Dr. Marissa Alert is a licensed clinical psychologist, consultant, speaker, and founder of MDA Wellness, a company dedicated to helping employers prioritize mental health.
Dr. Alert delivers high-energy training, workshops, and keynote presentations that provide employees and leaders with practical and sustainable strategies to manage stress, prevent burnout and improve their mental health.
With over ten years of experience, she is skilled at making meaningful connections with audiences, who love her down-to-earth humor that keeps them laughing while learning.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Dartmouth College and obtained her doctoral degree in clinical health psychology from the University of Miami. Her predoctoral and postdoctoral training occurred at Brown University and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Today, she continues to serve as a consultant for digital health companies and strives to make mental health care more accessible.
For more details, visit their website here.
Here we sit down with Dr. Marissa to learn a bit more about her journey as a licensed clinical psychologist and founder.
Q. Tell us a little more about your journey as an entrepreneur – how did you get started? What inspired you?
Dr. Marissa: For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed helping people get the skills they need to thrive and gain access to mental health care and support. Over the past several years, I’ve had the privilege of being invited to speak at corporations, conferences, panels, and podcasts about mental health and wellness. These experiences were amazing because they allowed me to live in line with my values and purpose. They also showed me that most people aren’t taught the skills they need to cope with stress effectively, remain resilient in the workforce, and thrive personally and professionally.
After I survived an accident where my car flipped over several times, I was reminded of how short life is and felt compelled to spend it making an impact using my training and experiences. One of my longtime goals was to start my own business and it seemed like the right time. I knew I needed to support employees like me who were stressed and burned out. I also knew it was a critical time to step up and use my experience to address gaps in mental health offerings.
I left my job as an Associate Director of Product Development to learn all I could about how to start my own business. I founded MDA Wellness to meet the growing need for resources to address the mental health challenges employees are facing in the workplace. We are dedicated to giving employees practical and sustainable strategies to manage stress and prevent burnout while helping companies improve the culture around mental health to ensure employees are satisfied, engaged, and productive.
Q. What are your long-term goals in business? Paint a vision for the future
Dr. Marissa: When people lack the tools to effectively manage stress and take care of their mental health, they are more likely to burn out, be less engaged at work, less satisfied, and leave their companies. Many employers recognize this and want to address these problems, but aren’t sure how best to do so. My long-term goal is for MDA Wellness to become the go-to company globally for organizations looking to change their culture around mental health and make sure their employees have what they need to cope with life’s challenges and deal with stress. I also want my company to be a model for how to value and support employees.
Q. What motivates you?
Dr. Marissa: I’m really driven by seeing people live a life that’s in line with their values. I enjoy helping people identify and eliminate the barriers holding them back or keeping them stuck. Most of my work focuses on giving people the tools to deal with stress and cope in healthy ways. For me, there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing someone overcome obstacles and come out of a difficult situation more resilient and able to deal with all the challenges life throws at them.
Another thing about me is I’m always excited about helping people achieve a more balanced and fulfilled life. We often get so wrapped up in one thing that we lose sight of other important aspects of our life.
Q. What business-related book has inspired you the most, or, what is your favourite book?
Dr. Marissa: I’m rereading Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, a book that I always go back to every several years especially when I’m on the verge of a major life transition. It’s not necessarily a business book, but the lessons there apply to many situations in life, including work. It reminds me to look at challenges as an opportunity and that I have the ability to control how I respond when things don’t go my way.
The mindset we adopt around challenges makes a huge difference. When I started this business, I knew there would be a lot of hurdles to overcome. Things like business development don’t happen automatically and it’s easy to feel down and overwhelmed when you hear a lot of “Noes.” Reading that book reminds me to pause and ask myself some important questions. How do I continue to push forward when things aren’t working out? How do I make sense of this? How do I deal with rejection without allowing it to crush me? What am I learning from this experience?
Q. What strategies do you use to optimize your performance or mindset?
Dr. Marissa: Developing a self-care routine has been really helpful and allows me to perform better. At the top of my self-care list is getting enough sleep. I’ve always been a night owl and struggled for years with having consistent bedtime and waketime. Experience has shown me that I get way too forgetful and disorganized when I don’t sleep enough. So that is a priority and will definitely continue to be.
Throughout the day, I also carve out time to watch funny videos from friends, send them funny memes, and stay connected with my support network. I make sure there’s one day a week where I rest and don’t do any work or think about work and this restores and refreshes me like nothing else.
I also work out and meditate at least four times a week. It’s way too easy for me to keep my mind running and focus on what’s next. Meditating helps me be more present, in the moment, and attend to one thing at a time.
Q. If you were to write a book about yourself, what would you name it?
Dr. Marissa: Hmmm, it would be, “Let’s Go!” This title captures two things about me, how much I love to travel and how open and ready I am for the next adventure.
Q. What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you’ve ever made?
Dr. Marissa: I would say putting in all those years and time into my education was one of the most worthwhile investments I made. It has given me the knowledge and skills to help others through my MDA Wellness.
Q. Where do you see the future in your niche/industry 3-5 years from now?
Dr. Marissa: I’m pretty optimistic about the future of mental health, especially in the workplace. I believe mental health care will continue to become more personalized and access will increase thanks to technological advancements. More people, regardless of where they are on the mental health spectrum, will be able to connect with the resources they need, when they need it. To be more specific, I think we’ll be able to use technology to help people recognize when they need to get help before things get really bad and maybe even predict when people will need additional support and what that support would look like.
Q. What is your ‘one-sentence’ piece of advice you’d like to give to someone who wants to become an entrepreneur, coach, or business owner?
Dr. Marissa: Find and stay connected to people who are willing and able to support you.
Becoming a business owner can be lonely at times. Having a strong support network of mentors, family, and friends is invaluable. There’s nothing like having people to encourage you, remind you of what’s important and how far you’ve come, and hold you accountable.
To keep up to date with Marissa and her journey, connect with her on LinkedIn, and Instagram.