Eric Kussin is an in-demand public speaker on mental health ranging from media and professional sports teams/league offices to corporations and colleges/universities, including CNBC, On The Money, USATODAY, Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Mets, New York Yankees, NBA, JP Morgan Chase, USC, Michigan, Cornell and more.
Eric started his career in professional sports and never expected to become a mental health expert. He spent 18 years in the industry, including five years with the NBA League Office followed by many years of senior management positions with a number of professional sports teams, including the expansion Chicago Sky, Phoenix Suns and New Jersey Devils. By age 33, Eric was Chief Revenue Officer of the Florida Panthers.
Then, a debilitating mental health crisis stopped Eric’s career and life in its tracks for more than two and a half years. After many failed treatment modalities – including trying over 50 combinations of psychotropic drugs, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) as well as Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT or “Shock Therapy”) – he was lucky enough to learn healing practices that enabled him to dig out of his abyss, and found a higher calling. In 2017, he launched The #SameHere Global Mental Health Movement, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit to normalize society’s perception of mental health and make it part of our everyday conversation.
The #SameHere Movement provides in-person events and long-term group programming for schools, businesses, sports teams and first responders/military to build open and safe environments. Championing the message that mental health lives on a continuum and everyone is impacted at varying levels, The Movement has gathered celebrities, advocates, practitioners and the world’s leading experts in STARR (Stress & Trauma, Active Release & Rewiring) Exercises to empower individuals to share and build their own mental health routines. A directory of Integrative Practitioners from across the globe is also available for anyone in search of total patient care.