Healbright supports the mental wellbeing of Sonic Boom members

It’s been more than one year since we originally announced our partnership with Healbright. While COVID-19 highlighted the importance of positive mental wellbeing, it definitely didn’t create the mental-health crisis that much of the country finds itself in. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness:

• 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness each year
• 1 in 20 U.S. adults experience serious mental illness each year
• 1 in 6 U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year
• 50% of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24
• Suicide is the second leading cause of death among people aged 10-34

This is just one reason why we partnered with Healbright in March 2020: to provide members with on-demand resources and tools to help them support their own mental health from the comfort of their home. Healbright offers hundreds of videos, led by mental health professionals, on a variety of wellness topics, making mental wellness accessible, engaging, and confidential for all.

Mental-health support at work is not only something Sonic Boom Wellness, a Premise Health company, brings to its members, through coaching, courses, contests, and challenges, but it’s also something that the Boomin’ crew prioritizes internally, as well. This ensures that we can continue to bring our A game to work, while also prioritizing our own wellbeing — just like we encourage our members to do. In fact, our Q3 internal incentives are focused all around taking breaks from work and earning vacation time in the process!

Uncertainty during COVID-19

We caught up with co-founder and CEO Bill Belanger about where Healbright is at now and why their partnership with Sonic Boom is still important. According to Belanger, “Measures of mental illness, stress, and substance abuse have continued to increase since the start of the pandemic. Some experts have described this as a ‘second wave’ of mental illness caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

He also says that these times of uncertainty can be linked to mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. Translation? “As long as the future of the pandemic remains uncertain, we will likely continue to see elevated levels of stress and mental-health issues.”

For these reasons and more, the most utilized content at Healbright is around stress, burnout, self-care, and parenting — all topics that are covered within the Healbright offerings at Sonic Boom. “This trend makes sense, considering the stress levels of most Americans have been elevated since the start of the pandemic, and many parents had to make drastic changes when their children couldn’t go to school.”

At-home parents and other everyday employees are just two examples of why Healbright ensures their content is stigma-free and available to all. Says Belanger, “Our programs were created to be accessible and allow [everyday] people to quickly gain tools to improve their emotional wellbeing. By focusing on mental wellness rather than mental illness, we take a proactive approach to mental wellbeing that resonates with more people than some traditional mental-health offerings.”

What’s coming next?

Looking ahead at 2022, there’s even more helpful video content coming from the company, and we look forward to incorporating it into our own Academy of courses, too.

Belanger shares that they’re current working on content around anxiety, depression, insomnia, motivation, and meditation. Of course, that’s by no means an exhaustive list — many more good things are to come!

Are you looking to improve your employees’ wellbeing at home and at work? Discover how Sonic Boom’s comprehensive, fully customizable wellness programs can help! Click here to get started.