TELUS Health launches Total Mental Health with unlimited access to counselling for organizations across Canada

TORONTO, May 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, TELUS Health announced the launch of Total Mental Health - an innovative solution that provides employees with access to a team of care professionals who curate personal care journeys with unlimited mental health counselling, therapist-led iCBT programs, digital tools, assessments, and ongoing tracking and feedback. Accessible by employees through their company's health benefits, Total Mental Health leverages TELUS Health's world-leading technology to offer a one-stop app for mental health support through Canada's largest and most diverse network of counsellors.

"Mental health challenges in the workplace have reached crisis levels for companies across Canada. In fact, recent research shows four in five managers across Canada are supporting at least one employee with a mental health issue," said Neil King, Managing Director, Employer Solutions, TELUS Health. "Total Mental Health was designed to address the current crisis and reduce common barriers so employees can more easily access high-quality, personalized mental health care, whenever and wherever they need it - and be supported every step of the way."

Total Mental Health provides:

• Immediate support so employees are free to connect with TELUS Health mental health professionals 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year if they are experiencing a mental health concern.
• Unlimited counselling that is delivered as often as needed and however an employee chooses whether that's in person, via telephone/audio or through video or online chat.
• Personalized care journeys developed in partnership with care navigators who understand the full spectrum of benefits available to ensure every employee has a care plan that's unique to them and easily adaptable if their needs change.
• Easy-to-use digital tools allow employees to practice and learn on their own or between sessions, track their mental health progress and receive regular feedback from their care team.
• Flexibility for payment. Total Mental Health may be covered completely by an employer or extend an organization's EAP plan by allowing continuation of counselling with the same counsellor to be billable to a qualifying benefits plan.
  

"As a clinician who has spent many years working with people experiencing mental health challenges, I can say with certainty that there is a significant benefit to services like this within the workplace," said Dr. Matthew Chow, Chief Mental Health Officer, TELUS Health. "Unlimited access to personalized support at any time in many different ways is the innovative approach we need to help employees who are struggling and feeling like their mental health is vulnerable."

This launch further supports TELUS Health's mission of becoming the most trusted wellbeing company in the world and its impactful moves to introduce novel industry-leading solutions that meet users where they prefer, whether that's virtually or in person, with the goal of enabling connection between physical, mental and financial wellbeing.

The most recent TELUS Health Mental Health Index revealed that many employees are still not getting the support they need. Thirty-three per cent of workers reported having a high mental health risk and an additional forty-four per cent noted a moderate mental health risk. The Index also found that eight per cent of workers in Canada consider their mental health to be in crisis and two in five workers reported having experienced a traumatic event that has had a lasting negative impact on their mental health.

"Innovative solutions are needed to address our growing mental health crisis, and employers
have an opportunity to create a stronger, healthier workforce which in turn will improve total wellbeing across the country," added Chow.

Total Mental Health also includes remarkable features of wellbeing that help employees navigate personal or work-related issues from financial counselling, legal support and nutrition to child and elder care solutions. Total Mental Health supports each employee in a unique way that improves their mental health and overall wellbeing needs. To learn more about how TELUS Health Total Mental Health can support your staff, and for a demo, please visit: telushealth.com/totalmentalhealth.

About TELUS Health

TELUS Health is a global health care leader serving people in more than 160 countries delivering both digital innovation and clinical services to improve total physical, mental and financial health and wellbeing across the full spectrum of primary and preventive care. By leveraging the power of technology to deliver connected solutions and services both in-person and virtually, TELUS Health is improving access to care and revolutionizing the flow of information while facilitating collaboration, efficiency, and productivity for physicians, pharmacists, health authorities, allied health professionals, insurers, employers and people globally, progressing its vision of transforming health care and empowering people to live healthier lives.

Our clinical team is composed of renowned and passionate health professionals around the world delivering best-in-class people-centric care to hundreds of thousands of employers, professionals and their families.

For more information please visit: www.telushealth.com.

For more information or to set up an interview, please contact:

Jill Yetman
TELUS Health
[email protected]

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6d1025ce-4e7c-4383-8e6d-1e5159503ddc