How to Improve Entrepreneur Mental Health

Presented by Econa and the Global Entrepreneurship Network Aotearoa New Zealand

An online webinar with Michael Freeman, MD

Tuesday 15 August at 12-1:30pm on Zoom

Entrepreneurs are economic first responders who really do “think differently.” Due to their formidable superpowers, 80% of net new jobs are created by companies that are less than five years old. However, these superpowers come with an emotional price tag: they associate with unique mental health challenges. This interactive symposium introduces actionable mental health solutions for the NZ innovation ecosystem. After considering the prevalence and nature of founder mental health issues, the symposium will focus on actionable steps that founders, investors, support organisations, and government agencies can take to increase the resilience and wellbeing of New Zealand’s entrepreneurs.

Symposium leader Michael A. Freeman, M.D. is the founder of Econa, a science-based center of excellence for founder wellbeing. He is a psychiatrist, an entrepreneur, an executive coach, and a founder mental health researcher. He served as a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, as a Mentor in the Entrepreneurship Center at UCSF, and he has provided over 6,000 hours of direct psychiatric care and executive coaching to entrepreneurs. Dr. Freeman was the founding Chief Medical Officer of United Behavioral Health, America’s largest managed behavioral health plan. As President of the Institute for Behavioral Healthcare (a mental health policy and leadership think tank) Dr. Freeman served on the mental health team of the White House Healthcare Reform Task Force under Hillary Clinton. Michael was in New Zealand earlier this year interviewing entrepreneurs and ecosystem enablers for his research.