Mental health days, reduced work hours, and improved counseling benefits have helped employers create better workplaces. To create and sustain mentally healthy workplaces, organizations need to take an empathetic stance on stress management. Having worked in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for over a decade, Paula Wilbourne was invested in making empathetic, science-based interventions as accessible as possible. She recognized opportunities in digital health technology to enhance access and quality of mental health care for employees.

With a singular vision to achieve this goal, Wilbourne as co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, created Sibly, a digital coaching solution that helps people improve their mood, reduce anxiety, and engage with resources that meet their needs.
The easy-to-use solution is available 24/7/365 and puts skilled coaches at members’ fingertips with a less than two-minute response time. Members can speak to coaches as often as they like without an appointment. Sibly coaches help employees take immediate action on their health and guide them to employer-sponsored benefits tailored to their concerns.

An Easy-to-Use Solution for Better Mental Health

While studying the market, Wilbourne noticed some gaps in the numerous digital solutions designed for employee mental health. These standalone digital tools are popular for their availability and ease of access but lack a crucial element, human contact. This affects engagement, putting the burden of finding the true value of the digital-only tool on the user. Most employees quickly abandon these tools.

Even worse, many of these solutions are not based in science, rendering them ineffective. Organizations have to do a great deal of research to ensure they are spending their funds wisely. Employers must then educate themselves on the efficacy of these solutions while juggling the complexities of the healthcare market. “It is a lot to ask an employee to find an effective wellness solution, especially if they are already distressed,” says Wilbourne.

Sibly removes barriers by connecting people with trained human coaches who specialize in health behavior change and stress management. The platform’s 24/7 availability, unlimited best-in-class coaching, benefit navigation, and actionable data insights set it apart from competitors.

A No-Nonsense Solution that Works

Based on both the scientific literature and Sibly’s own outcome data, the Sibly team harnesses the power of empathy to reduce distress and motivate employees to take action on their health. Coaches work with members to understand their challenges, situations, and employer benefits to personalize care. Sibly can attribute their consistent 60 percent benefit referral success rate to the nuanced, customized care. Sibly’s special combination of empathy, science-backed tools, and 24/7 availability powers successful outcomes. Sibly helps members tackle a wide range of mental health concerns, physical health conditions, and general life challenges. It can even connect employees to their employer-sponsored benefits like legal or financial assistance.

An employee gets the best possible help while employers’ benefits plans are being utilized. A health platform dealing with thousands of people and their personal information, Sibly adheres to all HIPAA guidelines and allows members to use a pseudonym to protect their identity. Members are assured knowing that all of their information is kept confidential

Creating Successes in Every Instance

One of Sibly’s earliest customers, struggling with a complicated benefits ecosystem, was interested in making a substantial investment in mental health. Sibly looked at the metrics that mattered most to the employer, worked with them to address presenteeism and absenteeism, and created a system to stablish a well-validated measure of mental and physical health. Sibly analyzed distress and mental well-being and found many employees experiencing significant distress. These members received coaching through Sibly’s platform and saw an 80 percent reduction in severe distress. Mental health improvement was measurable in improved productivity at work. Employees were less fatigued, more motivated, and more effective, and employers saw a 14 percent reduction in medical claims.

Sibly’s best-in-class coaches are selected for their empathy, coachability, intelligence, and professionalism. They hold either a bachelor’s or master’s degree and complete Sibly’s Health Coaching Program, an American Psychological Association-certified training program. The six-week training program teaches cognitive behavioral tools, motivational interviewing, mindfulness, and crisis triage. Sibly ensures high-quality coaching with its robust ongoing quality assurance program that includes reviewing coaching conversations and using analytics to track progress.

Moving Forward with a Vision for Better Health

In 2023, employers must understand that employee mental health is more than just nice to have. Sibly can help promote happiness, health, and productivity amongst employees who are truly present at work. It excels at creating positive outcomes, including high ROI for employers, while enabling better utilization of benefits investments.

Sibly optimizes the implementation process for organizations with a personal touch. The system is designed to be super scalable, utilizing machine learning and AI to augment coaching while taking in details of the employer benefit offering and matching them to the employee’s needs. Using this information, the solution delivers real-time analysis of the sentiment and concerns of employees, even while they are being coached.

With a proactive and beneficial solution, Sibly is perfectly positioned to promote employee health and happiness.