TORONTO, Dec. 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This month, Green Shield Canada (GSC) is launching a custom, one-of-a-kind, digital mental health prevention program to every single one of its plan members, for free. Why? Over the past two years, GSC has highlighted the worrisome trend of reliance on anti-depressants as our country’s predominant first-line mental health therapy. While there is strong evidence of the effectiveness of anti-depressant medication for severe depression, GSC drug claims data displays both the widespread practice of over-prescribing them for patients with less severe illnesses, and the subsequent poor adherence to these drug therapies by patients. A study published by the Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience journal concludes that approximately 50% of patients do not adhere to these medications for a variety reasons.
GSC has always believed that there must be better, more evidence-based strategies to help Canadians manage their mental health, and it is introducing one today.
It is safe to say all humans will face challenging periods in the course of their lives. And evidence shows that the practice of mindfulness can provide individuals with tools and techniques to manage those periods better. Equipping people with these skills can ideally prevent the escalation of mental health issues into a medical system that is struggling to cope with the number of patients and in the adoption of best practices in mental health treatment. Enter the GSC Mindfulness Program, built from the ground up over the last year in partnership with Canadian mindfulness experts. Says Peter Gove, GSC’s health innovation leader, “Evidence suggests that rates of self-reported stress and anxiety continue to rise in our population. Mindfulness training has been shown in a number of studies to help people better manage stress, anxiety, as well as chronic pain and depression. Many large corporations are developing sophisticated mindfulness programs and making them available to all staff. We believe that by making a high quality mindfulness training program available to an even wider audience, we can make a significant contribution to both the mental and physical health of Canadians.”
The GSC Mindfulness Training Program will be available to all of its plan members at no cost –– online and on their personal devices. Housed on GSC’s Change4Life® health portal, it is the insurance industry’s first digital, preventative mental health program. And the Change4Life portal is the industry’s first health education portal to offer points and rewards to GSC plan members for ongoing participation. The six-session Mindfulness Training Program is launching with a promise of bonus points to GSC plan members that complete the program. And a grand prize will be awarded early in 2018 to one of the participants.
“Our aim is multifold” says David Willows, GSC’s chief innovation and marketing officer. “We want our plan members to have easy access to information and training that will help them better manage their mental health. And it is our stated mission as a social enterprise to bring forward innovations that will we hope will influence the broader medical system and provide access to better health for all Canadians.”
“There is a practical medical and economic element to this initiative as well”, points out Willows. “The reliance on anti-depressants as a first-line therapy is not serving patients well, and in turn wasting valuable dollars in the system on ineffective treatment. If our health benefits plans are to remain sustainable in a time of rising health care costs, we must all look for the evidence-based, preventative solutions that will make people mentally healthier in the first place. We are pleased GSC can make a contribution to solving some of these challenges.”
For more information:
GSC Media Department
1.800.268.6613 ext. 3409
media@greenshield.ca
About Green Shield Canada
As Canada’s only national not-for-profit health and dental benefits specialist, GSC offers group and individual health and dental benefits programs and administration services. But our reason for being is the enhancement of the common good. We seek out innovative ways to improve access to better health for Canadians. From coast-to-coast, our service delivery includes drug, dental, extended health care, vision, hospital and travel benefits for groups, as well as programs with a focus on individuals. Supported by unique claim management strategies, advanced technology and exceptional customer service, we create customized programs for two million plan participants nation-wide. greenshield.ca