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.