Many of the organizations give more and more importance to the mental health of workers. In this context, the Ancla Life association has presented a pilot program to reduce anxiety, stress and depression in it entrepreneurial field, with which it aspires to be a benchmark for entrepreneurs in Spain. In June, the results and the first conclusions that will be collected in the first Ancla Life study will be known.
Diego Ballesteros, president of the association, led the presentation, which also included the participation of Pablo Nebrera, vice president of Ancla Life and Gustavo G. Díex, founder and director of the Nirakara Institute. At a time when mental health has an increasingly direct impact on our lives, Ancla Life is committed to treating possible anxiety or depression problems caused by stress or very fast pace of life.
Precisely, in March 2020, during the pandemic, the president himself, Diego Ballesteros, was immersed in a depression caused by a very fast pace of work. It was then that he began to become aware of the importance of taking care of mental health.
“I have been an entrepreneur for 25 years and the problems came from my second year. For this reason, I want to reach out to entrepreneurs to prevent them from suffering what I had to experience”, says Diego. Furthermore, he adds that there is a great need to remove the stigma surrounding mental health. “Entrepreneurs have to know what they are exposed to when they start in this sector so as not to fall into bad habits”.
reference tool
In this way, Ancla Life aims to become a reference tool in the entrepreneurial field. An anchor to hold on to when you need help to care for and encourage entrepreneurs to get out of their emotional and mental states that prevent them from growing and lead a life without disorders of any kind. The goal is to reach as many entrepreneurs as possible in order to have a positive impact on the entrepreneurial ecosystem through a deep-rooted community equipped with the best tools, advice and personal experiences.
“We want Ancla Life to serve as a shock wave that helps many startups and entrepreneurs and, above all, to become a point of reference and information”, Pablo Nebrera, vice president of Ancla, commented during the presentation.
One of the biggest challenges of the association is to eliminate the stigma that surrounds mental health in the entrepreneurial field. To do this, they are developing guidelines for alleviate the stressors of entrepreneurship very connected with fear to fail. They also highlight the importance of managing uncertainty or invulnerability in order to move forward consciously and without going beyond expectations.
Supported by the Complutense University of Madrid, this initiative has the best professionals in the sector and a line of research that supports the need to address this problem. Thus, the Nirakara team, a scientific society dedicated to research and training in cognitive sciences, is researching to help others understand why these mental health problems develop.
These studies have revealed how continued exposure to stress Without proper management, it can trigger affective or anxiety disorders. Also, when entrepreneurs feel a sense of failure, they tend to isolate themselves and not ask for help. The combination of these factors exposes entrepreneurs to the risk of developing depression.
In the words of Gustavo G. Díex, founder and director of the Nirakara Institute, “It is crucial to emphasize the psychological state of the entrepreneur to better understand the emotional disorders that entrepreneurs may suffer and try to solve them.”
So far, Ancla Life has developed a first program with systematic training sessions that have helped to delve into the conception and treatment of stress, anxiety or depression. These coping strategies together with classes in mindfulness and emotional regulation have made it possible to significantly reduce the mental problems of the entrepreneurs who have already joined the program.
In addition, they are developing a series of podcasts with references from the entrepreneurial world such as Íñigo Juantegui, co-founder and CEO of OnTruck and recognized for the success he achieved with La Nevera Roja; Jordi Miró, CTO at The Hotels Network; or Carlota Mateos, co-founder of PlenEat.es and Rusticae.es, among others.
