After battling anxiety and depression, this founder is helping his employees improve their own mental health

When Alex Iwanchuk was 17, he was diagnosed with depression and ADHD. For the next 15 years, he kept that diagnosis mostly to himself.

“I wasn’t open with anybody about it until I was 32,” says Iwanchuk, now 36 and the co-founder of Feals, a venture-backed CBD wellness brand that he started with Eric Scheibling and Drew Todd. The shift came after Iwanchuk sold his first company and anticipated a feeling of euphoria, and for his worries to melt away. When that didn’t happen, he got serious about taking care of his own mental health — and started opening up about it to friends and colleagues.

The change in Iwanchuk’s own wellness has inspired him to lead the fast-growing team at Feals with empathy and openness, a timely effort as the pandemic has caused nearly half of American workers to struggle with their own mental health issues, according to a report from insurance company The Standard. But Iwanchuk knows all too well that men are often less likely to seek support for mental health issues, and recent studies have shown that BIPOC workers are also unlikely to seek care.

Now, Iwanchuk is focused on creating a supportive workplace for all of his team members and backing it up with both culture and benefits. He chatted with EBN to tell us how.

Read more: Why Black employees aren't comfortable asking for mental health support

As your relationship with your own mental health has evolved, how has that affected the way you operate as a business leader and an employer?

For me, the ability to just be honest with my business partner is so helpful: Hey man, I’m having an anxious day today, and it’s going to be a tough one for me to navigate. Now that we’re up to about 30 team members at Feals, I’m trying to take the stigma out of mental health. So when I need a mental health day, I take the time — and I let my team know. When that comes from the top [of an organization], you can see the ripple effect. It’s really about leading by example and sharing experiences.

What are some other ways that you send that signal to your team?

We have an all-team meeting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and we always ask a question of the day, like “What did you do last weekend for self-care?” Our entire company is about an empathetic approach to wellness, so with these meetings, we’re creating a warm, authentic feel. We’ve seen it create accountability: A team member recently mentioned that they wanted to start seeing a therapist on a regular basis, and another colleague offered to be their accountability buddy to make sure they follow through. And that’s cool to see.

Read more: 3 ways to get employees to take advantage of mental health benefits

Other than being open about mental health and wellness, how does Feals actually provide those benefits and support?

We have an allowance for our team members to use toward any kind of therapy or coaching. That was important to us from the start, even when it wasn’t always best for our budget. But it can be used at their discretion, and close to 50% of our team takes advantage. We really want to go above and beyond standard healthcare benefits. We also want to make sure that what we’re offering checks boxes for our team, so we recently did an employee audit of our benefits and actually shifted to a different provider to get lower deductibles and give people more access to that therapy and care.

How do you solicit that kind of honest feedback?

We ask a lot of questions. We use Gusto to gather team insights, and we also have an anonymous feedback loop where team members can weigh in on team structure, culture and ways to give and receive appreciation. When we started Feals, we didn’t realize the impact we could have on our team members. As a management team, we realize that we don’t have all the answers. We’re maturing and shifting into a different level of community, and our founding team realizes that we don’t have all the answers. It’s important to hear that feedback, not avoid it.