Mental Health Champions: Why & How Care Solace Is Helping To Champion Mental Wellness
An Interview With Michelle Tennant Nicholson
Quality time with them brings me joy. You can often find us eating pancakes, riding bikes, and dancing.
As a part of our series about Mental Health Champions helping to promote mental wellness, I had the pleasure to interview Chad Castruita, CEO and Founder of Care Solace.
Chad Castruita is the Founder & CEO of Care Solace, a social purpose company on a mission to improve equitable access to mental health and substance use treatment.
As millions of Americans do each year, Chad faced mental health and substance use challenges and experienced first-hand how challenging it is to access quality care. In recovery, Chad reflected on how the right help was essential to turning his life around. He decided he needed to help people experiencing similar struggles and launched Care Solace to make accessing care easier and less painful than ever before. Today, Care Solace proudly serves over 15 million individuals across the nation.
Chad earned his MBA from the University of Southern California and has over 20 years of business experience. He was born in east Los Angeles and currently resides in San Diego, CA, with his wife and two daughters. When he isn’t working, Chad can be found with his family, catching waves, and on the golf course.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
I’m from East Los Angeles. I was born into a very conservative Hispanic education-oriented family. Both my parents were K-12 educators for their entire careers. My father was the former State Superintendent of the Year in the state of California. And my mother has been an English teacher for most of her career.
You are currently leading an initiative that is helping to promote mental wellness. Can you tell us a bit more specifically about what you are trying to address?
In short, when you need mental health care, it’s tremendously hard to navigate the system. You have to become an overnight expert in insurance and learn how to gauge provider availability and fit. And then you have to put in hours and hours of work making phone calls — and be willing to, after all that work, be put on a waitlist for weeks to months. This is simply not acceptable to me.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
When I was a kid, my goal was to gain popularity and earn social currency. And I succeeded. I carried that goal into my early adult life, both personally and professionally. But all that changed in 2012 when the diseases of drug addiction and alcoholism got the best of me. The cost to my mental health was huge: I was experiencing severe depression and suicidal thoughts. And I was homeless. All of that was necessary for me to find what I’ve been looking for my whole life — a purpose to be of service to those who are struggling.
Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest them. They don’t get up and just do it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and do it? What was that final trigger?
My ah-ha moment was when I thought about the nightmare my family and I experienced while finding the right support for me. If that’s what happened to me with great insurance, what happens to all those without insurance or Medicaid? How are they supposed to navigate the system? Finding the services I needed — on top of addiction and poor mental health — was a living hell for us. It took six months to get me to help in the right place. I figured if the process was that bad for my family, the same thing must happen to families with no insurance in my own neighborhood in East LA.
My purpose became fixing the care coordination problem for families when they confront an addiction or a mental health concern. People getting themselves or a loved one into services should be simple — like getting a Lyft or an Uber. It should be that easy to get the right practitioner or program to assist you in a time of great distress.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
Since founding Care Solace, I’ve been incredibly blessed to help people find the care they need, each with their own personal stories of struggle. I’ve also witnessed how finding the right care can turn lives around, and I’m motivated every single day to help more people because of it.
I recently attended the United States Conference of Mayors and listened to Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy talk about the power of connection to heal and how we need to be of service to each other. This is exactly what fuels Care Solace — human connection and service. I had the opportunity to speak with the Surgeon General about our mission and how all the mayors, city leaders, and business council partners agree: mental health sits at the intersection of many crises — like homelessness, incarceration, and access to care. Care Solace is on a mission to do something about that. I am grateful to have spoken to leaders from across the nation about the mental health crisis that day — and honored to know Care Solace is part of the solution.
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
First and foremost, my parents. My parents did the legwork to find me the right help. After I completed my rehabilitation program, I looked back at how much they helped me and was determined to help people in their journeys, too. Today, I’m proud to say that with the additional help of AA, I recently celebrated 10 years of sobriety and am helping make accessing mental health care more accessible than ever before.
According to Mental Health America’s report, over 44 million Americans have a mental health condition. Yet there’s still a stigma about mental illness. Can you share a few reasons you think this is so?
We live in a time where it’s all too easy to compare everyone’s highlight reel to your behind-the-scenes. Comparison is the thief of joy. Plus, despite all the progress, more open conversation, and some degree of normalization, people still feel ashamed. We tell ourselves we are broken and unlovable when neither of those things is ever true. We are not taught how to be vulnerable, how to share what’s really going on or how we feel, or how to even identify feelings.
In your experience, what should a) individuals b) society, and c) the government do to better support people suffering from mental illness?
We — individuals, society, and government officials — need to break the stigma and normalize the need for mental health support. And we need to chip away at the chaotic mental health care system. We can do this by finding providers matched to people’s needs, such as their gender, age, ethnicity, and language preference. We need to intervene early and make the process so easy that they’re willing to say YES when we’re conditioned to say NO to help.
What are your 5 strategies you use to promote your own well-being and mental wellness? Can you please give a story or example for each?
To center myself before work, I like to get up early and surf in San Diego. I also practice meditation multiple times per week and read daily affirmations to keep me grounded. My favorite affirmation featured on my desk says, “I relax and cast aside all mental burdens, allowing God to express through me His perfect love, peace, and wisdom.” And, of course, I proudly attend recovery meetings and am a huge advocate for breaking the stigma of mental health and addiction. In addition, my greatest success in life is raising my two daughters. Quality time with them brings me joy. You can often find us eating pancakes, riding bikes, and dancing.
What are your favorite books, podcasts, or resources that inspire you to be a mental health champion?
Words by Paramahansa Yogananda — the author of the affirmation that sits on my desk — motivate me. His book, Where There Is Light: Insight and Inspiration for Meeting Life’s Challenges, is one of my favorites.
If you could tell other people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
You can make a positive impact on our society every single day if you believe in the power of connection. Take the time to truly listen and empathize and in turn, empower people to seek help if needed. The more people that take their own journeys to healing, the stronger we can all be together.
How can our readers follow you online?
Readers can follow me on LinkedIn here. I highly encourage readers to join our cause and follow Care Solace on LinkedIn too! Together, we can break the stigma, calm the chaos of mental health care, and make a difference.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
About the Interviewer: Inspired by the father of PR, Edward Bernays (who was also Sigmund Freud’s nephew), Michelle Tennant Nicholson researches marketing, mental injury, and what it takes for optimal human development. An award-winning writer and publicist, she’s seen PR transition from typewriters to Twitter. Michelle co-founded WasabiPublicity.com.
