Happy new year, everyone!
This year marks the 17th anniversary of our founding. We proudly continue to provide quality products and unique mental health support for our clients. We have witnessed thousands take control of their mental health, and we look forward to helping even more in the years ahead.
How it all got started
The story of Truehope and EMPowerplus began with a father’s desire to save his children. Anthony Stephan’s wife, Debora, had bipolar disorder and took her own life in January of 1994. Debbie’s father had done the same 16 years earlier.
A year later, two of Anthony’s children were diagnosed with Bipolar I, the most severe form of the disorder. Both had been given a variety of heavy psychotropic medications, but became progressively worse. Anthony feared he’d soon lose another loved one to the grip of bipolar affective disorder.
For a year after his wife’s death, Anthony searched medical journals, read books, and poured over everything he could find that might save his children, Autumn and Joe. When a specialist told him to give up and accept his children’s fate — that both would likely be ill, medicated, hospitalized, and possibly die young — Anthony started a new kind of search.
He believed that if there was something that could save his kids, God knew what it was. He prayed ceaselessly, hoping God would hear his cries and have mercy on his broken family.
When he least expected it, his answer came.
Anthony met David L. Hardy who was well educated in biological sciences who had spent 20 years as an animal feed formulator. Hardy said the bipolar behaviour of Anthony’s son, Joseph, sounded to him like a pig with ear-and-tail-biting syndrome. Hardy explained to him some farmers had successfully used a nutritional supplementation program to control the syndrome.
Anthony knew he had his answer.
Using the pig feed supplementation idea, Anthony and David worked with scientists and manufacturers to formulate a human version of the regimen using human-grade supplements. Anthony’s children responded positively to the formula and were able to discontinue their medications.
As they recovered and began to resume healthy lives, word spread through the community. Anthony was happy to share his recipe, and soon hundreds of people were trying this early version of what is now EMPowerplus.
Reports of success continued to pour in and Anthony knew there was more to do to bring this discovery to the world. In 1996, he formed a company to refine and produce the formula, a combination of various micronutrient treatments taken individually.
He sought to bring the results to the attention of scientists, who he hoped would research this unorthodox approach. He realized he had stumbled on a clue that could lead to a new understanding of what causes mental illnesses and how to treat them.
Anthony systematically gathered information and data from new micronutrient treatment users and presented it to Dr. Bryan Kolb, a world-renowned neuropsychologist at the University of Lethbridge in southern Alberta. Intrigued, Dr. Kolb sent Anthony to see Dr. Bonnie Kaplan, a behavioural research scientist at the University of Calgary.
Although initially skeptical, Dr. Kaplan agreed to try the micronutrient treatment in a preliminary trial. In order to facilitate the research, Anthony put all the necessary ingredients into one capsule that could be administered easily. He found a manufacturer who would produce the product to his exact specifications, and he called the product EMPowerplus.
Once the all-in-one micronutrient treatment was available, Kaplan and her colleagues put together preliminary open trials. These studies showed that nutrition held significant promise as a treatment for mental illness, confirming the need for further research and grabbing the attention of researchers and specialists across North America.
Truehope’s focus is to ensure EMPowerplus is available to all who suffer from mental illness. We hope that, as scientists play their part and as governments consider the welfare of all of their citizens, natural therapies like EMPowerplus will be available through standard medical systems.