Air Force partners with startup to transform mental health care for troops

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

WHEN YOU HEAR THE NAME MIND GYM WHAT DO YOU THINK OF? FOR SOME, LIKE MY PRODUCER, IT WAS A 1980s ERA MARTIAL ARTS FLICK. FOR ME…IT WAS A CARTOON BRAIN PUMPING IRON.

BUT FOR THE FOLKS AT A GROWING START-UP IN DENVER, COLORADO, AND THE U.S. AIR FORCE, IT’S ALL ABOUT BRINGING MENTAL FITNESS ON PAR WITH PHYSICAL FITNESS.

NESTLED IN AMONGST THE MASSIVE DISPLAYS FROM GOVERNMENT CONTRACTORS AT THIS YEAR’S AFA WAR SYMPOSIUM WAS A RATHER NON-DESCRIPT SEVEN-FOOT BY SEVEN-FOOT BOX. AT LEAST NON-DESCRIPT ON THE OUTSIDE. BECAUSE IT’S ON THE INSIDE WHERE THIS BOX STARTS TO STANDOUT.

“It’s gonna be dark, there’s going to be some lights, some sounds…towards the end you might find a sensation of floating… it’s just five minutes, and I’ll see you on the other side.”

THIS IS THE MIND GYM FROM LUMENA. IT’S A SENSORY EXPERIENCE THAT, ACCORDING TO ITS CREATORS, CAN HELP IT’S USERS WORK ON THEIR MENTAL HEALTH.

[Stetson Jenkins, VP of Product]

“It allows you a breath into yourself, and the ability to think way deeper than all this stuff in our standard reality consciousness, and start to very quickly interact with our subconscious, the things that come to a person’s mind, visually, because the brain when not stimulated, is trying to stimulate trying to make up things trying to fill in the blanks. And so in a lot of darkness, calm, you can see the person that you really need to actually have a conversation with, you can see yourself, you can see your kid, you can see perspective shift, where it’s like, man, everything in my life is so focused on x. Like is that really the true meaning is that what I should be putting my heart and mind into. ”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

ADMITTEDLY THAT’S A LOT FOR SOMEONE TO WRAP THEIR MIND AROUND. WHICH IS WHY THE FOLKS AT LUMENA SAY TRYING IS BELIEVING.

[Brandon Murphy & Head of Growth, Lumena]

“We have a phrase called like opening the door for somebody which you have to do with you see your reaction when you got to experience it. And I’ve seen everything from you know, some sleepy faces, to some really joyful faces, to some people with tears in their eyes. Everywhere from you know, this helped me manage my stress too. This helped me feel more connected to my God. It’s like a whole range of reactions.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

BUT THAT’S WHERE MIND GYM IS NOW. TO GET HERE, THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE PROJECT WERE LOOKING FOR THE RIGHT PARTNER. AND THAT’S WHERE THE AIR FORCE COMES IN. LUMENA WAS ABLE TO TAKE PART IN AN INCUBATOR PROGRAM CALLED SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH, OR SIB-ER FOR SHORT. SIB-ER ESSENTIALLY GAVE THEM THE FUNDING TO DEVELOP THEIR PRODUCT INTO SOMETHING THAT HAD TANGIBLE BENEFITS FOR THE MEN AND WOMEN SERVING IN TODAY’S AIR FORCE.

[Stetson Jenkins, VP of Product]

“We started working on how to create a user interface that was intuitive, a self serve kiosk system. And ultimately, could collect, analyze, and give results on at that first the bio data. So heart rate, heart rate variability and respiration rate, with a target of how do we take these really stressed out folks, and just reduce their heart rate. And so that was the initial what we launched into”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

THE EARLY RESULTS WERE POSITIVE ENOUGH THAT LUMENA HAD A NEW PROBLEM, THEY NEEDED TO GROW AT A RATE THAT WORKED FOR THEM AND THE AIR FORCE. ENTER PAM GLICK WHO NOT ONLY SAW THE POTENTIAL, BUT THE PATH TO GET TO WHERE THEY WANTED TO BE.

[Pam Glick, CEO, Lumena]

“We didn’t really have a product that could be mass distributed yet, we really needed to scale it, to be able to deliver it with a quality that we wanted to have. So when I first came in, I kind of pivoted the company to let’s raise money, invest in the tech both the physical composition of the box as well as the software used to support it. ”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

ONCE THEY GOT THE MINDGYM WHERE IT NEEDED TO BE, THINGS REALLY TOOK OFF.

[Pam Glick, CEO, Lumena]

“We were fortunate to get it into seven of the main, the nine major combatant commands of the Air Force, which we felt really great about. And now that we’ve got it scaled, we’re looking to expand it within each of those bases..”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

“There are now Mind Gyms set-up at almost a dozen installations, from Hawaii to Turkey. And there are plans to add more very soon.”

THE MAN TAKING THE PROGRAM TO EACH NEW BASE ESTIMATES HE’S SPENT 400 TO 500 HOURS IN THE MIND GYM ON HIS OWN. FOR HIM IT’S MORE THAN A JOB.

[Brandon Murphy & Head of Growth, Lumena]

“ I just want to put as many people and faces inside of this thing to see what they can do. And I imagine eventually, we’ll be in professional sports. You know, my, my boss, Pam had mentioned, we’re going into commercial aviation next. I think it’ll be in clinics, you know, airports, gyms..”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

WHILE WE WERE AT THE AFA’S WARFARE SYMPOSIUM IN COLORADO THIS YEAR, I HAD THE CHANCE TO EXPERIENCE THE MIND GYM BRIEFLY….AND IT REALLY WAS AN AMAZING VISUAL AND AUDITORY EXPERIENCE THAT WILL PROBABLY HELP A LOT OF PEOPLE IF LUMENA CONTINUES TO EXPAND.