By Jim Kinville
It’s long been recognized that the health and productivity of employees are critical to the success of an organization and intrinsically linked to productivity and the bottom line. For over 40 years, LifeSolutions®, Workpartners’® employee assistance program (EAP), has provided a comprehensive approach to UPMC employee mental well-being and work-life balance. Meeting workforce needs for counseling and supportive services are the backbone of our programming. However, with the renewed national focus on mental health and whole person care over the last decade, we have adapted our offerings to meet today’s employee where they are so that they can bring their best self to work. We have also adapted and expanded our programming to address situations in the environment around the individual employee that can impact their mental well-being by extending services to their household and offering workplace services that address challenges unique to our times, such as disruptive events and violence. LifeSolutions delivers the same caliber of high-quality, holistic solutions it has since the beginning, while evolving to keep pace with new technologies and the changing needs of the 21st century employee and workplace.
LifeSolutions: Solutions for Life’s Events
LifeSolutions offers a suite of comprehensive support services that emphasize resilience and emotional health and are designed to holistically cater to employee well-being. All services are provided at no cost, and conversations are kept strictly confidential. Acknowledging that life’s challenges don’t adhere to a 9-to-5 schedule, LifeSolutions ensures that phone lines are staffed 24/7 by experienced clinicians who take a consultative approach to every call. However, counseling services are not limited to telephonic sessions – LifeSolutions offers in-person meetings, virtual sessions, and even texting or chat options. LifeSolutions is available to not only UPMC employees, but those in their household, including dependents under the age of 26 who may be living away from home.
LifeSolutions utilizes a Mental Well-Being Ecosystem model that considers the whole person in its approach to promoting mental health and addressing daily life challenges. For example, in addition to offering traditional counseling, we
offer substance abuse referrals and follow-up and assistance in finding support groups. LifeSolutions can also connect employees and members of their household with resources for legal matters, financial concerns, home repairs, and elder, child, and pet care.
Therapist-Matching Service/ Personalized Care
Mental health and well-being are at the heart of LifeSolutions programming, and we understand that the effectiveness of therapy often hinges on the relationship between client and therapist. To that end, we offer a personalized therapist-matching service that considers a range of individual demographic factors, including gender, age, BIPOC representation, and faith background. We also recognize that mental health care is not one-size-fits-all and that individuals may need specialized support such as couples therapy, teen counseling, or addiction recovery. A tailored matching process ensures that individuals using LifeSolutions services have access to mental health care that is culturally sensitive and aligned with their unique needs.
Expanded Access to Mental Health Services
We also understand that not everyone seeking mental health support wants or needs a therapist. For those for whom a more independent and self-guided approach to improving mental health is appropriate, we offer the interactive website LifeSolutions for You, the RxWell® app, and a variety of educational and skill-building opportunities.
LifeSolutions for You is an interactive website and digital hub for resources pertaining to personal growth and mental well-being education. Each month, the platform showcases new and featured topics through webinars led by industry experts and supplementary resources. The website’s Learning Centers also offer visitors curated on-demand content, on subjects ranging from stress management to financial wellness, sleep improvement, and mindfulness practices. Recognizing diverse learning preferences, LifeSolutions for You provides a variety of educational formats, including short courses, webinars, and micro-learning videos. To support ongoing learning, the platform also recommends apps, podcasts, books, and other external resources and features a user-friendly searchable library. This tool not only helps individuals quickly find the content they need, but also provides valuable context for each resource, displaying content ratings, estimated read times, and publication or update dates.
The mobile application RxWell offers individuals customized care and the opportunity to work with a dedicated health coach who can help them reach their goals, personalize action plans, and get answers to questions. RxWell’s mental well-being programming addresses common needs that can be addressed outside of traditional therapy such as stress, anxiety, depression, weight management, nutrition, physical activity, and tobacco cessation.
LifeSolutions also offers an array of opportunities designed to foster both professional and personal growth. Whether looking to advance one’s career, improve personal relationships, or simply become a more well-rounded individual, these educational opportunities offer individuals valuable insights and practical strategies for success. Monthly webinars cover a range of topics such as workplace diversity, raising resilient children, coping with grief and loss, adapting to change, managing caregiver stress, and mastering basic budgeting skills. Complementary to these webinars are the Skill Builder Courses, a series of self-paced learning modules lasting 45 to 60 minutes each. These courses delve into essential life skills and professional development areas, including work-life balance, childcare provider selection, personal financial planning, stress management, diversity appreciation, emotional intelligence, adapting to personal differences, change management, and time management.
By providing these resources, LifeSolutions empowers individuals to continually expand their knowledge, enhance their skills, and navigate life’s challenges with greater confidence and competence. Furthermore, this self-guided access to resources can sometimes serve as a bridge for individuals encountering mental health professional waitlists.
Workplace Trauma Support and Disruptive Event Management (DEM)
We recognize that employees are impacted by their environments and that workplaces can sometimes face unexpected and traumatic events. Through our Workplace Trauma Support and Disruptive Event Management (DEM) service, we deploy a team of professionals trained in crisis response, ready to provide crucial consultation and support for a wide range of distressing scenarios including employee deaths, patient/client/student fatalities, incidents of workplace violence, workforce reductions, terrorist attacks, mass shootings, and natural disasters. The crisis response team offers support that includes both group and individual interventions, connecting affected individuals with necessary resources, and providing follow-up care. These services are coordinated through the workplace’s organizational leadership to ensure an effective response. Services provided center around the importance of maintaining composure during these turbulent times, much like weathering a storm. The DEM team can coach leaders on projecting a calm and diplomatic demeanor and facilitating transparent communication.
Employers cannot always predict or mitigate factors affecting the health and productivity of their employees, but they can have support and resources in place to help employees manage their mental well-being. An individual’s mental well-being facilitates their ability to bring their best self to work, which ultimately impacts the workplace and productivity. LifeSolutions is a partner in care that stands beside employers and offers comprehensive, wrap-around services that promote employee and workforce mental well-being.
Jim Kinville is senior director of LifeSolutions at UPMC Health Plan.