Jen Nguyen is at the forefront of employee wellness

SHACK15’s Journal recently spoke with member Jen Nguyen, who hails from Teamwerc, a high-touch workplace as a service minority-owned company she founded to guide organizations through the future of work, wellness, and engagement. She has an extensive track record building hyper-growth, inclusive, award-winning workplaces and employee experiences from their infancy through IPOs for various industries. As an advisor, her work focuses on developing operational efficiencies and partnerships building the foundation for psychedelic wellness care and adoption. Jen recently hosted a conversation at SHACK15 on the future of employer-supported psychedelic therapy with soap company Dr. Bronner’s that you can listen to here. We also interviewed her one-one-one to learn more about the incredible work she is doing.

SHACK15: Can you tell us about your involvement with Flow Integrative and how you got involved in the psychedelic space?

Jen Nguyen: My involvement with Flow Integrative Psychedelic Wellness was somewhat serendipitous, as I discovered my personal and professional passions intersecting at a crossroad.

My family, who is Vietnamese, has struggled with recognizing mental illness, even after my brother lost his battle with it. There isn’t a word in the Vietnamese language to describe "depression,” and I wanted to break the generational and cultural stigma around it, be vulnerable, and speak out. At the same time, I couldn't help but wonder if my brother would be alive today if he had been exposed to treatment options other than a cocktail of prescribed antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, such as psychedelic-assisted therapy. 

Around the same time I lost my brother during the pandemic, my co-founders of Flow Integrative, Mary Grace Bagalso, an Army Reservist and CRNA, and David Mai, CRNA, had been telling me how they observed the benefits and efficacy of Ketamine in military and medical practice and wanted to explore ketamine assisted psychotherapy (KAP) specifically for VETS and front-line workers struggling with PTSD, depression, anxiety and burnout.  

I happened to come across a podcast about employer-subsidized ketamine-assisted therapy featuring Christi Myers, CEO of Flow Integrative. It immediately sparked my interest, not only because the topic focused on KAP but also on employee wellness, which has been a professional passion of mine. Christi had just opened Flow Integrative in Encinitas, CA, so we did a cold outreach to her to learn more about how to get involved in the psychedelic space. Shortly after, we realized that our missions were aligned, and we opened a second Bay Area location together. Christi likes to say that the universe brought us all together!

SHACK15: What is Teamwerc and what led you to found it?

Nguyen: Prior to founding Teamwerc, a minority and women-owned company, I led workplace organizations managing real estate portfolios, the built environment, wellness, and employee experience for pre-IPO hypergrowth companies such as Pinterest, Zynga, Tesla, and (SAP) SuccessFactors. During my time at these companies, I noticed a void in the real estate and facilities industry where these service providers didn't truly understand the end-user human experience beyond transactions and projects. There was also a serious lack of diversity and representation in the industry.

Teamwerc is a diverse collective of talented, expert workplace specialists who can parachute into organizations and offer end-to-end support for specific needs or set up the entire workplace ecosystem. Teamwerc has helped organizations think through the evolution of their workplaces beyond just walls and physical spaces to promote mental wellness and physical well-being.

In collaboration with Flow Integrative, Teamwerc launched the second brick-and-mortar location in the Bay Area, overseeing real estate site selection, negotiations, interior design, and operations in less than 60 days with additional plans to expand in partnership with Enthea.

SHACK15: How has the dialogue around psychedelic medicine and therapy evolved in the past couple of years?

Nguyen: I believe the dialogue around mental illness and psychedelic treatment in our everyday conversation is starting to normalize, but we still have a long way to go. Ketamine and the use of psychedelics have brought about a renaissance in treating mental health from another perspective. The evidence is coming in with positive results for the treatment of suicidal ideation, depression, and addiction. This paradigm shift moves us towards a multidisciplinary alliance tailored to the individual and requires participation in therapeutic integration (coaching) to qualify for treatment. 

SHACK15: Can you talk specifically about employer-sponsored psychedelic therapy? Are more and more employers getting on board? 

Nguyen: Dr. Bronner’s is the first company to offer employer-subsidized ketamine-assisted psychotherapy benefits with Enthea’s psychedelic healthcare plan. Enthea is the only plan that provides safe, affordable access to psychedelic-assisted therapy and has been in talks with more than 50 companies, 35 of which have signed letters of intent. They will onboard Daybreaker, Tushy and Guinn partners in January 2023 and are expanding to 40 cities and 100 companies in the next year. 

SHACK15: Can you talk about the recent panel discussion at SHACK15 with others in the psychedelic therapy space? What was gained from that discussion?

Nguyen: The panel discussion's purpose was to promote awareness about the employer's role in promoting employee mental wellbeing by changing the environment to make psychedelic therapy affordable and accessible.

I was so inspired by the all female panelists, Sherry Rais of Ethea, Christi Myers of Flow Integrative, and Liz Kost of Dr. Bronner’s, who represent different perspectives in the psychedelic space. From a health plan administrator to a mission-driven employer to an expert provider and researcher, each one came with an authentic desire to help people understand the potential for these therapies.

The topic attracted a sold-out audience, which shows me that people are becoming more open to alternative ways of healing in addition to traditional therapies. I was blown away by how engaged the audience was, especially with the participation during the Q&A portion. It was so great to see a diverse community come together and create a safe space and platform to share their own experiences and curiosity.