Greg Rennie is a bipolar disorder specialist with 20 years' experience as a therapist in the field of mental health and addiction. As an entrepreneur, he founded the startup, ‘Focus Mental Wellness’ in 2015, one of Canada’s first online therapy companies. In 2023, he left the company to build his private practice, Rennie Clinical Services and the brand, ‘Bipolar Disorder Therapy’.
Greg Rennie, Bipolar Disorder Specialist
What inspired you to embark on a career as a therapist and entrepreneur?
“I’ve never been comfortable with the word “entrepreneur”; it sounds pretentious and silly but I guess it fits in a strange way. Over the years, I’ve combined my passion as a therapist and empathy for people and built businesses in hope of making a difference. I recently launched a new brand, Bipolar Disorder Therapy.
“Looking back, the catalyst for what my life has become reminds me of that old Hair Club for Men commercial, “I'm also a client”. I've struggled with depression and alcohol and drug addiction since I was a teenager and because of that always had empathy for people struggling with the same. I got clean and sober in 1996 in a psychiatric hospital in Ontario after experiencing benzodiazepine withdrawal and three days in a lock down ward due to suicidal risk. Once discharged from the hospital, I went on disability and drifted through day to day, went to AA meetings, unsure of myself and what I should be doing with my life. After some failed attempts to go back to work, I decided to go to back to school, get a degree and help others. The funny thing is I ended up getting a job at the same psychiatric hospital in Ontario I got sober in ten years after I was discharged. I was worried they would remember me and admit me again!
As a therapist, I worked in the hospital for 10 years learned a lot about mental health and addiction programs and the Canadian healthcare system. One thing that struck me was that large health corporations and the government do a lousy job helping people get well and stay well. The gaps in the system were obvious and it bothered me greatly. I thought if I had my own business, I would do it differently.
Can you tell us about your role as a founding partner of Focus Mental Wellness and how your company addressed the gaps in the healthcare system?
In 2014, the U.S. online company, Breakthrough.com was ahead of their time. They used a secure video conferencing platform for their roster of American therapists to meet with clients. Breakthrough also built an online booking system and invested in marketing. Clients could choose a therapist and see them on a computer or mobile phone at home. At the time there was nothing similar in Canada and I had a eureka moment. I should build it.
Keep in mind I had no business going into business. I had zero experience but loved the idea of addressing the gaps in healthcare specifically the lack of availability, accessibility and affordability. Understand, our free universal healthcare system doesn’t include therapy. If a client is employed and has insurance, they get reimbursed but like many with addiction and mental illness, they’re out of work and have to pay out of pocket as well as pay the government a tax added to the cost of therapy.
In 2015, I was still working at the hospital but wanted a private practice of my own but got sidetracked. With my pension and savings as capital, I founded Focus Mental Wellness. It was one of the first online therapy companies in Canada.
A few years later, with two business partners, we grew the company and in 2020 when lockdown was imposed and no chance to see a therapist in an office, our revenue increased exponentially and so did the valuation. It felt great, helping people struggling during the pandemic and building a successful company that exists today.
By 2023, I was burnt out. Well Health Technologies In Vancouver bought majority shares of the company and I decided to leave to build a private practice again.
Last year, I needed to do something different for my own mental wellness and thought, everyone has a podcast so why not? My best friend Rob Wreford and I worked together in the 80s in radio, so it seemed logical for us to team up. MindBody Matters is a podcast about the mind-body connection, physical and mental wellness. We often interview authors when they have a new book out on health and wellness. As well, we've interviewed the Emmy award winning producer of “Survivor”, mental health experts and comedians who wrote for the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
What inspired you to launch Bipolar Disorder Therapy, and what is the main mission or purpose behind your brand?
Last fall, I left Focus Mental Wellness and launched a new company. This time, I decided no business partners, no corporate partners and go solo. I wanted to finally do what I've always wanted to do, specialize in treating two illnesses I know very well professionally and personally: substance use disorders (addiction) and bipolar disorder. We know that approximately 60% of those with bipolar disorder also have a substance use disorder. It made a lot of sense to me, to treat illnesses I know well.
The focus and objective of my new brand, Bipolar Disorder Therapy is to provide a caring and compassionate approach to treating clients coping with these disorders and meet them where they are. I personalize my clinical approach based on what the client or family needs.
How do you ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information provided, especially considering the sensitive nature of topics related to bipolar disorder and addiction?
Accurate, reliable information and direction provided to a vulnerable client is a must ethically. I've known therapists, physicians and psychiatrists over the years who claim they understand these disorders but don’t have the experience and more importantly, the training to treat them. I have pride in the fact that I have a diploma in addiction from McMaster University, two degrees in Social Work and Social Development from University of Waterloo as well as my many years of experience working at addiction treatment centres and community mental health programs. In addition, I have multiple certifications in modalities used in treating bipolar disorder including training in an evidence-based method called Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy (IPSRT) pioneered by Dr. Ellen Frank, Professor of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. It's an impressive approach that has yielded positive results in clinical trials. It has become the gold standard in treating bipolar.
Full Disclosure
In the late 70s, my older sister was diagnosed with “manic depression”, as bipolar was referred to back then. It rocked my family’s world and changed my life forever. It was ongoing crisis and chaos for years as we had no understanding of the illness and why my sister behaved the way she did. Aside from long-term hospitalization, there were very few resources available for the individual. The family was left out of the treatment process, and we were at a loss on how to help her. In the 90s, another sister was diagnosed with “bipolar disorder” (a new term for manic depression) after she suffered a severe and debilitating post-partum depression. I was terrified I was next in line.
I had a client ask me the other day what experience do I have to claim that I “specialize” in treating bipolar. Fair question. I told her I've had many clients over my 20 year career as a therapist who had concurrent disorders, bipolar and addiction, I’m trained in treatment methods as well as personal experience with my siblings. Unfortunately, I couldn’t share one critical piece of my past experience due to stigma and a fear of being judged especially from other healthcare professionals.
When I was approached by Brainz, I had to decide whether to take the safe path I've always walked due to stigma and a fear of discrimination and not talk about it or be transparent and fully disclose a well kept secret. The decision to disclose this secret is made with a great deal of trepidation but it’s the time and place. I too have bipolar disorder.
In 1997, a year after getting clean and sober, I was diagnosed with what I was terrified of having: the same thing that my siblings had, bipolar disorder and what I thought would be a lifetime of disability and hospitalizations.
After almost 30 years, I decided to take the risk and disclose here. Not only do I specialize in treating bipolar disorder but like that commercial I mentioned at the beginning, “I'm also a client”. What I want your readers to know is this realization about having bipolar disorder; I am not my illness. This is a manageable condition that doesn't define me. I am not bipolar; I have bipolar.
The sad thing is it took me almost three decades to share this publicly. Up until now only family and few friends knew that I have bipolar. In 2024, it's a different world than back in the 70s. To your readers, if you are an entrepreneur, a successful business person, healthy and happy like I am today and have bipolar disorder, speak up and say, “I have bipolar too”. If we don’t talk about it, we are doing a disservice to those newly diagnosed in fear of what their future holds. I am a living, breathing, thriving example that you can live a fulfilling life while managing a mental illness. My only regret is that I didn’t disclose this earlier in my career.
What sets your website apart from other resources available online for individuals and families struggling with bipolar disorder and addiction?
I hope bipolar-addiction.com is a website that keeps evolving. I want the website to instill hope that clients can live a happy and productive life and not only accept, but embrace, what bipolar brings to them in empathy and understanding.
Treatment services for individuals and their families are available through the website and includes online video and phone sessions. I also offer in-person appointments in my office in midtown Toronto.
In what ways do you plan to expand and evolve the content and services offered with Bipolar Disorder Therapy in the future?
I designed a product for Focus Mental Wellness, ‘Text Therapy’. It was a great success and it reflected how we prefer to access information and connect with others. I decided to add text therapy to the services offered by Bipolar Disorder Therapy. In the age of smartphones and the fact we spend more time communicating with others on a screen, why not have your therapist in your pocket? I like the potential that technology offers in the evolving way we provide online therapy.
If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why?
If I had a magic wand, I would change how mental health facilities, police services and safety-sensitive industries treat their employees who have depression, bipolar, PTSD or other issues. These employees are more effective, empathetic and will be more productive if you support them and treat them with compassion rather than paint them with a brush of unreliability and impairment. Far too many of these individuals still live and work in a culture of silence, stigma and “suck it up”; when what they need is to be open and share their experience freely without fear of retribution or retaliation by their employer.
Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today.
It sounds dramatic but frankly, the day I put the bottle down on my coffee table and no longer relied on outside things to fix my inside. Another pivotal moment in my life is the day I met my current wife. She instilled hope in me, picked me up when down and is integral in how I live a happy and successful life.
Lastly, I want to share an important lesson I have learned. People need people. We shouldn't live our lives in quiet desperation. If you are struggling, reach out and ask for help from someone in your family or a friend.
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