Vibe Check: Mental Health in the Startup World is a Tech in Asia podcast where writer and editor Winston Zhang speaks to startup leaders and mental health professionals to see what he can learn from them when it comes to managing his mental well-being.
The tech and startup world is infamous for its hustle culture. How many “inspiring” stories have we heard of founders and employees alike working for days on end, subsisting on a diet of microwave pizza and instant coffee before tucking into a sleeping bag to spend the night in the office?
Of course, that’s not a sustainable lifestyle – it’s good for neither body nor mind.
When Covid-19 struck and working from home became the norm, mental well-being came to the fore. Many people started reporting experiencing mental health issues due to the isolation that came with lockdown measures.
What kind of impact did these changes have on the always-on tech and startup scene? Are employees now more demanding of holistic support from their employers? And are employers holding up their end of the bargain?
In the pilot episode of Vibe Check: Mental Health in the Startup World, Intellect CEO and co-founder Theodoric Chew discusses the lay of the land of mental health in the tech and startup world.
Timecodes:
00:00 – Intro music
00:32 – Hi, I’m Winston
02:18 – Welcome to Vibe Check
02:49 – Meet Intellect CEO and co-founder Theodoric Chew
03:58 – The birth of Intellect
04:35 – The increasing focus on mental health and well-being
05:48 – When companies began to take action
06:47 – Taking care of employees simply makes good business sense
08:37 – Mental health as an employment benefit isn’t new
09:31 – The issue of social stigma
11:22 – The importance of self-awareness, especially for startup founders
12:47 – Managing one’s mental well-being is a personal journey
14:26 – Finding the help you want and need isn’t always easy
16:30 – Perceptions have been improving, but there’s still a long way to go
17:18 – Episode two teaser: How Calm Collective Asia’s Sabrina Ooi came back from the brink of oblivion
Featured interviewee
- Theodoric Chew, CEO and co-founder at Intellect
Host
- Winston Zhang, writer and editor at Tech in Asia Studios
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