REAL TALK - with LUKE BOOBBYER

After several years in recruitment and business development, Luke is now focused on his own goal. Energised with passion and purpose, he’s building a mental health platform called Continuum, with a mission to empower therapists and coaches to extend their impact beyond the session. After each session, the practitioner can create and send a plan for the client with the help of AI. This plan is tracked via an app, with direct communication available between client and therapist. Therapists can monitor client progress, track engagement levels, and easily amend or add actionable plans before the next session. Ahead of each session, practitioners also receive a snapshot to make preparation simpler. In short, “it makes it easy to keep clients engaged, accountable, and moving forward.”

Now based in Colombo, Sri Lanka after launching and scaling a luxury mental health retreat, Luke is driven by a desire to make a real impact on people’s lives.

MF: Tell me about your day-to-day at the moment ?

LB: I’ve recently moved into an old colonial townhouse in Colombo, which belongs to a friend and doubles as a B&B. I haven’t fully settled into a routine yet, but try to wake up around 7:00, hit a CrossFit gym for an hour, and then spend the morning on my laptop working until lunch. After a break, I dive back into work in the afternoon. Being outside of the UK has actually made my productivity a lot better and has enabled me to really focus on building something rather than getting distracted with other things. 

I’ve got a good group of friends here, so evenings often involve soaking up the culture, and trying new restaurants—which I love.  When I want a change of pace, I’ll travel down South or over to the East Coast to explore new beaches, and on those mornings, I’ll swap CrossFit for a surf session.

MF: What would you like to do more of?

LB:  I genuinely feel like I’m doing everything I want to be doing right now. I’m fully committed to getting Continuum to market, I’m in therapy myself which helps keep me grounded, and I feel like my priorities are clear.

If there’s one thing I’d like to do more of, it would be travelling—exploring new places and soaking up new experiences. I’ve definitely loved the freedom of being out here in Sri Lanka.

One thing I’d like to worry less about is the financial side. I’m self-funding this venture at the moment, which is naturally a concern—but it’s also a big motivator.

MF: How does movement and exercise help you mentally as well as physically?

LB: Exercise helps me get out of my head and into my body—it calms my thoughts and brings clarity. Movement and fitness also gives me confidence; I feel better, look better, and naturally feel more capable. Back in my early 20s, when I was really struggling with my thoughts, running became my go-to for easing anxiety.

Luke wearing the original "Flyweight tee"

A couple of bad trips after experimenting with psychedelics at 20 left me spiralling. As I sank lower, I was too afraid to talk to anyone about what I was going through. Because I felt I couldn’t open up, I turned to medication and running as coping mechanisms. The runner’s high was very real, and strangely, when I was at my lowest, I became one of the fittest I’d ever been up to that point.

Looking back, I’d always recommend seeking professional help. The thoughts you’re having are probably far more normal than you think, no matter how crazy they may feel. Four years later, I finally reached out to a professional and was diagnosed with OCD. That diagnosis felt like a huge weight off my shoulders, but it’s taken a lot of work to get to where I am now—and that was the first step. During that prolonged period of uncertainty, running and exercise gave me a sense of ease—I’d always finish feeling lighter and more at peace, even if just for a while.

MF: How do you cope with hard things?

LB: I try to face it and sit with the difficult emotions. Therapy helps and I will sometimes air and share issues with my family, friends and girlfriend, which also helps. I’ve then learned to take action to work through it rather than turn the other cheek and avoid it, which is something I perhaps used to do.

MF: Is there something that you couldn't live without?

LB: Human connection. Being abroad and feeling quite far away can be isolating and I do sometimes miss old friends, family and familiarity at times. Having said that, I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a person since being away, but it does make me appreciate how I thrive off the connection with others. With the platform I am building, while AI is at the core, I am using it to enhance the human to human experience of coaching and therapy.

MF: What's your favourite day of year?

LB: It's got to be Christmas. I used to like my birthday when I was younger and spending time with friends but nowadays, having all of the attention on you, while being nice, just isn't as meaningful as it used to be as a kid. Christmas lunch is my favourite meal of the year - and a good roast dinner is something I’m definitely missing out in Sri Lanka. On Christmas day I am usually with family - I love that togetherness, switching off, playing games and spending time with the people that matter to you.

MF: Is there anything you'd like to get off your chest?

LB: Haha, I've exorcised a lot of the personal stuff in therapy, but I think with there being a lot of news and podcasts on how AI will ruin us, war and potential nuclear war etc. While being interesting and to some extent important to follow, it means there is a lot of doom and gloom. While taking an interest in these issues is important, I feel it’s more important to remain positive and keep living your life to the fullest with what we have. And if you can share that positivity and try to make a difference, that’s all the better.

REAL thought: How much better might our mental state be simply by focusing on what is good Vs what is wrong with the world. Imagine how much more generous and trusting we could be of each other if we focused on what we share in common Vs what separates us.