RITESH AGGARWAL

POWERHOUSE GLOBAL MAGAZINE (PGMAG) INTERVIEW WITH:

RITESH AGGARWAL (RA)

PGMAG: Ritesh, so good to have you on today’s interview with Lady Anita

RA: Hi Lady Anita a real pleasure and honour to be invited to take part in this so thank you very much for the invitation.

PGMAG: Please briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

RA: I am 45 years old from Liverpool and married with 3 children, 2 daughters aged 17,14 and a son aged 8. I have worked as a dental surgeon in Sheffield for 22 years, however, I have a real passion for improving mental health for both individuals and organisations. This is why my business partner, Dr Danyal Akarca and I set up Psynergy Mental Health. We want to improve the way mental health is assessed so we can gain a better understanding and then suggest interventions that are specific to needs. Essentially a more personalised and precision medicine approach.

PGMAG: What are some of the measures needed to help those who are being challenged by mental illness?

RA: There are a number of things that need to be happening now! Funding needs to be directed in the right areas. Too many people are being diagnosed with mental ill health but then must wait to receive the prescribed treatment. Waiting lists are at bursting point with the NHS under severe pressure due to the pandemic meaning a longer wait for treatment. This could be the difference between getting the right treatment in a timely manner and somebody reaching a crisis point or taking their own life. This needs to change immediately.

Another major problem is the assessment process itself. It is generally quite quick and purely subjective from the patient’s and clinician’s perspective. This often results in a misdiagnosis and treatment is prescribed more in hope that it will work and lacks certainty. It’s a trial-and-error, one size fits all approach (and we are not all the same, so this blanket approach does not work) often resulting in patients being given tablets to hopefully solve the issue. It leads to protracted periods of treatment and patients start to lose hope as they are not seeing improvements. The assessment process needs to improve and become more detailed to gain a better understanding of the root cause of the illness. Once you understand, you can then start to implement strategies to improve your outcomes. This is something we are working hard on to address, change and improve.

PGMAG: Please tell us more about your business and how you support others to stay mentally healthy.

RA:

Psynergy Mental Health is centred around adopting a preventative approach towards mental health. Very much like dentistry. We hope that people will go for mental wellness checks every 6 months (according to need/risk assessment) to make sure everything is ok even if they feel well.

This way we can stay in tune with our mental health and help prevent it deteriorating towards mental illness. We are currently researching ways to add objectivity into the mental health assessment process by capturing data regarding cognitive function as well as carrying out readings of the brains’ electrical activity. These objective biomarkers have been well researched and evidenced to show that they are useful for understanding mental health in more detail. This is our core work, and we are researching this approach with the NHS. We hope to change the landscape of mental health assuming our research data proves to be valuable and impactful. Exciting times! We have also developed some products for organisations to utilise to help improve workplace mental health. We have developed a mental health strategy guidance tool that helps people understand mental health and various mental health conditions, recognise the signs and symptoms and also what to do if you or your colleagues are struggling. As well as this, it also helps organisations by providing guidance on policy writing in line with the HSE management standards as well as the new ISO45003 – Psychological health and safety at work, managing psychosocial risks in the workplace. Another product we are most excited about is our mental health and wellbeing survey developed for organisations helping them to understand their mental health and wellbeing culture in great detail. This survey is completed by all members of the workforce and the results are aggregated to give organisational-level scores in 5 key areas, Roles and demands, Workplace environment, Relationships, Support and Personal wellbeing. Gathering big data in real time like this is very difficult and somewhat cumbersome however, our software team has developed an easy to use, digital platform that is mobile optimised. It is anonymised and provides everyone within the organisation a confidential, safe space environment to rate their workplace and provide their opinion. We have implemented it into several organisations, and they have found it very useful to benchmark their organisation and then to target their interventions and initiatives according the needs, which have been identified by the survey. That’s the key, its spending money wisely on interventions and initiatives specific to your needs. Without undertaking a proper assessment how do you know what you need? Our product does this for you. Another important thing it highlights is areas where you are doing well. We are always transfixed about the things that are not going well and wanting to fix them, but we never stop to congratulate ourselves on the things we are getting right- and believe me there are plenty of things organisations are getting right. Knowing this and seeing these results gives you more motivation to improve things to create that mentally healthy workplace culture we all should be striving for.

PGMAG: As a leading professional in mental health, what are some the keys to staying mentally healthy?

RA: We neglect ourselves in so many ways – whether its poor nutrition or lack of exercise, not getting enough sleep to spending our days glued to screens. Think about our teeth again. We brush our teeth twice a day in the hope to prevent dental decay. Why do we not nurture our mind in this way? Having a morning and a night time routine is one of the best ways to improving and maintaining good mental health. Instead of looking at social media first thing, practice mindfulness or even just some breath work. It may only be for 30-60 seconds, but this will start you off in the right way. Practice gratitude and journaling (each night write down 3 good achievements for that day and/or write down 3 good things in your life) this is a great way to help you be appreciative of all the good things in your life. Most of all be kind to yourself. Talk to yourself like you are your best friend. We are often hyper critical of ourselves, and this can damage our confidence and erode our self-esteem. Practicing self-care, being kind to ourselves and forgiving ourselves is a massive step towards inner peace and happiness. It isn’t that simple and requires lots of hard work and dedication. Something I’m still trying to get good at personally as well. For those people needing some help with their mental health the NHS self help strategies are very good and we have also summarised a free mindfulness course on our website for anyone to use.

PGMAG: What is your message for world leaders?

RA: Understand and embrace your people! Treat them as people and not statistics. Nurture them and support them to flourish and you will truly see the positive difference. Create that mentally healthy workplace culture but not just because it improves your bottom line profit but because it’s the right thing to do. The ripple affect this will have throughout society will be truly amazing and we all have it within us to do this. Our company strapline is “being mentally healthy together” and we can all achieve this by coming together, supporting ourselves and each other and not allowing anyone to feel alone. We really can make the change!

PGMAG: What are some the challenges faced by those in the health industry?

RA: The healthcare industry is very difficult at present. I know this personally from my work in dentistry. It is a tough environment to work in due to several factors. The PPE is very difficult to wear and can at times be somewhat claustrophobic. The pressure is immense and has had no real sign of easing and this cumulates in a lot of stress and creates feelings of being overwhelmed which can lead people to become withdrawn and feel alone. We have developed our workplace survey specific to dental practices to try to encourage people to speak up and voice their opinion and not feel isolated. We plan on adapting the survey to vets, pharmacists, GP practices, lawyers, accountants, teachers etc.

PGMAG: What would you say to your younger self?

RA: The first thing I would say is to sometimes listen to your heart and not your head. Do not have any regrets! I would tell my younger self to not be so hard on myself, don’t be afraid to make mistakes and definitely be kind to myself when I do! Also I would tell him to practice mindfulness, gratitude and journaling every day from a young age. I could probably go on for ever about the advice I would give to my younger self!

PGMAG: Finally, what makes you laugh?

RA: My family – my wife and my 3 children make me laugh. They are funny and kind and know how to make me feel better! The other thing that makes me laugh is Only fools and horses – quite possibly the best programme ever made!

PGMAG: Thank you so very much for your time.

RA: Thank you so much lady Anita for having me it has been an absolute pleasure in doing this with yourself.

PGMAG: Please share your link with us.

RA: Anybody wishing to chat about Psynergy mental Health and its products please contact me vie email – ritesh@ psynergymentalhealth.com or on my telephone +44 7855314296 For more information, please visit www. psynergymentalhealth.com