How Organizations Can Make Tangible Change for Mental Health

What are some initiatives you are doing as a company and leader to fight stigmas — both in your organization and beyond?

Hsu Evans: As an on-demand mental health provider, we aim to remove as many of the barriers to care as possible so that it’s easier for people to take that leap of faith. For example, as a virtual care provider, all of our members can get care at a time and place that is most convenient and accessible to them, right through a smartphone — so those first few steps can be as private and convenient as being at home on the couch.

We also work closely with our clients and partners and enable them with materials that make mental health approachable, all year-round. The communications that we deploy help our clients fight the stigma around mental health, educate people about their options, and inspire everyone to take action.

And, our vision of a world where mental health is never an obstacle isn’t limited to just employees of companies or members of health plans; we believe that everyone should have access to mental health support when they need it. This past year, we released a library of select content from our app to the general public, free of charge.

Benders-Hadi: We offer our employees access to all Doctor On Demand services as a benefit to employees and their families. We believe that everyone has the right to comprehensive physical and mental health services whenever and wherever they need it and our employees are no different. We also actively work with our customers to make sure they have the tools and resources their employees need to be their healthiest selves.

Robertson: At Cerebral, our mission is to increase access to high-quality mental health care, and a core tenet of our model is to enable easy access to industry-leading care at a time, and in a way, that is convenient for our members. Virtual care can be delivered remotely via teleconferencing and telephonic modalities, and members can asynchronously communicate with their care team between visits.

Members are also paired with providers that most appropriately match their symptoms and demographics. For example, if you are a patient of Asian descent that identifies as LGBT, suffers from PTSD, and would prefer female providers, we can use our matching algorithms to offer dedicated providers who specialize in and match those attributes.

Outside of our organization, we are actively engaged in research and thought leadership publications that can help patients overcome the stigma of accessing care. At the end of the day, we want to help as many patients as possible understand that addressing your mental health is just as important as addressing your physical health.