Supporting employees at work and beyond
The new year brings excellent news for Beacon Health Options (Beacon).
Mental Health America (MHA) has awarded Beacon its platinum certification for The Bell Seal for Workplace Mental Health, MHA’s new national employer certification program.
Beacon Health Options to expand presence in Walmart
In a continued effort to make healthcare more affordable and accessible, Beacon Health Options has partnered with Walmart on the opening of their second Walmart Health center, located in Calhoun, GA.
Beacon Care Services, a subsidiary of Beacon Health Options, will provide behavioral and mental health care, including individual, couples, group and family counseling to consumers, aged 6 and up, to address mild-to-moderate mental health issues.
Helping primary care stop substance use disorder before it starts
Crises such as the nation’s current opioid epidemic call for clinical innovation combined with experience that has proven to be effective.
At Beacon Health Options, we tapped into both to create the Massachusetts Consultation Service for Treatment of Addiction and Pain (MCSTAP) to help primary care providers (PCPs) treat patients with chronic pain and/or substance use disorder (SUD).
Rising suicide rates: A call for improved crisis services
There are several critical factors that have contributed to the rising demand for crisis services: reliance on emergency departments and law enforcement as the de facto crisis system, high suicide rates, stigma around mental illness, inadequate access to behavioral health care, and a relentless opioid epidemic.
As part of our ongoing, in-depth look at that those factors, today Beacon Lens will focus on suicide.
Mental health crisis systems redesigned: Focus on prevention, recovery
The need for behavioral health crisis services in the United States has never been stronger.
Traumatic national catastrophes, such as mass shootings, are on the rise. The opioid epidemic shows no signs of abating. The stigma around accessing mental health services persists. Suicide rates are high and rising. Access to mental health services remains elusive for many Americans.
Beacon’s ‘coach approach’ earns accolades
Peer specialists and recovery coaches have long been part of Beacon Health Options’ solutions for members.
For many years, they have helped Beacon members to reach their recovery and wellness goals through one-on-one coaching, advocacy and guidance.
Lori’s lessons in leadership: Insights from a winning Beacon leader
Beacon’s Rocky Hill office in Connecticut was named as one of the top 60 workplaces in Connecticut by Hartford Courant, the fourth win for that office.
The team won the award every year from 2011-2013 when Lori Szczygiel was Connecticut CEO, and now again following her return to the position two years ago. Eight hundred employers competed for a slot via an independently administered survey sent to more than 23,000 employees. . . . Lori Szczygiel shares her leadership insight with Beacon Lens.
Reshaping EAPs with digital technology
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) improve the lives of employees and the productivity of companies.
For example, engagement with an EAP leads to a 46 percent decrease in absenteeism; a 13 percent decrease in work distress; and a 20 percent increase in life satisfaction, according to one EAP trends report.
Digital technology: Friend or foe to mental health?
It’s clear that digital technology – especially in the form of social media – is here to stay.
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter – these are all household words by now. Digital technology has engaged healthcare as well; electronic health records, health apps and websites have ramped up the capacity for information-gathering and sharing, and perhaps even more relevant, actual treatment.
Dorms, dining halls and depression: College students at risk
The awareness of depression as a human condition is not modern or new.
The earliest written accounts of the condition emerged from the second millennium BC in Mesopotamia when it was seen as more spiritual than physical.