Using technology to support your mental health

Roga is a wearable wellness device to effectively reduce feelings of stress, anxiety and burnout Whether you are a student managing multiple courses at a time or navigating a full-time career, feeling stressed and anxious are common symptoms of being burned out and you are not alone. Waterloo alum and co-founder of Roga , Dr. Alison Smith (PhD '09), was in her first year as a PhD candidate in neuroscience at the University of Waterloo when she contracted a chronic illness called Lyme disease. Smith struggled during her program due to her declining health as the bacterial infection reached her central nervous system. She was subsequently diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. "When I finally got diagnosed with Lyme disease and I was going through treatment, the Lyme symptoms were starting to disappear - I was then left with an anxiety disorder," Smith says. "I was on medication and doing cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), but both of those things come with some issues." Ami Lebendiker, co-founder and CEO of Roga, had been a product manager at Google for 10 years working under intense pressure. After a few years of taking prescribed medication and seeing a therapist to help with his anxiety disorder, Lebendiker was still feeling he was not getting any better and quit his job to start looking for alternative solutions for his anxiety.