By Brenna Keller
NKyTribune associate editor
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and one local organization is expanding mental health services provided in the region.
OneQuest Health, formerly CHNK Behavioral Health, provides trauma-informed mental health and addiction treatment services to children, adolescents, adults, and families. They are now expanding into wellness services.
OneQuest Wellness will now offer services including individual outpatient therapy and an employee assistance program (EAP). According to OneQuest Wellness, “caring for your mental health shouldn’t feel like damage control.”
The outpatient therapy is described as “individual therapy for adults who are ready to do the work.” Rather than providing crisis care, it is therapy designed to “build lasting resilience.”
The OneQuest EAP will embed wellness into a workplace’s culture by providing custom mental health support to workers. Offerings include flexible program tiers which connect into OneQuest Health’s broader care network of local licensed clinicians.
OneQuest’s EAP will differ from the organization’s other offerings in one key way. Currently, around 90% of clients are on Medicaid. Bringing in corporate clients will create a diversified revenue stream for the organizations. This funding will pay for services that previously required fundraising to support and could provide opportunities for organizational growth.
OneQuest Health will pilot test the new EAP in partnership with SHP Architecture. This venture is a natural partnership as SHP CEO Jeffrey Sackenheim is also the President of OneQuest Health’s Board of Trustees.
SHP Architecture already has some employee mental health services in place, including a corporate call app subscription that is available to employees and their families. That service has been widely used by SHP employees. They also promote a wellness initiative that includes things like financial literacy training, in-office massage therapy, and informal lunchtime conversations about mental health.
To Sackenheim, the benefit of an employee assistance program through OneQuest is the direct one-to-one relationship between each of his employees and a clinician. In a traditional employee assistance program, a worker would not necessarily have control over who they reach out to for mental health services.
During the pilot test period, the company will evaluate if the program is both effective and helpful. Sackenheim hopes that his employees will use the EAP during moments of crisis, but also for preventative care. With an emphasis on prevention, mental health concerns are more likely to be identified and addressed before they escalate into something more serious.
OneQuest hopes to learn about how the employee assistance program can be tailored to organizations of different sizes. SHP Architecture has 110 people, 80 of whom are local. This pilot test will identify what works and what can be adapted for other corporate partners.
Sackenheim announced the pilot program to his employees on Monday. The initial steps of the pilot test will involve focus groups with SHP employees to determine the types of services they would like to receive and to learn more about the company and its employees. The program will officially launch at the end of the summer. During the summer, clinicians at OneQuest will use the background knowledge they gain through the focus groups to tailor the program to the employees’ needs.
Sackenheim hopes that leaders from other companies recognize the value of providing mental health services for their workforce. As he puts it, you go to the doctor when you break your arm. Speaking with a mental health professional should be viewed the same way, as addressing a health problem with a qualified professional.
When it comes to the new EAP through OneQuest Health, Sackenheim’s goal is simple, “I hope people embrace it, and use it, and hopefully it helps.”