Trent University says it's 'a great resource to bridge some of the gaps that we typically see'
Employees everywhere are suffering from mental health challenges in the post-pandemic reality, but accessing benefits is sometimes difficult to manage.
For workers at Trent University, a helpful solution was recently offered to employees in the form of a mental health coach.
“When people are struggling, it can be hard to navigate the resources that are available to them and the mental health coach offers our employees, as well as their dependants, a personalized one-on-one service where they can identify risk factors and be connected with relevant support and services specific to their individual situation,” says Carley Brook, pension and benefits advisor at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont.
Trent began offering the mental health coach to its employees last year, and the reception has been great, says Brook.
“The reactions have been overwhelmingly positive and those who have accessed the program have expressed gratitude that it was available to them, so it was a welcome enhancement to our benefit package.”
The mental health coach is provided by CloudMD and offered by Sun Life, as a “personalized and proactive approach to mental health,” says Michael Bradie, vice-president, market development, group benefits, at Sun Life in Toronto.
How to access mental health professionals
Its key feature is around helping employees find the right type of help, says Bradie.
“We know that the system is obviously very complex and so the coach works to help navigate a member to the most relevant services that are available to them, whether they’re part of the benefits plan or outside of the benefits plan.”
Getting started is relatively simple, he says.
“They would log in, create a profile and the first step is really filling out a short mental health assessment. This assessment provides a baseline in terms of where they’re at on their own mental health journey. Once that assessment is done, they book an appointment with a coach — they’re given a few time slots, and they can pick a time that works for them.”
Once registered, coach and employee have a 60-minute conversation.
“In that first meeting with the coach, it’s really an opportunity for the coach and the member to get to know each other a bit and build a specific action-based plan off of those results coming from the mental health assessment. So there might be a couple of key areas that member would like to work on, let’s say sleep and general anxiety. The coach is going to help put together a bit of an action plan, and let the member know about the relevant resources that would be available to them.”
For Trent, this service provides a valuable resource for suffering workers, says Brook.
“I think it’s important to have open lines of communication and eliminate stigmas around mental health and go beyond your basic extended health care options and aim to eliminate barriers to care. The mental health coach is a great resource to bridge some of the gaps that we typically see.”
When coming up with the new offering — which went live on Feb. 1 after a pilot program of about 18 months — Sun Life saw sobering numbers when looking at internal claims numbers.
“When we looked at our data in 2022, 40% of all LTD claims were due to mental health disorders and if you look a bit deeper into that number at folks who are under the age of 44, that number rises to 50%. So 50% of all LTD claims are relating to mental health so clearly we know about the societal need,” says Bradie.
Young employees are at a mental health “breaking point,” according to a workplace expert.
Benefits of mental health coaches
After reviewing data from the pilot, it showed positive outcomes, he says.
“The group that used a mental health coach versus our control group had a 13% higher usage in psychology benefits and for those that did indeed use the psychology benefit, for 44% of those folks, it was their first time ever using the benefit and oftentimes, this is an awareness issue.”
“For those members in our pilot that met with a coach, [there were] 50% fewer claims in transitioning from short-term disability to long-term disability, which we know is so important, not only to employers but to the members themselves. And for those that were on short-term disability, the duration of that disability was about five-and-a-half weeks shorter for all mental health diagnoses where the number was engaged with the coach,” he says.
Health-related absence and presenteeism rose in 2022, found a survey.
Besides these hopeful figures, offering this type of insurance benefits both employee and employers, says Brook.
“Enhancing mental health offering to employees benefits the employee themselves but also leads to a more positive productive workplace. It’s a great service, and it’s a great enhancement to benefit packages, if you’re able to add it.”
