Meet Dr. Ragnar
Founder and Psychiatric NP
LiveWell started with a few people who were tired of mental health care feeling stiff, rushed, and weirdly impersonal. Ragnar helped get it off the ground, and our clinical team keeps shaping it as we go.
Why we built it
Our story
LiveWell started with a pretty simple frustration. Too much mental health care feels rushed, generic, and built around the system instead of the person sitting in front of you. Ragnar had worked in that kind of care long enough to know he didn't want to keep doing it that way. The rest of the founding team felt the same. So we built the kind of place we'd actually want to walk into ourselves: smaller, more honest, and easier to trust.
We're still deliberately small. Our clinicians talk to each other. Appointments give you enough time to explain what's actually going on. We don't have corporate owners or a VC board telling us what care should look like. The people doing the work get to shape the work.
Men 15 to 55 are who we're here for. Guys put shit off. They'll wait until things are falling apart, then show up convinced they should've handled it on their own. We know that pattern, and we've built care around it: direct, practical, and willing to talk about what's actually going on.
We've got a real soft spot for people who spend their lives showing up for everyone else: firefighters, police officers, other first responders, and healthcare workers. We're also big on students trying to figure out whatever comes next. That might mean adulting for the first time or trying to adult while also studenting. Ragnar was in school way longer than he wanted to be, and that stretch can get really fucking tough.
Ragnar and LiveWell
From Ragnar
I've got ADHD, and I've dealt with depression too. I'm open about it because I don't think there's anything shameful about talking about this stuff. I know what worked for me, but that doesn't mean it'll work for you. It just means I'm not judging you.
I've sat on your side of this conversation too, and I remember what that's like. We'll figure out what fits you.
From LiveWell
Every clinician here brings their own personality, experience, and way of connecting with people. We don't want providers reading from the same script.
What we share is the philosophy: be honest, stay curious, say what we're seeing, and build care with the person in front of us.
What guides us
Meds aren't automatic here. We're pro meds when they help, and we're just as comfortable supporting someone who doesn't want them.
We'll explain what we think, make a recommendation, and support your decision. We're providers, not parents.
We'll tell you what we're seeing, and we want you to tell us when we've got it wrong. Real support needs both of us to be honest. You might not always like what we say, but that doesn't make it mean. There's a difference between being nice and being kind. We're kind.
It's our shared framework: say what's true, find what's workable, and build from there.
You can't do much with a problem nobody's willing to name. Once we're honest about what's actually happening, we can stop circling it and start doing something useful.
A lot of our patients aren't taking psych meds. That isn't a flex, and it doesn't mean we're anti med. It means we don't get paid extra for convincing anyone to take something. We'll tell you what we think, explain the tradeoffs, and make a recommendation. You decide what happens next.
The field can reach for meds when there isn't enough time to understand the rest of the picture. We built LiveWell so we've got the time to look at the whole thing. When meds make sense, we'll say so. When they don't, we'll say that too.
Meds are one tool. Our job is to help you decide whether they fit your life, your goals, and your risks. We're not here to sell you on what worked for someone else.
The LiveWell clinical team
Where we can help
No big pitch
Tell us what's going on. We'll tell you honestly whether we think we can help.
Let's talk