Security Halt!
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Revolutionary Telehealth: Kris Barriteau and Shannon Darsow on Transforming Veteran Mental Health Care | Security Halt! Podcast Ep. 439
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In Episode 439 of the Security Halt! Podcast, Kris Barriteau and Shannon Darsow discuss how Revolutionary Telehealth is transforming access to mental health and medical care for veterans, first responders, and their families. From breaking down barriers to treatment to providing discreet, on-demand support, this conversation explores how technology is helping close critical gaps in healthcare.
Whether you're struggling with mental health challenges, looking for support for a loved one, or searching for better healthcare solutions, this episode highlights innovative tools and services designed to improve outcomes and save lives.
Sponsored by:
Transcend
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Pure Liberty Labs
Use Code: SECURITY_HALT_10
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Website: https://purelibertylabs.com/
PRECISION WELLNESS GROUP
Use code: Security Halt Podcast 25
Website: https://www.precisionwellnessgroup.com/
SPECIAL FORCES FOUNDATION
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Website: https://specialforcesfoundation.org/
Request Help: https://specialforcesfoundation.org/get-support/
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Revolutionary Telehealth
03:55 The Genesis of Revolutionary Telehealth
08:02 Addressing Mental Health Barriers
11:50 Identifying Gaps in Veteran Care
16:01 The Importance of Lived Experience
20:00 Privacy and Accessibility in Care
23:56 The Importance of Whole Person Care
25:00 Empowering Loved Ones in Mental Health
28:31 Addressing Hormone Health and Mental Well-being
30:24 Integrating Comprehensive Health Solutions
32:42 Tools for Self-Empowerment in Mental Health
36:40 Ensuring Consistency in Care
40:44 Future Developments in Telehealth Services
43:44 Preventing Crisis Through Proactive Care
46:05 The Call to Action for Community Support
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Produced by Security Halt Media
Privacy Outside The Chain Of Command
SPEAKER_00One of the biggest things that I constantly approach in the DMs and our emails is I want to get help outside of the military. I want to get help outside of my department, but I need privacy. Tell the audience how speed, access, and privacy are at the forefront of what you've built.
SPEAKER_01Yep. So we'll talk better help relationship, for example. So within minutes of signing up, you get notified minutes, you get notified from BetterHelp to start selecting your therapist. It's that easy and it's completely discreet. So, you know, revolutionary telephone is the administrative process of it, but everything is between you and your provider, right? All records, all interactions, everything. We don't track it, we don't know, and that's by design. So everything is direct to patient, right? There is no direct to business. Now we've created programs where um a nonprofit or for-profit company can sponsor or purchase gift cards and then distribute them in a discrete capacity to their people.
SPEAKER_02The other thing that took part of it took us over a year of negotiating and legal reviews and contracts to get just even one of these things organized. But one of the critical pieces that was really, really important, the individual offerings at the cost, but also up to five loved ones get the exact same amount of care for $25 a piece.
SPEAKER_00Chris Shannon, welcome to Secured Out Podcast. How's it going?
SPEAKER_02Thanks, Dennis. Great. Yeah, good. Thanks for having us. How are you?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely doing well, doing well. Um finding resources for our veteran and our LEOs is something that I'm absolutely passionate about because when you're going through it, it's hard to um to know where you can turn to. And any resource we can bring out here to help alleviate the stress and pain that our communities are going through is absolutely worth taking some time and getting to know. But what's especially amazing about revolutionary telehealth is everything that you guys are bringing into the fight. It's not just one resource, but a multitude of things that you're bringing out for our warrior tribe that can help us in many different domains. So today, I wanted to get you guys on here
Meet The Founders And Mission
SPEAKER_00to talk about this amazing new way of bringing resources to our veterans. But before we get started, guys, please take a minute to introduce yourselves.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, sure. So I'm Chris Barrett. I'm the CEO of Revolutionary Telehealth, um, spent 25 years in the Army, um, 18 or so of those as a special forces officer, retired uh as a special forces lieutenant colonel. Actually started my career as an 18-year-old private. So I uh as an E1. So I went through the full gamut of E105 um 25 years later. Uh decided to try my luck at entrepreneurship and um started a couple companies and uh kind of led us to this point.
SPEAKER_00Nice.
SPEAKER_02Yep, I'm Shannon Darso, and I have 30 years of background in marketing and advertising. Um the gamut, also in that sense of um all the way from um marketing to um end-to-end end-end conception, all avenues of production, except um I have not been a Digitech, um, but pretty much everything else in between. Um and um just really am very passionate about what we're doing, very passionate about serving the community we're serving and and and helping people, particularly in the mental health space, but whole person care.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. It's not just about a blanket or one one blanket approach to these problems. It's about looking at the individual, what they're going through, and being able to assess them and treat them as a whole person. Um, that's where we're seeing the biggest change and the biggest successes, is when uh the person in crisis can get seen by an entire team or have a multitude of resources to turn to, not just one thing. Uh, that's been a painful thing to realize when I talk to you know veterans that are out there suffering. They go get help or they reach out to a resource and like, hey, here's what we can do. And it's just it's one thing. Uh meanwhile, the that veteran, that individual is suffering in in it, they're in a deep moment of crisis, but it impacts so many different aspects of their lives. Um, I want to dive into Revolution Telehealth. So, Chris or Shannon, take it away. Tell us how this concept first came about and uh developing
The Idaho Breakfast That Sparked It
SPEAKER_00this.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. So, about two years ago, I was camping in Idaho and Montana with my dog, and uh, and we stopped for breakfast one early morning at a real small hole in the wall local place, and I was seated next to an elderly Vietnam veteran in the booth next to me, and he had uh, you know, his Marine Corps Vietnam veteran hat on, and he was talking to uh probably a VSO, you know, a VA young woman from the VA. She had her laptop open. And yeah, I couldn't help but overhear he was talking about how his medication was lost in the mail for three months, how he couldn't drive the two and a half hours to a VA facility, how he was alone and afraid and didn't know what to do. And this went on for like a half an hour. And I could not believe what I was hearing because you know, I'd recently retired and I was in that active duty bubble of the resources are there and you know they were taken care of. And to hear a veteran going through this, it was shocking, like shocking. So, you know, at the end of breakfast, I walked over, introduced myself, thanked him for his service. But that's all I could do. So as I'm walking away, I spent the next few days camping, being like, I can't believe that this is happening. If this has happened to this gentleman, imagine the scale and scope. You hear war stories about it, but you don't really know until you experience it, if you will. Um, if there's only something I could do for this guy, and I was thinking, if I could just hand him a card and say, hey, send me an email. If we can't help you ourselves, we can get you to the people that can uh and do something about it. So originally, and that was the genesis of revolutionary telehealth. It's like I'm gonna do something about this, right? Do I know anything about healthcare? Not really. Um, but what the hell? Let's go for it, right?
SPEAKER_00Typical Green Beret mentality, right there.
SPEAKER_01Right. So, you know, going from a you know, from a special force officer to a to a telehealth CEO and building a phenomenal team that we have today has been quite a quite a leap, but uh, but we've we've done it. Um so so that's how that's that's what started the concept. I brought it back to my existing team and brought in a ton of new people um to focus on on solving this problem, right? Now, as a small self-funded team in a massive industry of billion-dollar companies, it's tough to be the very, very small fish trying to sort this out, but our heart's in the right place. We're trying to solve real problems, and we've created some very unique solutions. So, what I've done over the last really two years, I built a phenomenal team like Shannon. Uh, we've got one of our partners is a SEAL captain, we've got medical doctors on the team, advanced nurse practitioners, pharmacists, uh, marine, uh, marine officers and Marshock dudes. Like we built a team of phenomenal people across multiple industries, most of them are veterans, um, to pursue this goal of helping people out. Now, what we've really, the center post of our tent is mental health, right? It is a massive problem. Um all of our medical procedures we are building to integrate with mental health. So, sleep, for example, hormones, all these things tied directly into mental health, right? So they're all integrated. So, our goal is to build
Four Barriers Blocking Mental Health Care
SPEAKER_01a comprehensive program where we can help people comprehensively, not just one little slice of this. You know, we're not we're not trying to compete with the VA, we're not trying to compete with these massive telehealth companies. We're looking to serve veterans, first responders, and their families, but we're not exclusively to that. That's just who we are, that's who we understand. So, civilians are also welcome to join our team on you know substantially reduced costs compared to what it costs in the civilian market. So, so that is what we're building. And uh, just to highlight our mental health, I'll focus on mental health for this particular environment because we're actually we're redesigning and building our medical component as we add more integration to our mental health. Oh, really? Wow. So, what we what our mental health program consists of is we've partnered with a couple very substantial telehealth companies in different capacities. So, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform, and Calm Health is the world's largest therapy app. We've developed two very unique partnerships with these companies where we are able to provide um very unique services to our community at really substantially reduced costs and breaking down the four or five key barriers that we really, really need to address. So when we started doing this, we said, you know, why are people not seeking care? Right? What is stopping people from seeking care? Because mental health is such a crisis. And it's not just in the special operations community, it's not just in the veteran community, it's teachers, it's lawyers, it's high school, college kids, right? It's it's a massive need. And people don't seek it until it's too late. Every day we hear stories about people, you know, that want to seek care, but there's barriers to care. So we really identified four barriers over the last couple of years of development that stop people from seeking mental health care. Um, the the antidote that I always tell is when I was in the army, would I have gone to the battalion mental health clinic to seek mental health care? No. Right. And why? Four main reasons. Visibility from the flagpole, right? People know you're going, right? It's a deterrent for people to know you're going to get mental health. Now, now let me let me preface this a little bit by there's been leaps and bounds made in the proper direction on active duty specifically about getting mental health care for people. Like it's it is trending in the right direction, right? But the stigma, number two, still is there, right? People know you're going to care. It isn't, it is a factor, right? Whether people believe it or not, or whether it's true or not, if people believe it, it's a stigma, right? So, so people will not seek care they need because they're worried about visibility from the flypole, the stigma associated with mental health. Oh, you know, Chris's wife, we just saw Chris's wife going to the mental club, we just saw the commander's wife going to the mental health clinic, right? Like it's real. And I don't see that ever going away, right? I mean, we we use mental health as a as a as a factor in chaptering soldiers. Like your mental health is not up to par. You get a mental health eval. It's the ugly, it's the ugly talk, right? But it needs to be said, right? So dudes and and girls don't seek care because of these factors. The third is accessibility, right? You got to go to a physical location, you're going on posts, you're going to the town mental health clinic, you're going to your police department-sponsored mental health program, right? Because these same factors apply to law enforcement. I get buddies that are in SWAT that are like, yeah, the department pays for it, but it's work, right? Like, I'm not going, it's work, right? So, like all these factors, like there's there's a ton of resources out there, but people don't use them. So visibly from the flagpole, the stigma, access to care, and then finally cost, right? So it's absurdly expensive to go see a provider, a mental health provider on the economy. Could be a couple hundred dollars per visit, right? So that's cost prohibitive for a lot of people where insurance isn't isn't a part of that. So what we've created is we're able to offer our community literally 50% of the price to get four sessions a month with a mental health provider.
SPEAKER_00It's absolutely and I don't wanna I don't wanna uh uh glance over that, we'll come back and talk about that. But um, Shannon, one thing I I want to ask you, you know, not being a veteran, being in the space, and and having the insight though, being able to identify, like how did you guys set out? I mean, you're looking at what you provided, it's very robust. You guys have literally identified every single key thing that I found in in my journey through the space, is like the top, top criteria of things that our veterans and first responders are suffering from. How did you guys go about identifying these gaps early on? Because it looks like when I look at everything you've put out there and I go to the website, it's like, dude, these guys identified like everything that our guys and gals in crisis need help with. How did you guys go about identifying and finding these gaps?
SPEAKER_02I would say absolutely first we started with our team because you know they've lived it. These are their personal experiences, these are the things that they truly have affected them. So we start there and then we listen and then go out and listen in our community as well. Um in the civilian side, some of those things are the same barriers of care, like overall overarching. There's still as much as there has to Chris's point, there has been progress made. Thank God. There has been, you know, slowly the conversations are starting to be had, but there is such a long way to go. Um, even within my own family, where it has been talked about, you know, from the get-go, how important our mind-body spirit is and caring for all pieces of that. Um, there's still the the stigmas, there's still the cultural pressures of um that persist that, you know, I grew up with them, and actually they're helpful in short-term situations.
Speed And Discretion By Design
SPEAKER_02Figure out, figure it out, push through, and then you'll be fine. But you do that over the long term without addressing it, and that without addressing it, eventually all those things start piling up. Um and and whether it is in the military where there's very, you know, there can be very significant push-through moments that that can get lost in the dust to get on to the next. Um, but also in the civilian where there can be micro micro um traumas, um, and big and major traumas. But you know, I grew up in the Midwest. That's what you do, you figure it out, you push it, you push through, and tomorrow's a new day.
SPEAKER_00But exactly push it all the way down, just keep pushing it down.
SPEAKER_02You know, it comes out sideways eventually. Um, you know, it and I can speak personally, like with family experiences, personal experiences, it can come out as addiction, it can come out as depression, it can come out um illness, it can come out as um autoimmune diseases. Um, and those are things that um when you know, you and I had talked a little bit before we we started the podcast here about the body keeps the score. Um there's such great information out there now that we can access and resource and learn about ourselves, put words to our experiences, put words to um you know, what our bodies are experiencing. And and all of that has been really critical and important in in how we're developing our programs going forward to really meet people where they're at, hold space for them when they're ready, but also um also for example, we just launched um a couple days ago, formally our first layer of reaching out to people who are veterans in in the music space and um the actor space who have broad platforms, not not necessarily to use revolutionary telehealth as um, you know, and and share the share the word about us, we would love that, but but to use their platform and encourage them to start the conversation about mental health and and start helping to normalize that conversation. Um, the example that comes to mind that has we've been talked about, like paralleling what we were just discussing. Um you wouldn't tell somebody who broke their arm, well, just figure it out. It'll it'll heal itself eventually. You go and you seek care. It's the same thing for mental health care. Um, and I and I don't want to minimize it either. I'm not saying that in a minimizing way, it is just a way to describe something that we can hold space for each other and in a way that can be okay to go get care.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and that's exactly to what Chris was talking about, the cultural piece. You know, I I don't think that you guys give enough, give yourself enough credit. I know there are giants in this space, but Chris, like you touched on it a little bit, having the knowledge and being completely in in being able to speak to that veteran from a place of like, I have the lived experience. I've lived this. I created this because I lived it. Like, I think that's a huge weapon. I think that that is a huge benefit to you guys. When you look at other places that have tried to roll programs like this, they didn't succeed. I don't want to call anybody out, Charlie Health. They tried creating something for veterans, but they don't have they don't have the lived experience or the individuals working within their space to say, like, hey, we lived it, we can create it. And I think that's one of the biggest things you guys bring to the fight is an organization, a product that's been created and put out and rolled out to market by individuals that know what the veteran and first responder world are dealing with. That's huge. Um, and I have to ask, Chris, like, I'm a big proponent of this. We we tend to focus a lot on our younger guys, our NCOs, our team sergeants. One thing I've realized is our officers are also dealing with issues. Our leaders, our key figures. It gets lonelier the higher you go. When you're building this, were you able to tap into holy cow, I've been dealing with some of this stuff on my own for far too long. I need this as a resource for myself.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's a it's a huge factor. I mean, we've got, I don't even know how many, a couple hundred years in military service. I mean, we've got uh an old 18 Delta turned ER surgeon on our team. You know, I knew it. Third group guy, so not quite up to par, but he's doing his best. But uh, you know, so we've got the full gamut from you know, literal experience from E1 to 06, right? And in decades of service. So it's it's a it's a huge factor. And it definitely uh, you know, I mean that like that personal tie, I mean, it's it's who we are. I mean, 25 years of my life was wearing a freaking uniform, you know what I mean? So like to say we understand it is is almost understating it. Um, you know, you talk just the unique challenges that veterans face in a mental health capacity, but it's also in a medical capacity. Hormone imbalances are like crazy for especially elite operators, right? That, you know, a normal civilian doc would not necessarily pick up on that you're a unique case, that you've you know eaten 300 door charges and have 200 jumps and you know what I mean, live in a pure state of high adrenaline anxiety for a decade plus. So it's real, we get it, and we're trying to create something. We have created something that's very unique to address those concerns. And a lot of these, a lot of these situations translate even outside of the special operations veteran community, like law enforcement and otherwise. So it's we're seeing a massive scope of need, particularly in the mental health arena. Um, and that's what we're that's what we've we've created to address.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. And I think the one thing that we need to highlight and talk a little bit about when we specifically for our law enforcement and our military guys are still active duty, one of the biggest things that I constantly uh approach in the DMs and our emails is I want to get help outside of the military. I want to get help outside of my department, but I need privacy because if this gets back to my chain of command, if this gets back to my my CEO, the people in charge, I don't want this to be a factor in their decision making for promotions, for advancement opportunities. And when you look at revolutionary telehealth, speed, access, and privacy are at the forefront. So when you're we're building this, can you talk a little bit about and tell the audience how speed, access, and privacy are at the forefront of what you've built?
SPEAKER_01Yep. So we'll talk better help relationship, for example. So within minutes of signing up, you get notified, minutes, you get notified from BetterHelp to start selecting your therapist. Wow. It's that easy. And it's completely discreet. So, you know, revolutionary telephone is the administrative process of it, but everything is between you and your provider, right? All records, all interactions, everything. We don't track it, we don't know, and that's by design. So part of removing those barriers and creating this process was very deliberate. It's kind of bucking the system to use a phrase I use frequently. It's kind of unconventional in the way we've created it, right? So it's it's very so everything is direct to patient, right? There is no direct to business. Now, we've created programs where um a nonprofit or for-profit company can sponsor or purchase gift cards and then distribute them in a discrete capacity to their people. Oh, wow. But it's still between so, for example, it's just like in the workplace.
SPEAKER_00I've never heard of that. Like, we got to dive into that. That isn't that is Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So, you know, so organization company X can can buy 20 year-long memberships and put the little gift cards in the coffee can in the coffee room of their office, and people can discreetly take one out, go home, and get a year of mental health. What the studies show tremendous workplace happiness, involvement, lack of days off, proficiency, efficiency. So it's real, but that's another barrier, right? Now they know, hey, no, no one knows I'm doing this. I can I'm completely confident in this the discretion here to get care for me or my family. Go on. And you can also sponsor somebody else. So you could you could buy a gift card for a person, it goes directly to their email, they sign up. So it's it's completely breaking down those barriers. And to talk about your active duty scenario, so you know it's it's ironic because I have a story. A good friend of my high school friend, both her kids are SEALs now, young, young barrel-chested freedom fighters. And she's like, you know, they need to talk to somebody. There's no way in hell they're going to talk to somebody. This is perfect because I can sign them up as their mom, and then they can sit in their garage and talk to a therapist off the books, completely discreet, and get the care that they need. I'm like, exactly. So the opportunities we've created to chop those barriers is real. And, you know, from nonprofit sponsoring people to for-profit sponsoring people, the challenges we face, and there are many, but you know, it's not a it's not a um benefits program, a workplace benefits program. So it's not traditional in that capacity. Like we won't provide metrics to companies because one HIPAA compliance, but two, that's a barrier, right? If if if you get sponsored by your company and you know that they know you're seeking care and you don't want them to know, it's a barrier. You won't seek care, right? So like we will provide hey, you bought a hundred gift cards, 98 of them were deemed this month. Or something similar to that. But we're fully HIPAA compliant. All of our servers and all of our network is fully HIPAA compliant. That's that's a big deal. Um, so yeah, generally speaking, that's that's what we have going on, but it's a it's a streamlined process. So people can sign up within minutes, they're they're they're
Loved Ones Access And Month To Month
SPEAKER_01connected to our partnership, they're in the they're in the portal and they're selecting the therapist. You can pick demographics, you know, age, sex, expertise, whether you're a veteran, you want business stress, um, and then within a day, you're talking to a therapist. And you get four sessions a month, unlimited work groups, um, peer-to-peer type things, resources that are just substantial for less than half of what it would cost to go directly to even one of these companies. So we're in a very unique position to offer phenomenal care to our community as it is.
SPEAKER_02And I'd like to may partner one other piece of that, just to parallel off of that. The other thing that took part of it took us over a year of negotiating and legal reviews and contracts to get just even one of these things organized. But one of the critical pieces that was really, really important, also um the whole the the individual offerings at the cost, but also up to five loved ones get the exact same amount of care for $25 a piece.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_02So we our our goal, our hearts as is is again with whole person care, it also involves our loved ones.
SPEAKER_00Yes, it does. And being able to trauma doesn't stay within you, it it bleeds off into your family. Like that's that is another missing piece. Uh so I'm Shannon, please. Sorry to interrupt, but it it's it's it that is so important. Uh our families are dealing with this, and you go to any nonprofit for support, they're really quick to help you, the veteran, the first responder. But the family needs support.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. And and and um we defined loved ones as someone who you love. So it can be a caregiver, it can be your spouse or your children, of course, but it can be, you know, your neighbor, um, somebody who just you care very much about. And and that's that's how we define it. Um so wanna, you know, shine the love, at least spread the support in any way we can. And now we're gonna be able to.
SPEAKER_01Maybe a teammate, maybe maybe a team, maybe a teammate, a teacher, a friend. Like we don't we don't determine what that is. Nobody's tracking it. Because our goal and our core tenant is get the care in as many people's hands as we can that need it. So breaking down those barriers. So we don't we're not gonna say who a loved one is, doesn't matter to us. If they need care, we have the solution.
SPEAKER_00That's powerful. That that I mean, honestly, when I when I think about it, that's the first thing that came to my mind. Um, you could pass that off to a teammate in the team room or your platoon, somebody in your squad that you know is suffering. So, hey, I have this resource for my family, bring it in, dog. Let's get you some help. Like, that's I haven't seen that in any anywhere. Anybody at any resource that I have interviewed on the show, like this is the first. This is like groundbreaking stuff.
SPEAKER_02And I can I partner I'm sorry to interrupt, Danny.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no, go ahead, go ahead. Uh I'm excited. I'm thrilled.
SPEAKER_02I'm I'm just well and and the another important piece of that is empowering the person to decide for themselves. We are month to month. We are not like when we say a year, kind a year that um with a gift card, that's wonderful. If you sign up individually, um you it's it's up to you how long you want to do therapy. Um, you're not locked in for any period of time. Um, and the same goes with what we just talked about, empowering who who you give, who you want to expand the care, the care to, your platoon, your your loved one, anybody. So we want to make sure that it's self-empowering too. That's that's really important.
SPEAKER_01And the first month's free. So you have nothing to lose if you at all think that you want to talk to somebody, then try it for a month. And if you don't like it, you just cancel. You don't even get charged. So, like it's it is a it is a it is the best opportunity you're going to find out there for people that are seeking online therapy care. Um it is. So let's let you know, let's let's go and let's get people care they need, and you have nothing to lose. If you or your family member sign them up, if it doesn't work, it will, because we have a tremendously high success rate right now on for a variety of different reasons. Access to care, cost, uh, flexibility, right? All these all these challenges that people face. And um, if you don't like it, you can always cancel and there's no there's no cost associated with it. So it's like we're we can't do much more, I don't think, um, to achieve our objective of putting this care in the hands of people that need it and giving the opportunity to take advantage of it.
SPEAKER_00No, it it's one thing one thing I want to highlight is I I get tons of questions about better help. There isn't another program out there that allows you access to better help like this. Like everybody wants remote these days. People feel more comfortable. I mean, for whether it's an AI platform that's being developed or you know, a chat, a Discord group, a peer-to-peer support group, people feel more comfortable going online, going through an app. Um, and you know, that's okay. That's the you know, my I feel a lot more comfortable in person, but that's just my thing. We have to be able to meet people where they're at and give them tools and resources that they want to use. Keyword, want to use. It's it's um, you know, the idea
Hormones Labs Supplements Whole Person Care
SPEAKER_00that we have to sit in a couch in front of a human being, that doesn't that's not rational, especially when it comes to law enforcement officers and our soft community. Every single one of those guys guys and gals are like, I just want to be able to get on an app or get on a phone and talk to somebody remote. Um, and and I wanted to dive into this uh because it's it's something that I feel very strongly about, and that's the hormone health. We talk about stigma when it comes to mental health, but we still haven't broken the stigma of uh hormone health and getting your hormones optimized because people think testosterone, you're a juice head, you're getting you're you're you're out there worried about your beach muscles. Like, no, there's the scientific evidence, the studies are out there. If your testosterone plummets, it's gonna impact your mental health, and it's often the times directly correlated with depression. And we're so quick to offer tons of pills to help you with your depression, but nobody wants to rub labs and find out where your hormones are at and figure that out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, labs is the first step, right? So we right now labs are integrated in our medical process. We we will be adding a standalone comprehensive lab capability just to get a foundational footprint of where you're at, right? How are your lipids? How's your testosterone? How you know how's everything else looking? Um, to kind of give you a frame of reference of what where you're at from a health perspective. We're also uh adding um like non-prescription medications like supplements and stuff through through a very reputable company, yet to be disclosed, but um like magnesium, right? Like maybe you don't need prescription medications, maybe you need some magnesium fish oil and to talk to a therapist and it'll change your life, right? Like, so that that's you know, because our core tenant is to take care of people, right? And it's not necessarily taking a taking medicine, right? There are ways to do this and it's it's a very unique thing. So, so yeah, and that that is exactly spot on, is how all that integrates. And you know, our hormone program. In fact, Shannon and Tara, our our VP of health, uh, Army vet nurse practitioner, are working with our physicians to create the female hormone program, which is incredibly complex. You know, it's very simple.
SPEAKER_00You know, women are being left behind. There are our our our female service members and law enforcement officers are getting left behind. Um, we get a lot of focus on testosterone, you get a lot of focus on on the gentleman's side of the house. But um it is exactly what you just said. We we don't talk about the things that women go through because it's just like we're impacted in our career fields, the same thing happened to women. Like, so that I cannot wait for that to roll out for you guys because you're gonna see your your your customer base skyrocket.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's there's a I mean there's a massive need for it
Calm Health And A Scalable Path
SPEAKER_01for sure. Yeah. Um another one we just to touch on real quick is our is our calm calm health, my Boston accent. I'll start saying Calm Health. You go to Harvard and beat up smile kids, but uh calm health. Um, so another unique relationship. We are the only company that I know of still where you can purchase the Calm Health app, right? It is not, it's in the app store, but you can't access it unless you have access, unless your healthcare company provides it, your employer provides it. You can buy the enhanced app from us at like 12 bucks a month, 10 bucks for a veteran or something like that. And it's it's a it's it's not the basic meditation app. It's it's got veteran-specific, first responder, trauma, sexual abuse, uh, PTSD, all these systems built into it. It's their advanced app. Um, and we're the only place you can get it uh for yourself. So, once again, a very unique relationship we've been able to create where you know you can start with a five-minute meditation session and the the the app algorithm is scalable up to a point where it will recommend you should probably talk to a licensed professional, like you're at that level of need of care, and then it transitions to our our virtual provider opportunity via BetterHelp. So it's all it's all integrated in our system, um, which is really cool and really unique again. So, between those two factors, we've created a fully scalable mental health model to really accommodate everybody's needs in the community uh to get started with some care that they need at a very affordable rate, breaking down those barriers. Um, and you can toe dip, you know, with the most basic scenario and work your way up. You can jump right in, you can do whatever you want. Like it's you're completely flexible to get the care for you, your family, your loved ones that they need.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's absolutely needed. I'm a big fan of the Calm app, huge mindfulness uh uh uh proponent, a practitioner myself. You know, we say like we need to offer tools and resources to the individual. Yes, we need to see providers. Yes, we need to be able to give, be able to sit in front of somebody and talk and work through problems, but at the same time, we need to be able to give the end user tools they can use on their own. We're not meant to go through therapy and consultations and crisis counselors for the rest of our lives. We have to at some point off-board the client. At some point, we have to say, you have tools, we're gonna be here if we need, if you need more help, but please start your journey today. When it comes to revolutionary telehealth, how do you and you know empower the user to move forward on their journey in mental health and say, like, hey, you know, now it's your time to walk your journey. If you need us, we're gonna be here. So it's the go ahead, Shannon.
Consistency Without Starting Over
SPEAKER_02Um well, we start that with education, we start that with outreach, we start that with holding thank you for having us here, having these spaces to talk about um, you know, just taking that first step. Um, I just recently yesterday had had a really powerful, long and strong conversation with someone who is probably the closest to me ever about taking that first step. They weren't quite ready yet, but um, you know, it's it's it's in our own personalized um, you know, believing and truly, truly knowing the difference that this can make um and reaching out to our own loved ones, but it's it and coming from that spirit, coming from that heart, reaching out to our community, reaching out to um organizations. I just talked with um a sober home the day before yesterday. I drove down um about two hours from here and met with a veteran sober home, and they're doing really incredible work. And part of the part of being at the sober home is taking that first step and for us getting to be a part of that messaging, being getting to be a part of that conversation is something that's quite an honor and we take very seriously. So it's you know, we are we are in-person active out in our communities, but also in these spaces, also with our marketing, also with connecting with other organizations that are trying to do the same thing and being a tool and a resource for them to use when they're trying to help others. Um, one of the things that really resonates with people is transferability. So um for for those who do seek care while they're on base, or for those who do seek care um with um the resources available, some of the things that are tricky are sometimes maybe the therapist that they connect with gets transferred to another base, for example, or their schedule is so busy that it's hard to actually follow through with times. And so you and then you have to start over with another therapist and re-talk about all those things that you don't necessarily, you know that can be re-traumatizing sometimes, and it can be um disheartening to have to start over. Not always, but but that is a barrier to care. So one of the things that we work through as we are putting this therapy selection we have available, the putting together the programs we have available that for access is you consistency. You start and you can take that all the way through until to your point you're ready to be done and move to the next stage in your life. But you don't have to worry about um your therapist being transferred. You don't have to worry about um, you know, for example, down in the sober home, they get through the sober home and then what we can follow with them. That's that's something consistent that's empowering and um something that's really important in our considerations as we're putting together um what we're doing, but also as to your point, as we're trying to hold space and have these communications as and and let people know that when they are ready, this is a safe space for them. We are here, and and whether it's through us or anyone else for that matter, our goal is to help people. We want to be there for people, and and we've done to Chris's point, we have been scrubbing every angle we can think of to make this as smooth and easy as possible. I just um you know, had some loved ones sign up from the time and and you know, we're always benchmarking, we're making sure that our processes are continually smooth as possible. So, you know, we onboard ourselves, we um, you know, and we take turns, um, but we also, you know, we're asking for feedback. Um, and from the time it took to sign up, literally an email was the sign up through us, an email was sent within minutes. And my loved one was onboarded within seven minutes, including downloading the app. So one one of the other barriers when you're signing up, um, and I can speak in the civilian world, is it can take you know an hour and a half, two hours just to fill out the paperwork. Plus, there's even with insurance, and that and that can be daunting. And even with insurance, that first onboarding appointment can be you know four or five hundred bucks, quite frankly, it can be it can be it can be very significant.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah.
SPEAKER_02And and you know, what do you do? You you do you're gonna do whatever you need to do, but at the same time, with that if you go through us, it's minutes. Literally minutes. And and let's say you decide you need a new kind of therapy. Maybe you've you've figured out, well, actually, um, I do need to address some substances. Okay, within minutes, within minutes you talk to your therapist, you let them know I'd like to to address this area now, and you fill out the paperwork, and then the next day or two you're talking with someone who specializes in that. So you don't have to say, okay, this is what I'm doing now is great, thank you, but I need to do something different, and then wait months to even find an opening, start all that paperwork again, that cost again to start in a new, you know, the the new onboarding um initial two-hour session. You don't, you just switch. And that's it. There's no new fees, there's no new onboarding paperwork that all just transfers.
SPEAKER_00That's incredible. That's um that's a big issue that we deal with a lot, and I don't understand why we can't, you know, address it within the VA system. I've experienced it. Um just a constant revolving door of a new therapist, a new provider that you have to start from ground zero to re-explain everything that's going on. And that's why a lot of people walk away, and that's why everybody's trying to find uh connective tissue or a resource that gets them connected to something like Better Help. Like being able to have the same person in your current fight, in your journey with you, or at least do a warm handoff to the next provider that comes along. That isn't that doesn't seem too much to ask these days.
SPEAKER_02No, no, and especially and and to be able to honor the progress that has been made.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's that's really important too. It takes courage to take that first step. And and then all the work that went into getting to where you are at that point, that you're you know, you don't transferability matters, it really does matter, and and consistency matters. Um that that's really empowering.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. You know, you guys are bringing a lot to the market, and
Phase Two Building Their Own Network
SPEAKER_00I would like to know what's uh what's in development for the future. What are you guys working on behind the scenes to try to scale or or add more uh to the the current stack of services you're providing?
SPEAKER_01Well, funny you should ask that. So we call it phase two. We do a lot of MDMP military planning here. So our phase two I do the same thing on Alpha right now. Uh phase two is uh we we are in the process of creating the tech infrastructure to support this, but we will create our own internal medical provider network, our own internal uh mental health provider network of experienced providers with the veteran community, whether they were in uniform, whether they were a civilian battalion, you know, mental health provider, or just have you know decades of experience in the civilian space dealing with law enforcement and veterans. We'll build that under our own umbrella. It'll be our internal team that we focus on. Um and that's our phase two in the medical side and the mental health side. So a truly unique national level medical program that understands for real uh you know, the veteran first responder community and the challenges that we all face. So that's our phase two development. That's our ultimate goal. It has been since day one. Um, but like we mentioned before, that's a very, very laborious, time-intensive, compliance, expensive, tech crazy program to build that from scratch. And we've been working on it now for quite some time. Um, I can't really put a finger on when that'll be ready for execution. It's a ways down the road, but we will get to a point where we have really the nation's first like 100% comprised, composed um uh team of medical professionals that know know the situation.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. You know, one of the biggest things that I deal with um is the crisis
Prevention Over Crisis Response
SPEAKER_00moment. Veterans are in crisis, the in extremist situations. Um, when you look at the future, have you guys looked or or thought about how you can better serve or create uh pathways for that veteran or first responder that is on the app, that is in the ecosystem, and maybe they just have that moment of crisis. They are actively in need of intervention and how to get that individual to the right resource, whether it's getting them connected immediately, onboarded with Warrior's Heart, or any of those other awesome nonprofits are out there um helping in this fight.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, if they're if a veteran is in immediate crisis, they need to call the crisis response line. Like there's we are not set up for crisis response. Um, and we probably won't be in the future either. There are programs in place where you could kind of tie it into your system to integrate that, but we are not now. Our goal is PMCS, preventative maintenance, right? So we stop that situation from happening because we don't let it get to that point. That's what we're designed to do is you know, jump on board now, get the care you need so it's not a crisis two years from now, right? That so that that is what revolutionary telehealth is focused on, um, rather than the crisis management. We don't want people to be in crisis, and we feel strongly that we are we have designed a program that could prevent um folks from entering into that crisis scenario.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It's important to understand too, like it's apps resources are great, but if you're already at that breaking point, you need to reach out for real assistance, uh, not wait any longer. That's one of the problem areas that we have. Uh individuals aren't willing to get help and continue to spire out of control, and then that's when you know, that's when all hands-on-deck situations happen. And uh very fortunate to be involved in multiple different programs are bringing lots of attention and resources to that fight, but it's a very labor-intensive. That's why it's important to utilize what we have right now so you don't get to that point. And I don't think that we look at the numbers and the metrics, and it can feel like the fight's not winnable. How do you guys continue to wake up and stay engaged and stay in the fight when we know the numbers are constantly elevating
How To Support A Small Scrappy Team
SPEAKER_00and getting higher and higher?
SPEAKER_01It's hard. Every day is a battle, right? Because we're we believe in what we're doing and we're bringing something that is of desperate need in the community. Um, all we can do is is is our best and and spread the word to let people know that we're out there and this is legitimate and it is a great opportunity to take care of people yourself or those you care about. Um but every day is difficult because it's, you know, we're a small, self-funded team of scrappy veterans trying to help people on a grand scale. And we've created a model that does just that. Uh our our scale and scope now is that we don't have $500 million a year to do marketing budget, you know, on a national scale. So we rely on folks like you who we wear the same hat, we share the same experience, right? We're from the same community to spread the word to others like us, and then and then continue that snowball effect where people are like, wow, this is pretty interesting. Because when we find the right person that is looking for what we offer, it is it is the literal light bulb moment. Like the light bulb goes on and goes, How are you able to do this? This is incredible. Like I several times people that has been their response. Like, this is unreal. One just a couple weeks ago, right? How are you? This is incredible. Like, where do I sign up? And within a minute, they're on board, as is their family members and loved ones, right? So it's like you it's finding the right people that are in the market, if you will, looking for this kind of care. It's a no-brainer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's absolutely a no-brainer. That's why I'm so passionate about it, and bringing you guys and offering any spotlight, any any sort of assistance I can to highlight you in your fight, because I haven't seen anything like what you guys are bringing to the table in one package. Um, the gift card idea, being able to walk in for like right now, every battalion commander should be digging in their own friggin' pockets, buying these gift cards, and dropping them off at their major hubs, at their commander's desks. They need to understand that their guys aren't comfortable going to their,
Where To Sign Up And Final Challenge
SPEAKER_00you know, behavioral health individuals. Well, here's a resource. I've paid for tons of equipment and stuff out of pocket. If I could go back in time, this is what I would spend my money on for my guys. Why? Because I know my dudes, I know my community. They're not gonna go talk to providers. I didn't go to providers and tell them the truth till the very end. But if I could give them a gift card and say, hey guy, you're dealing with something, utilize this. It's free, just use it right now. We have got to get over this idea that the magical resource is gonna land in our hands and take care of this problem. No, the resource you're looking for is right here, Revolutionary Telehealth. Get connected. Look at the program today. In fact, do me a favor, pause the episode right now, go to the episode description, and click those links. What do you got to lose? Share it with a friend. If you don't feel comfortable going to provider and going face to face, that's fine. You're one of the thousands of Americans that doesn't want to see somebody face to face. This is one of the best ways to get in touch with BetterHelp. I've looked for connective tissue from other organizations with BetterHelp. And guess what? I couldn't find it. And just going to BetterHelp, the price point is a little bit much. A lot of people aren't willing to do it. But right now, Chris and Shannon have a resource that you can utilize today, not just for you, for your family as well. Um, guys, I can't thank you enough for being here, but before I let you go, where can we sign up? Where can we find out more?
unknownYep.
SPEAKER_01Go to our website, Revolutionary Telehealth. It's www.revth.co. So revth.co. And there's more information you'd ever want there from hour-long videos on how to select a provider to basic flow charts on the process. Um, and if you have any questions, you can just email us at info at revth.co and we'll we'll get back to you within minutes. So, yep, easy day.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. I again I can't thank you enough for being here, guys. Um what you're bringing to our warrior tribe is absolutely amazing, and we need more of it. Uh, I don't think, you know, when I when I talk to guys in in my community that are out there helping people, we're constantly looking for something we can hand out to somebody that can give an actual tangible, like physical card to say, hey, you might not need it now, but in a couple days, when you're you're back down, when you're you're calm, just reach out. I'm telling you, you're not scrappy small fish in a in a big pond. I think you're bigger than that. I think you just need people and folk to talk about it, to evangelize, to, to promote your services because it's needed. And you have the lived experience. I mean, when you look at your background, Shannon, when you look at your background, Chris, you guys are giants. You don't give yourself enough credit. So allow me to pump you up and elevate you and pour into your cups today. What you're doing is amazing. The job uh what the job you've taken on to try to help out our community is beyond admirable. I I can't thank you enough for what you're doing. And I just want you to know that you you're in the right place, and before you know it, we're gonna be seeing you guys everywhere because this is something that needs to get elevated and people need to have it their hands right now.
SPEAKER_02Thank you so much, Denny.
SPEAKER_01Appreciate it more more than we can express.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Guys, again, please do me a favor, pause, go to the episode description, click those links, connect, buy a gift card or two, give them out to a friend or family member, or better yet, take care of yourself first. Look, we've heard this our entire military career. Before you can help somebody, you got to take care of yourself. If your gun's down, you're no good to somebody else in the fire team if you can't get your gun up. So get it back up, get back into firefight, and then help your other friends. Please take care of yourself, take care of your family, and we'll see you all next time. Till then, take care.
