Of all the many things people value and care for in the world, the mind is the most precious. In fact the mind is the foremost treasure in the whole world. However, we under invest in developing our mental strength. I invested in FLOW because I felt the gap in the world for access to immersive mediation technology and the number of people who just did not know how to start. I have been meditating for quite a number of years and I am barely scratching the surface of the super power of our mind. I am by no means an expert, far from it so my experience is similar to many who have walked this path. In the beginning one thinks this is not so bad or even easy but once you realize that most of us have no control of our mind it becomes a much harder task. The ability to sit still and observing what your mind does it a unique human ability. The mind does not have a master and you do not have any control over it. The mere act of observing and noting what the mind does is one of the hardest challenges for any of us. Meditation is hard work but it can be learnt. Flow makes meditation accessible and simple to anyone who wants to learn. You feel the improvement in 4 minutes. Ok, enough about Flow, the reason I wanted to write about the mind and mental health challenges that we face is because of the new report by the World Health Organization. The headline is the sense of urgency to transform mental health and mental health care.
Ultimately there is no health without mental health
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization
The gist of the report is that we are doing a poor job to support people all around the world in every level of the society in every county when it comes to mental health support, that is quite a damming summary.
Mental health conditions are very common in all countries of the world. Most societies and most health and social systems neglect mental health and do not provide the care and support people need and deserve. The result is that millions of people around the world suffer in
Dévora Kestel, Director, Department of Mental Health and Substance Use, World Health Organization
silence, experience human rights violations or are negatively affected in their daily lives.
Public health systems are built with the least common denominator and we know that it is usually inefficient and falls short of what communities need. I believe strongly a good public-private partnership is the best way to solve some of the hard problems in front of us. Healthcare is one of those and I know that in small countries like Iceland this is becoming apparent. We cannot build more hospitals or beds, what we really need is personal care and care closer to the patient that is small community driven. Getting tools built by entrepreneurs into the health systems is a good way to accelerate this. I can make a case that solutions like FLOW should be part of standard health prescription especially for those struggling with anxiety and stress. Multiple studies have shown that simple interventions can dramatically change a persons outlook on mental conditions. Prescription and other pharmacological interventions should be our last resort. Healthcare services and health systems are too internally focused and the pandemic has just exasperated that problem. The way to deliver better care is to decentralize the care, i.e. ensure that healthcare systems are connected to the individual but can deliver care through the wire. Many solutions are being developed and we are in the beginning of one of the biggest transformations in the Healthcare service in my humble opinion. I say this because I get to meet founders who are much more integrated and engaged with the person having the health issue. Technology can be a massive leverage to solve some of healthcare challenges.
