Photo credit Tim Goedhart via Unsplash

How Therese Bogan uses integrative consulting to support health at work

Workplace Wisdom

Veronica Fossa
Aug 25, 2017 · 9 min read

When I thought about an interview that would be informative and inspiring at the same time and touching topics like health, personal development, and creative culture at work, I could not think of anybody else than the integrative consultant Therese Bogan.

She brings a wealth of experience in working in the San Francisco startup ecosystem, supporting individuals through the darkest sides of entrepreneurship and work life, which she shared about at events like Arctic Startups ’14 and Creative Mornings Helsinki. She has some exciting projects coming up blending health, digital and physical spaces and I can’t wait to dig in what she has to say about the future of work and food.

Can you tell us about your background and what you do?

I became compelled to move back into the private sector to be a part of the current movement of mind-body connection into the mainstream. With technology and medical advancement happening at hyper speed, we will have new modalities for working with genetic and biological advancements in the hands of everyday people within the next 5 years. That means lifestyle choices and environments that we make by hand will have more power and influence on our health and our economy. I really feel this is a time for everyone to begin taking their lifestyle habits as investments in a long healthy and exciting life that could easily last over 100 years.

My most exciting focus is in helping people take the depth work they do with me into their work and home environments and create lasting change that they share, with everyone around them. Making health that lasts means taking a deep dive into understanding the mind, your body, and your emotions and how they work together. I think people feel comfortable allowing their environment to tell them it’s okay to be a workaholic. They may think ‘I’m proud that I can get other people to do things they don’t want to do.’ Although really, knowing how you are put together and how you integrate means you have the power to build and rebuild yourself.

“Making health that lasts means taking a deep dive into understanding the mind, your body, and your emotions and how they work together.”

What does it mean to have a “healthy” work life?

“8 hours of activity or work, 8 hours of restorative and creative play, 8 hours of deep sleep or rest. Health is an ecosystem of these components.”

The role of technology

What are the main ways in which technology is shaping our lives?

What I see in human self-expression is an incredible drive to be seen and heard. Most of us try and use our well crafted social cover to disguise how strong our drive is. We act like we don’t care or talk about limiting how much we interact with others online, but this is just an act, a defense, a psychological protection device.

“What I see in human self-expression is an incredible drive to be seen and heard. Most of us try and use our well crafted social cover to disguise how strong our drive is.”

We care deeply about our whole self-process, no matter how cool or casual we talk about it. And, there is an effect that is involuntary. Our digital devices and tools become a part of ourselves. When we hold our devices in our hands or laps and express/think our brains begin to map these devices as a part of ourselves or a part of our psyche. It’s a profound change in our lives. We think in SMS text forms. We dream in images. Posting and receiving a message/post shows up on the deepest level of our psyche. These are profound daily life changes and deep psychological human leaps.

So, technology is shaping how we express and receive our deepest human needs. From the distribution of goods, all the way down to our most personal ability to activate ourselves to go out into to the world and be seen.

Is there such a thing as digital well-being? If so, can you explain it?

And, I have to just mention here that there are already treatments for PTSD and other complex mental and physical health conditions with Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. These techniques will be more mainstream and used through common devices and wearables in the next 5 years, and for common well-being goals like stress relief or anxiety reduction. Digital well-being will be much more clearly defined with these pieces of technology in our lives.

I think a perfect example here is when a basically healthy person hits a deep depression or bout of anxiety in their lives, and their first move is to Google search their symptoms and try to relieve the pain with information. The next move is sometimes directly to the doctor or therapist to receive medication. Yes, that’s common. But, more people are explaining to me that they are using my service, plus yoga online, plus a device that tracks important biological information that sculpts their view of progress and growth.

My service is live and deeply emotionally and psychologically intimate. And the digital supports allow what happens in my office to extend into the client’s hand 24 hours a day. That’s digital well-being. Designing these steps and supports is the exciting fun that will happen in the next 10 years. It will happen around thinking, feeling, eating, exercise, sleep, friendship, dating, love, work relationships. It’s simply amazing how much an individual will be able to support their health. I guess doctors and therapist like me will have to choose where they want to sit in that world.

What are the biggest challenges that organizations face as we move towards the future?

What are the most important things that organizations should be thinking about in order to build an honest and nurturing place for innovation?

“Number one thing companies should be getting their heads around is how health and creativity work together. Aesthetics, senses and intuition–these are not algorithms.”

We have a huge amount of contact and information. But, we are unaware of how this will be affecting our health. It’s not enough to remain removed and observe data. We aren’t sophisticated enough with those tools we are creating yet. Believe it or not, intuition is faster to tune in a few people than training 250 people to read data accurately together. This fact will become a dividing line in competition. It already has.

That means companies are guessing about how to foster intuition, senses, perception, gut reactions, knowing and focus. But they don’t have to guess. There are many tools and skills in health and spiritual well-being that are available.

How do the two worlds relate: the physical space and the digital space?

At first, I needed to only agree to digital contact with early adopters or those who were already making primary contact with digital communication. I’ll explain. Those who in the spare time or for work take on all the latest technology, sometimes even faster than the makers; they are early adopters. And, people who are using digital communication for primary contact are business people or stakeholders in international or global business, which could also include military or academia or government. These folks live digitally already. And they are willing and capable of working through the tools and their work around until we have optimal contact.

The way these two worlds relate is often conflictual.

How important is the social and cultural environment within an organization to empower people to perform?

Eating at work

In your opinion, is food culture playing a role in shaping future organizations? If so, in which way?

Do you have an eating routine at work? How is it different to that of the weekend?

We have porridge every morning. It’s a strong Finnish tradition, but most people don’t follow it anymore. We do. And now, since it’s still summer, we have lots of fruit to choose from. Mostly, it’s just porridge and coffee.

Talking about eating, is there any food product or drink that is never missing on your desk?

“I have to eat dense and concentrated fats and foods that will support my concentration and quick problem-solving.”

Snacking at work means nuts, sharp chocolate, and soup. I have to eat dense and concentrated fats and foods that will support my concentration and quick problem-solving. That means plant fats and root vegetable soups. For so many reasons it seems like good chocolate goes a long way.


Interact with Therese:

Website: theresebogan.com

Originally published on the WE Factory Blog. You can read it here.

WE Factory

Interviews, tools, inspiration, and musings from WE Factory, a culture consultancy business committed to dissect the power of eating at work and unlock the potentials of people.

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Veronica Fossa

Written by

Founder we-factory.co. Helping organizations become nourishing places to work by transforming the conversations, rituals & spaces around food in the workplace.

WE Factory

Interviews, tools, inspiration, and musings from WE Factory, a culture consultancy business committed to dissect the power of eating at work and unlock the potentials of people.

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