Let’s Break The Stigma

We have made it to the final day of company visits! It’s a bittersweet day because it served as our first “lasts” of the trip and while I’m looking forward to my bed, I’m definitely going to miss these people and the city! I’ll be honest, I didn’t have very expectations for the visits today. We’ve been on the go for the last week and a half so we’re all super tired and struggling to focus, but Braunability (previously Autoadapt) and Remente really stepped up their game to keep us engaged! The theme of the day seemed to be “stess”… how fitting after 12 days of travel!

Braunability’s mission is to help as many people as possible live a more independent life, by enabling them to drive or ride in a vehicle safely. All over the world. The key word here is safety because Braunability believes that failure is simply not option. A claim backed by intensive crash testing. Bruanability designs and manufactures wheelchair accessible lifts and automotive products that allow individuals with disabilities to life a more independent life. We spent three hours with members of the Braunability team and it was obvious that they were all passionate about the difference they were making in the world.

As a company, Braunability operates with 6 key values at the core:
1. The customer comes first
2. Believe in yourself
3. Support and learn from each other
4. Never stop improving
5. Show commitment & take responsibility
6. Treat others the way you want to be treated

After we spent the morning learning about how to help people physically, we went to Remente to learn about how we can help people mentally. Remente is an app who’s mission is to “democratize mental well-being. Remente started as a platform to mentally train athletes, but after struggling to get resources to help himself fight depression, co-founder, David Brudo, decided that he wanted to make his app convenient for all. And, unlike formal psychiatric treatments, Remente focuses on prevention rather than reaction. While Remente is a super cool app, his presentation focused more on mental health and why we need to break the stigma around discussing it.

Here are a few things David said that really stuck out:
-Mental health conditions cost more than cancer, cardiovascular disease, & diabetes combined
-You run a mental marathon everyday, but we don’t prepare the brain like we prepare our other muscles
-Our brains were made for survival, not to be happy and while society has changed, our brains haven’t so we can’t keep up
-Don’t believe everything you are thinking
-Calendars are a reactive tool: we block off an hour for a meeting and let that control the conversation instead of letting the content be in control.

Coffee Break
We had Fika at Braunability with a cafe latte and more cinnamon bread (I forgot to take a picture). There’s a few things I’m going to miss 1. mandatory Fika and 2. fancy free coffee in company cafes!

Cocktail Hour
We stopped for dinner at Brewers Beer Bar where I tried a Bitburger Premium Pits and it was pretty good! We then ended the night where it all began, Pear Ciders at Karlson’s!

Today’s Top Three
1. If you like triganomotry, you should consider a career in engineering
2. Memory training a recognized sport
3. One year, Sweden’s top Christmas gift of the year was a “Phonebox” that you were meant to lock you phone in for a little bit each day to get a break