The social fabric for men is unraveling. Their mental and physical health is in jepordy. Read about the unhealthy trends driving this problem and what needs to be done.

Inch by Inch

Sleep is fundamentally important for our mental and general health. It can be both a cause of becoming depressed or a side effect of being depressed. This post summarizes several effective sleep tips that can help lessen depression.

1-on-1 and group peer support are both popular ways to get help with a life challenge. This post discusses the advantages and limitations of each.

Peer support can be a great form of help for students and parents who are dealing with dyslexia.

On March 24, 2021, Vincent Caimano, our Co-founder and CEO, participated in a panel discussion at the 4th Annual SoCalBio Digital Health Conference.

Southern California Biomedical Council (SoCalBio) is a nonprofit, member-supported trade association that serves the biotech, med tech, IVD and digital health communities in the six counties that comprise the Greater Los Angeles region. The Annual SoCalBio Digital Health Conference showcases gadgets and new digital health technologies developed in Southern California that promise to disrupt the $3 trillion US healthcare system. It also is a forum for key providers, payers, entrepreneurs, and investors to share how innovation can improve the delivery of care at lower costs.

In the Telehealth Technology-Enabled Healthcare Services Innovation Panel, Vincent Caimano represented the innovative mobile and online technology making digital peer support more convenient, accessible, personalized, measurable and rewarding. He shared that, “ [Peer Support Solutions] provide consistent, safe and confidential social support that has a measurable impact on outcomes. In a study we did of one of our service offerings, depressed participants reported a 50% reduction in the use of Emergency Rooms and Urgent Care and a 70% reduction in hospital readmissions.”

Now more than ever the expansion of accessible digital peer support is essential as many individuals are experiencing burnout from the pandemic, stress from job insecurity, and diminished opportunity for in-person interactions.

If you have questions about how your organization, nonprofit or EAP could expand your supportive services by providing digital peer support, please connect with Peer Support Solutions here.

This past January, YouTube announced that Dr. Garth Graham, Director of Global Head of Healthcare and Public Health Partnerships, will be leading a team to bring high-quality evidence-based healthcare content YouTube.

Dr. Graham and his team will be working in partnership with American Public Health Association, Cleveland Clinic, The Forum at the Harvard School of Public Health, Mayo Clinic, Osmosis, Psych Hub, and the National Academy of Medicine.

In today’s reality, everyone seeks the internet for health information, whether it is to self-diagnose or to read up on to best ways to naturally building your immune system. Doctors and clinicians cannot avoid that when they meet with a patient, this patient has already searched the internet for health information. YouTube with Dr. Garth Graham’s help, hopes to be a source of education rather than misinformation. The goal of this initiative is to “address the evolving digital health needs of consumers and continue connecting people with credible health information.”

Dr. Garth Graham says, “My team’s mission is to empower people to live their healthiest lives through knowledge, support and inspiration. Most importantly, we want to ensure access to credible, evidence-based information from trusted sources. But with so much information out there, the question becomes: How do you know which information is credible? And how do you find sources that make the complicated medical jargon more accessible and easy-to-understand?”

At Peer Support Solutions, we welcome YouTube’s initiative. We believe the internet is a great source of accessibility, especially when it comes to peer support. Connecting people with lived experiences to support one another should be simple as a quick Google search. We hope further awareness about peer support spreads with YouTube’s new initiative.

To learn more about our online peer support platforms, click here.

To learn more about YouTube and Dr. Garth Graham’s expansion of credible health information, click here.

Last weekend I took a dinghy out of the water that hadn’t been used for about six months. What an amazing number of things had grown and attached themselves to the bottom! There were a few kinds of algae and slimy stuff, barnacles and mussels all over the hull. It took more than an hour to scrub it all off of this small boat. If I had tried to use the boat with all of this marine growth attached it would have gone very slowly indeed.

I realized that when we have experienced a behavioral health issue in our lives all kinds of things attach themselves to us and slow us down. We form relationships that are dysfunctional or codependent and they sap our time and energy. We develop bad lifestyle habits that might include a poor diet, not enough exercise or insufficient sleep and we become stressed or ill. We can also have bad habits of mind “attach” themselves to us and drag down our mood or keep us from getting things done.

What can we do to remove these and other barnacles from our lives? There are at least three steps we must take. First, we need to “pull ourselves out of the water”. We have probably picked up the most issues from wherever we have spent the most time. We need to go someplace else, at least for a while, so we can start to sort things out. Some time at a coffee shop, a library, at the beach or in a park can help break the “psychological set” we develop from too familiar surroundings. Second, we need to look objectively at what has become attached to us. We can often do this better with the help of a trusted friend or peer. Third, we need to remove our dysfunctional and troublesome items. This can be the hardest part of this simple process. Unlike with my dinghy, we may need to attack one item or one area at a time and patiently, slowly repair the part of us that needs to be restored. This is where an ongoing peer support group can be particularly helpful. It’s only when we have worked through our issues, with the encouragement and help from others, that we can enjoy the benefits of having a smoother life that allows us to glide forward.

Many support groups look to teleconferencing or chat solutions to serve as a way to host their online group conversations. But there is a catch.

While a good start, we think that if your group relies on Zoom, Skype, Hangouts or Facebook Groups … you may end up disappointed, spending time on manual administrative tasks, not taking advantage of new purpose-built support platforms, and doing a disservice to your members, employees, and others.

Teleconferencing software certainly allows your participants to participate in support groups via video or phone remotely and they offer standard standard features such as invitations and calendar integrations. But there are many “hidden” frustrations with these solutions that you typically only discover when using their services.

There is no community building with Zoom, Skype, or Hangouts. They are simply technologies and do not help you build a successful support community.

Most teleconferencing solutions require users to download and use their App on their device. This can be confusing and frustrating for many of us, including those that are not as technology savvy.

If your support group is used to sharing documents (meeting guidelines and agenda, industry information, classroom notes, etc) in live support, teleconferencing and FB groups do not give you that capability. Emailing different sets of documents to different facilitators and user groups can be a frustrating exercise.

How do you track participation in your groups with Teleconferencing? Can you get automated reporting? Most likely not.

Can you automatically capture and track group surveys and avoid paper shuffle? (e.g. how did the group work for you, what did you learn, how would you rate the facilitator)

Can you benchmark your facilitators on different types of groups they run and their review performance? Not with teleconferencing solutions.

Can you create waitlists and automated open-seat notifications with teleconferencing? No.

Can you collect donations with teleconferencing? No

Can you provide your members with the ability to track their mental wellness with teleconferencing and allow your organization to understand the impact (de-identified data) peer support is having on your participants? No

Can you provide a direct connection with your brand on your web site to the appropriate teleconferencing numbers inexpensively? No

Can your support members connect with each other for help in-between support groups on your teleconferencing line? No

Facebook Groups have the same drawbacks as teleconferencing solutions, but they scare many of us because of the lack of confidentiality (no anonymity on Facebook), their lack of data sharing controls, and their reliance on sending us advertisements.

Connect us at Peer Support Solutions if you want a complete comparison against popular teleconferencing solutions or Facebook Groups and create a free user account at Hey Peers to start and connect peer conversations.

Cory Stieg@CORYSTIEG

@WR36 | Twenty20

An estimated 46.6 million U.S. adults struggle with mental illnesses, such as anxiety disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

But you don’t have to be clinically diagnosed with a mental illness to experience the symptoms and effects of stress and anxiety, especially in the workplace. For millennials, specifically, research suggests that money and work are the biggest factors contributing to their stress.

Now, a recent survey from Mind Share Partners, a nonprofit that works with companies to improve mental health resources, examines the effects that mental health issues can have on employees.

For the survey, 1,500 people ages 16 and older who are employed at a company with at least 11 employees answered questions online about their mental health.

The survey questions included how often they experience mental health symptoms (for example, “sweating, rapid heartbeat, trembling, upset stomach, dizziness, or fainting”), how it impacts their work and whether they felt like they have adequate mental health support and resources in their workplace.

According to the findings, which are published in Harvard Business Review, 60% of people have experienced symptoms of mental health issues in the past year.

Further, half of millennial (defined in this survey as 23-38 years old) and 75% of Gen-Zer (18-22 years old) respondents have left a job, both voluntarily and involuntarily, partially due to mental health reasons. (To put that in perspective, only 20% of the total survey respondents reported doing the same.) For baby boomers (55-73 years old), the number was the lowest, with less than 10% leaving a job for mental health-related reasons.

Here’s why you should do a 30-day ‘digital declutter’

Broadly speaking, younger generations seem to have more awareness about mental health than their older counterparts, Kelly Greenwood, CEO and founder of Mind Share Partners tells CNBC Make It. “Mental health is something they’re used to talking about freely,” she says. “All the sudden they get into the workplace and they’re not supposed to talk about it.”

Millennials were three times more likely to experience symptoms of anxiety than baby boomers, and Gen-Zers were four times more likely. Not surprisingly, millennials in the survey were also 63% more likely to know how to seek “company support,” such as counseling or mental health training, than baby boomers.

This disparity is likely due to the “societal culture change,” Greenwood says, and the fact that millennials and Gen-Zers tend to be more in tune with their mental health than baby boomers.

Beyond age, demographic factors like race affected the survey results. For example, black and Latinx respondents were 50% more likely to voluntarily leave a job, and had higher rates of mental health symptoms than Caucasian people.

“Underrepresented groups come across additional challenges in workplace by virtue of race or ethnicity,” Greenwood says. “That certainly creates additional challenges on top of what it looks like to be in the majority in a company.”

The type of industry where people worked also played a role: 55% of those who worked in tech said they had voluntarily left a job because of their mental health struggles. However, tech workers were also more likely to be open about talking about mental health with their colleagues.

Across the board, mental health has an effect on people’s performance at work. In this survey, 61% said that their mental health impacts their productivity, and 37% said their workplace environment contributed to their feelings.

Greenwood says that, at the bare minimum, employers need to provide solid mental health benefits that employees feel comfortable using. Starting mental health employee resource groups can also help create a forum for like-minded people to identify each other in the workplace, she adds.

Managers and employees can also be trained to have difficult conversations and identify some general signs and symptoms of mental health issues, Greenwood adds. Talking openly about resources, such as therapy, also goes a long way, she says.

Correction: This story has been revised with Mind Share Partners correcting the study to reflect that millennials and Gen-Zers left jobs voluntarily and involuntarily.

The headline of a review of recently published research said it all, “Online Suicide Intervention Works, but Most Patients Don’t Want It.” It was a review of a study of an automated, web-based program for people who were experiencing suicidal ideation – a potential precursor to suicide. In this study while the use of a web-based program was better than no treatment, 78% of the participants receiving treatment, discontinued use before the end of the study, and about 8% attempted suicide.

This wrong-headed study is like so many others. The researchers attempted to help people who are experiencing very difficult life challenges, without human intervention. There are probably hundreds of apps and many more under development that are trying to do the same thing. When there is no human component, treatments become more available, scalable and very cheap. The rationale for doing so is that this is a way to help many more individuals utilizing a more attractive business model.

The obvious problem with this fully automated approach is that it lacks the human touch. When we are struggling with one or more difficulties in our lives, we are usually not well served by a machine no matter how clever or cute. No one would ever say about a human-less service, “Thank you for being here with me in a crisis! I'm now going to be OK.” Or “You are more valuable and helpful in my life than I can express.” These are anonymous post meeting comments from individuals who have met via video with a Certified Peer Specialist – a person with similar experience who has been trained to help others.

Using peer coaches or “expert patients” as they are called in Europe, is an effective and relatively inexpensive way to provide help to others. In studies of peer support, we see some really great recipient outcomes, not the least of which are large (~70%) reductions in hospital readmissions.

The really great news about peer support is that it can be leveraged and it’s reach expanded by gathering individuals into video groups of eight to 12. In these groups, the role of the peer specialist shifts to helping the participants to help each other and backfilling the conversation as needed. These meetings also include science-based self-help information. As it turns out, the results are very strong. In our study of 142 participants in this type of video group, hospital readmissions were down 69% and use of urgent care and emergency rooms were cut in half. Participants love this way to get help. They have said, "This experience was a blessing. I came away from the meeting feeling better" or “My very first meeting and I felt safe in the room. Safe enough to talk about my issues. It made me feel better. I'm not alone.”

When we create services to try to help the growing number of people who are troubled because of behavioral health, chronic illnesses or rare diseases, we need to put their humanness first. Technology can help us to more efficiently connect individuals. Peers can help provide the social support so essential to well-being.

Many of the participants in Peer Support Solutions meetings report intense feelings of isolation and loneliness, a common sign of depression. After a few sessions, many report lessening of this debilitating aspect of this problem. One of the things commonly talked about in support group meetings, is the increasing number of individuals who are suffering with depression.

In fact, recent research indicates that the rate at which depression strikes is on the rise. Today about 6 to 7% of the U.S. adult population suffers from depression at any one point in time. This rate is ten times more than it was in 1960.

Another interesting trend is that people are first experiencing depression at a younger average age. In 1960 the average age of a first episode was 29.5 years. Today, it is 14.5 years.

Current estimates are that one out of five people will have at least one major depressive episode in their lives. The World Health Organization projects that by 2020, depression will globally be the 2nd biggest healthcare problem (after heart disease) based on its economic and social impact.

Depression has become one of the costliest worker healthcare problems. It accounts for five times more absences than non-depression related problems. In fact, a new term has been coined to describe the impact of depression on productivity: “presenteeism”. Presenteeism refers to employees who are “on” the job in body, but not spirit. These employees contribute 2.3 days less effort per month than those who are not depressed.

Research shows that peer support for depression can reduce symptoms and use of medical services. Our platform allows individuals to easily access the understanding and care of a peer support group to help them move forward and regain their energy.

A lot of exciting updates and features are being created in HeyPeers, and we encourage you to join our new product feature chatroom on HeyPeers. There you will receive real-time updates to new user features implemented on HeyPeers.

Here are a few of the features we shared in the chatroom:

Expanded Emoji Options: Newly expanded emoji options are now available for users engaging in HeyPeers Chatrooms on their desktop computers. Just click the "smiley face" on the left side of the chatbox to select the emoji to express what you are feeling during your chats. (See 1. in the image below)

Emoji Reactions: Users can use an emoji reaction to respond to fellow peers' chats. Click on the "smiley face" located on the right of their chatbox. (See 2. in the image below)

Upload Image Option: Users are now able to upload images and gifs into chats. Click on the paper clip to upload the image you want to share in your chat feed. (See 3. in the image below)

Give Kudos: Users are able to "give kudos" to fellow peers within HeyPeers Chatrooms on their desktop computers. To do so click on a peer's avatar and select which "kudos" you would like to offer! (See 4. in the image below)

Peer Support Solutions would like to welcome the Washington State Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Council to the HeyPeers community of organizations.

The TBI Support Groups are predicated on the concept that a person-centered approach can empower and enrich an individual’s life following a Traumatic Brain Injury.

The emphasis of DSHS TBI Funded Support groups is to aid in developing long-term knowledge and generic problem-solving skills to help attendees overcome obstacles that may interfere with a fulfilling life.

While these online support groups may provide a therapeutic effect, they do not provide therapy and instead focus on delivering organized bodies of knowledge and resources for the betterment of attendees.

Click the button below to find out more about Washington State Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Council and the support groups they offer on HeyPeers.

Quartet Health

May 18

By Ingrid Kessler, Quartet Chief People Strategy Officer and Louie Martinez, Quartet Associate People Operations Director

Imagine for a moment that you are a manager under the best of circumstances — you manage a high performing team in a mission-driven business that is thriving. Goals are always met, praise for your team’s work is abundant, and your team seems engaged and happy based on the smiles and high-fives all around you each day. Now take the same high performing team and add a less ideal set of circumstances — an economic downturn, unprecedented personal demands, and tremendous uncertainty. To add even more complexity, you are now managing this team remotely. In the best of times, it is important for managers to look for signs of burnout in their team — fatigue, irritability, illness, and more. In harder times, it is critical.

What is burnout?

Burnout often occurs when an individual’s desire to succeed overrides their personal well-being. Work and life become imbalanced and in many cases, personal sacrifices from health to relationships are made. High performing team members often put the weight of the team, the company, and even your success as a manager on their own shoulders. In some situations, this comes from immense external pressure from a board, company leadership team, manager or peers. In other situations, high performing team members put this pressure on themselves. It is harder to recognize pressure building from within a strong employee, especially when there is a large disconnect with a company that promotes and truly values wellness and work-life balance.

Pressure can come from a company’s culture, from a manager, or from within

From a company’s culture

High performing team members want to please everyone, and shudder at the idea of saying no, asking for an extension, or seeming unable to handle anything and everything asked of them at all times. When this pressure comes from the company, it is your role as a manager to serve as a shield. Practice saying no on behalf of your team. If you can’t say no, advocate for realistic deadlines, help the team make trade-offs and re-prioritize work to accommodate new requests. Burnout undermines engagement. In times of external pressure on your team, be a sounding board for support, share the burden, and model balanced behavior. Even if you are operating within a broader company culture that puts work first at all costs, you can create a microculture on your own team that empowers people to put their health and wellness first, provides a safe place to make mistakes, and maintains a realistic view of workloads. By recognizing the impact each individual makes instead of rewarding heroics at all costs, you can protect your team and allow them to thrive.

From a manager

In a balanced environment, where vacation is encouraged, parenthood and relationships outside of work are celebrated, sick days are unlimited, and mental health is prioritized, burnout still occurs. In these cases, you may inadvertently be creating unnecessary pressure as a manager despite the company not requiring it, or your employees may be putting extraordinary demands on themselves. If you send emails at all hours, reward team members working through illness, ask your team to turnaround work between 5 pm and 9 am, or expect perfection at all times, you may be contributing to an environment that causes burnout. Be mindful of your own tendencies and go out of your way to ask your team for feedback or to flag for you when you are requiring more from them than they can manage.

From within

Internal pressure that employees place on themselves can be hard to identify early, and requires regular 1:1 check-ins to look for warning signs. Internal pressure often comes from an innate sense of responsibility, drive and determination. Success can provide momentum and encourage more effort for more success. Pressure can also come from a fear of failure or a constant striving for perfection. While it is hard to ask high performing employees to do less, take a break, or pull back, it is important to do so to protect them from burnout and care for their health and wellness. Without burnout, high performing employees can innovate, grow and contribute meaningfully for years to come. Employees who recognize your ability to protect them from burnout are likely to feel grateful and loyal to you as a manager.

Additional considerations exist with distributed teams

When employees are in a different physical location from their manager, they may feel compelled to work harder to prove they are productive. In some cases, remote employees are made to feel they must be even more productive when working from home in order to continue this privilege. In other cases, remote employees put this pressure on themselves to make up for the lack of face-time and transparency that comes from sitting next to colleagues (especially those new to being remote).

Circumstances surrounding COVID-19 increased the likelihood of burnout on your team

Employees are currently unable to take restful vacations on distant beaches or visit family and friends who bring them respite and joy. Even though employees would benefit from taking a break and staying local, they are hesitant to take any time off at all when so many jobs are on the line and unemployment is so high. Employees who are self-isolating alone and working from their homes lack boundaries that normally exist between work and personal time because every activity is now occurring at the same kitchen table. Further still, employees who are feeling anxious, are throwing themselves into work at all hours of the day as a distraction from the events going on in the world around them.

Recognizing burnout

In this time of remote work and distributed teams, warning signs of burnout may be less obvious. Individual check-ins are one way to get a better understanding of how people are doing when you can’t see them.

Before an employee reaches the point of burnout, look for these warning signs:

Never saying no to a new task or assignment

Sending emails or text messages at all hours

Personal life absent or put on hold

Sleeplessness

Stops exercising

Unclear how to prioritize; easily overwhelmed

Unable to move forward, feeling stuck or experiencing writer’s block

Unable to navigate past complexity

As an employee experiences more pervasive or severe burnout, more signs appear:

Lack of flexibility

Low tolerance for ambiguity

Comments regarding being burnt out made in passing, or said with sarcasm (these “jokes” should be taken seriously)

Irritability, frustration, snapping, or being short with colleagues

Personal hygiene neglected

Sudden or drastic drop in performance; decreased productivity or quality of work

Sick days on Mondays or getting sick more frequently than usual

Seeming disengaged

Responding to burnout

The best response you can have when your team is burnt out is to encourage time off. Encouraging employees to take time off, and drawing attention to the benefit of time away, can raise awareness and provide the permission your employees are waiting for. Taking time off is necessary, even if that means staying home and catching up on hobbies. Talking about it openly in meetings, or modeling the behavior yourself by taking time away, also reduced stigma.

Sometimes people can’t predict when they will need to use mental health days. Allow people to take time off for mental health the same as you would for physical health. If someone came down with a stomach flu or migraine midday, you may tell them to take the afternoon off. If someone reaches a point of true burnout and cannot be productive for the rest of the day, they may need that same consideration.

Other ways to help employees who are burning out include helping your team prioritize what’s important and say no or “not now” to tasks that can wait and to help your team protect their private time and maintain balance. Proactively tell employees when a project can wait until Monday or that you don’t expect an email response until the next workday if you happen to think of and send a question after work hours.

If you believe an employee is in need of additional support, beyond what you feel you can provide, remind them of mental health resources provided by your company. Resources through a company typically ensure complete anonymity and privacy but people still worry about using them. Show your support and reassure them that resources are provided to be used.

Caring for yourself

In addition to caring for your team, you need to also care for yourself. Take the learnings from here to look inward as well. Being a manager during this time is no easy feat. Managers should be mindful of the early signs of burnout for themselves and make sure they take the time they need to decompress. If you don’t recharge, you are likely to become depleted with nothing left to give to your team. Protecting yourself helps you protect your team and your company.

May 20, 2020