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Aaron Harvey Launches Made Academy, a Workplace Mental Health Training Program

In 2009, Ready Set Rocket co-founder Aaron Harvey created Made of Millions, a nonprofit online resource dedicated to helping educate those in need of reliable, unbiased information about mental health. Harvey’s latest endeavor, Made Academy, offers video training on mental health topics to help make American workplaces more informed and capable of creating safe spaces for their employees. 

Verizon Media, Made Academy’s inaugural partner, had its 10,000+ employees watch Made Academy’s 57-minute introductory video this fall. “The mental health effects of Covid-19 are just as important as the physical ones,” said Guru Gowrappan, Verizon Media CEO.

Harvey sees this kind of corporate education as a way to raise much-needed awareness about mental health. After launching the Made of Millions site, Harvey developed a workplace manual, “Beautiful Brains,” to provide advice for companies so they can best support their employees’ mental health — now available for download on the Made Academy site. In 2019, his “Dear Manager” campaign was featured in AdAge, Adweek, and Bloomberg Businessweek and drove thousands of downloads of the “Beautiful Brains” guide.

Harvey lives openly with a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder often called “pure O,” which he manages with a combination of medication, therapy, meditation, and surfing. But for years, Harvey struggled with unwanted, recurring thoughts about violence. It wasn’t until he searched the web for “violent thoughts” that he learned he was experiencing symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. 

“People are suffering in silence. If the workplace can be the vehicle to educate them, then I’ve got a captive audience, pre-crisis.” — Aaron Harvey, Co-Founder, Ready Set Rocket

MadeAcademy is coming to workplaces January 2021.