320 Because every time we thought we knew what was going 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:19.320 to happen, something different happened, and you're it's a little 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:22.320 bit like being in the field in war because you 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:24.240 never really know what's going to happen the next day. 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:26.600 So every day we will wake up and changes would occur. 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:29.400 So it's a very different type of management than an 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:32.240 event that occurs and then you actually deal with the crisis. 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:36.080 So it was an extraordinary personal experience, an extraordinary experience 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:36.679 for the company. 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:40.520 I'm curious how you feel, John about all the Monday 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:47.440 morning quarterbacking that's happened after the pandemic ended, And it 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:51.320 seems it's become so politicized, and I think it actually 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:56.720 fueled a lot of people politically. And you know, there's 0:09:56.760 --> 0:10:01.480 this lack of trust in science. There's so many, so 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:06.120 many things that are a part of this. But what 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:06.920 do you make of it? 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:14.120 So I'll stick to diagnostics because that's the industry that 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:18.040 I was. I will tell you that the rollout and 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:21.760 the COVID vaccine was remarkable in terms of the number 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:24.439 of lives that were saved, and I give there's a 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.080 lot of people that deserve credits for that. I do 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:30.319 think Pfizer and the CEO of Pfizer had an extraordinary 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:33.920 role in being able to move the COVID vaccine as 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:37.280 quick as they did, and the ability to the administration 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:39.280 of the Trump administration at the time to actually roll 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:43.160 it out. Now, having said that, on the diagnostic side, 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:46.840 as I sit here today, if God forbid there's a 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:50.400 bird flu outbreak or any other I will tell you 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:56.000 unfortunately we're still very very ill prepared for another pandemic. 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:59.520 On the diagnostics side, it continues to be an issue 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:03.680 relative can we scale and test millions of people a day? 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:07.480 And that discussion still really hasn't happened. 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:10.959 But why do you think you know, I've done interviews 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:16.920 about pandemic preparedness and this it's been ever thus. You know, 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:21.960 before the COVID outbreak, we weren't prepared. A lot of 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:25.280 people said, well, we've learned a lot and next time 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:28.440 will be better prepared. But it doesn't ever seem to 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:32.920 get traction. This idea of gearing up for the possible. 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:38.920 It's like you said, it's probably you know, all political 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:41.680 or politicized. At this point. I can't tell you why. 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:45.040 I just know that having been through it and seeing 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:47.960 you know, what we do or don't have, now, we're 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:51.640 not really ready for another pandemic. On the diagnostic side. 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:55.320 A lot of people I think complain about school closings, right, 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:58.040 and I always think, well, what if a bunch of 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:02.640 kids had died? Right? And that science is an art 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:07.600 and that people learn, as you said, where intuition goes 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:11.880 to die, people were learning in real time about how 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:13.240 this virus behaved. 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:16.720 Well, we were not only learning, but then every time, 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:18.800 as I said that, we thought then you had delta, 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:21.440 then you had omicron, and then we moved from testing. 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:24.600 Remember the lines people sitting in their cars for hours 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:26.520 and hours and hours to sit at a drive through 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:28.960 the get tested. And then we moved from filling from testing. 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:31.920 And at one point we were doing one hundred thousand 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:33.959 tests a day in the lab that had not done 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:38.160 one single test in March, and so we scaled for 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:41.160 several months to get up to that point. But remember 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:43.560 we moved from COVID testing, from swabbing you. Then we 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:46.920 moved to testing what it's called point of care, where 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:48.800 we would go someplace and they test you and you'd 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:51.280 wait for thirty minutes. And then we went to home testing, 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:53.560 but you had to send your result in. And then 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:55.880 we went to testing where people tested theirselves. So the 0:12:55.920 --> 0:13:00.960 evolution of the technology alone was extraordinary once we got 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:04.000 to where people figured out what they needed. But those 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:06.839 changes alone only occurred over maybe six or seven or 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:07.280 eight months. 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:07.880 Think about that. 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:10.480 You know, we test everybody one way, and then we 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:12.040 wake up say oh, no, no, no, now we have to 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:15.280 test people another way. Oh and now we need to 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:18.560 test them another way. So we were trying to manage 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:23.160 that on a day to day basis and people screaming 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:25.480 for the results. Anyway, it was a quite It was 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.760 an extraordinary personal experience. I could tell you that I that, Yeah, 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:30.320 it was for three years. 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:34.520 I was going to say, was it traumatizing in some ways? 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:35.520 No, I don't know. 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:39.080 To me, it was a traumatizing. It was its very 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:40.400 in some stance of vigor. 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:40.800 It was. 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:45.520 It was exciting that maybe not the right objective to 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:47.600 be in the middle of it, but to be part 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.160 of it and to help figure it out. It was Again, 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:52.640 it was an amazing personal experience and for the team 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:55.680 of people had around me, they were unbelievable to be 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:56.880 able to pull this off. 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:58.040 Quite honestly, we. 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:01.680 Did a lot of experimentation, guessing, making decisions, good decisions, 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:05.080 bad decisions, moving forward, and trying to figure out, you know, 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:07.320 what was going to work and what was going to work. 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:11.400 I mean, we were literally testing hundreds of thousands of 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:15.600 people a week in the test that didn't exist in 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:17.640 March of tw twenty twenty. 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:21.560 So you go from being a vascular surgeon to overseeing 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:25.680 sort of the diagnostic technology, the evolution of the diagnostic 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:30.480 technology for COVID right and implementing it in very high 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:33.680 risk situations. Right. I can't think of a higher risk 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:36.880 situation than a cruise ship right where there was such 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:40.600 a huge outbreak early on in the pandemic. How the 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:43.040 hell did you become CEO space? 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:46.280 Yeah, it's cool. 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:49.920 Maybe we should explain what talk space is. Can you 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:50.960 help us with that? 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:55.440 So Talkspace says we're publicly traded. We've been around thirteen years, 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:58.400 when public about three years ago. So Talkspace right now 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:03.880 is a mental health virtual provider. So what you do 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:07.240 for talk spaces If you need mental health therapy, you 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:10.120 go online and we have multiple modalities so you can 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:12.560 be treated a lot of people get treated by video, 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:14.920 live video. It's a live video visit. We are, by 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:18.200 the way, a fully hip a compliant healthcare organization. We 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:22.240 have six thousand therapists all fifty states across the country. 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:25.240 And what happens you get matched with a therapist and 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:28.200 the therapists just like you would go to a therapist 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:32.200 to get therapy. Mental health service does that online video 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:36.160 We also have which I thought was quite amazing when 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:39.200 I got there. Talk sayst died mostly original research that 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:41.040 you could provide therapy through texting and. 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:45.120 Messaging, right, so it's. 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:48.640 Called asynchronous therapy, and the reason it's a really bad move. 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:52.760 So asynchronous therapy means that if you send a message 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:55.000 to your therapist at three o'clock in the morning, she 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:57.080 or he's not getting back to you probably till nine 0:15:57.200 --> 0:15:58.840 or ten the next day. So it means that it's 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:02.240 not happening to be instantaneously. 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:02.720 That's correct. 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:05.240 So well, that's why it's called asynchronous. So it turns 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:07.000 out they did the Toxics in most of the original 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:09.120 research on that to prove that you can actually deliver 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:12.400 therapy adequately through texting messaging and then move to video 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:16.200 from there and we talk about it. You know, I 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:19.040 got there a little over two years ago. We made 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:22.360 a big toxics at a big pivot to being in network. 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:27.120 So most people's insurance now cover therapy through talk Space. 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:30.040 That's very important. We have one hundred and sixty five 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:33.320 million covered lives soon to be two hundred million covered lives, 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:36.320 which means when you're looking for therapy now, good chance 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:37.840 you don't have to pay for it, or there's a 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:42.120 very small copay or at a pocket charge. That's changed 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:47.240 the dynamic dramatically for talk Space because the number one. 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:48.920 I talk about this all the time. The number one 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:52.920 barrier to getting health care is cost. Right, So now 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:53.600 instead of. 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:56.280 Going for therapy, mental health care and mentally. 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:59.440 Yeah right, and in general so general health care, the 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:02.360 number one is costs. So now in mental health because 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:04.080 of a bunch of other issues we could talk about 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:09.160 in terms of accessibility and availability, but affordability, cost has 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:11.600 been a big issue. So now if people are looking 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:14.359 for therapy, basically the insurance is going. 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:14.719 To cover it. 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:18.240 That's fueled a huge growth in talk space in terms 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:20.399 of the number of people accessing. So that's that's what 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:21.720 talk space says briefly. 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:30.000 Right now, why did this job appeal to you? And 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:32.560 no offense, but why are you qualified? 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:33.159 Yeah? 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:36.080 So it's you've asked the same question you've asked is 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:37.639 what most of my close friends have asked me. 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:40.399 Also, like what you know? How in the world is 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:42.920 this happening? So I so. 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:46.919 First off, total transp answer. Yes, I during medical school. 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.120 I think I had a week of psychiatry. So I'm 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:51.200 not going to tell you that I have any psychiatric 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:53.959 background or out or any qualifications from a you know, 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:57.040 physician point of view to be a psychiatrist and I 0:17:57.040 --> 0:17:59.320 have a chief medical officer at the company. Her job 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:03.239 is to be that physician and that leader. So I 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:06.359 was when I was at Bioreference, and prior to that, 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:09.440 I was actually a senior executive at Quest Diagnostics. I 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:13.000 have fairly deep background in digital health, so it was 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:15.600 always interested when we built a digital health platform and 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:17.280 how you get your medical records and how you get 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:20.760 results online. And we built a very interesting digital health 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:23.239 product when I was at bioreference to be able to 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:25.720 go to your home and draw your bloods and get 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:30.440 a digital result back. So we built that platform. There 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:33.720 was the chairman of the board that Talkspace met me 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:36.199 when I was at bioreference and asked me at the 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:38.520 time if I would consider coming on the board. So 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:41.960 I joined the board of Talkspace first and then post 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:45.000 COVID after leaving by a reference, not sure what I 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:47.560 was going to do next, they asked me if I 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:50.080 would consider coming off the board and taking on the 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:52.159 role of CEO of the company. So that's how I 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:54.119 ended up there. So I was on the board and 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:57.200 then came off to become CEO, and that's a little 0:18:57.200 --> 0:18:58.080 over two years ago. 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.920 So it appealed to your interest and digital health and 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:04.959 I guess making health care more accessible and affordable. 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:08.959 Yeah, So there were a couple of reasons. One is 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:12.760 which is we should get into is what we like 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:15.719 to say is that mental health time has come. If 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:17.680 you had this discussion ten years ago, we couldn't have 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:21.359 this discussion ten years ago. Now mental health has become 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:24.320 front and center. It's become physical health and mental health, 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:27.640 and it's become as important, which it should be as 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:32.160 physical health. So one is mental all the time has come, 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:36.879 So that was very interesting to me. Two is the market, 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:41.439 the total addressable market, meaning the ability to have something 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:43.880 that has a big influence and has a very big 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:46.240 market is very important because you have if you have 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:48.160 a solution but nobody wants it, that's it's not really 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:50.159 very great, right, but you have and if you have 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:54.359 a solution, which I believe Talkspace had in a market 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:56.840 where fifty percent of the people coming to talk space 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:00.200 every week are new to therapy. 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:01.959 What percentage fifty? Wow? 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:06.719 So you have this incalculable number of people who want it, 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:10.560 who need it, and turns out talk Space has a 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:15.560 solution that is scalable, affordable, accessible and available. So that 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:18.320 was the so for me, it was a very interesting opportunity. 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:22.280 And like I said, I'm not certainly not qualified on 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:25.520 the psychiatry part of the mental health part. I think 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:30.399 that eventually, as a leader, which you see in a 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:33.120 lot of different industries, if you learn how to lead, 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:37.440 then you can figure it out if you put good 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:41.000 people around you. And that's that is the listen, it's 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:44.080 whoever's president of United States, whatever. 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:44.879 Corporation to toe you. 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:48.240 Most people walk into a lot of people walk in 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:51.639 those positions with not having industry experience, but they have 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:55.160 a leadership experience. And there's a big difference between being 0:20:55.200 --> 0:20:59.960 a successful person and being a leader, very very very different. 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:13.600 The new year is the time to make plans and 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:16.439 set goals, but the only thing you can be certain 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:21.080 of is change, good, bad, or in between. A Talkspace 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:24.240 therapist can help you get ready for what's next, whether 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:27.160 you have big ambitions for twenty twenty five or are 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:30.520 simply trying to stay the course. Through video sessions and 0:21:30.600 --> 0:21:34.520 messaging therapy, a licensed talkspace therapist will help you build 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:39.040 your resilience and discover opportunities for growth. Talkspace is in 0:21:39.200 --> 0:21:43.080 network major insurers and most covered members have a copay 0:21:43.119 --> 0:21:46.359 of fifteen dollars or less, or you can take eighty 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:50.240 five dollars off your first month with the promo code Katie. 0:21:50.320 --> 0:21:54.399 When you go to talkspace dot com slash Katiecuric Match 0:21:54.440 --> 0:21:59.280 with the Licensed Therapist today at talkspace dot com slash Katiecuric. 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:09.359