Lyra Health, a mental health care benefits provider, has partnered with Calm, an app for sleep and meditation. The partnership will expand the number of mental health tools and resources Lyra clients have at their disposal.
Headquartered in Burlingame, California, Lyra Health is a digital tech startup that provides mental health benefits to employers such as Starbucks, Uber, Morgan Stanley and others. The company contracts with behavioral health providers, which it pays to treat Lyra’s members. Users are connected with providers through Lyra’s online platform, which uses intelligent matching technology to send them to the most appropriate organization.
To date, the company has raised more than $292 million and boasts a valuation north of $1 billion, according to Lyra.
Meanwhile, San Francisco-based Calm is the creator of an app designed to help people deal with stress, anxiety and insomnia through meditation. Calm does not purport to treat serious behavioral health conditions. Rather, its goal is to help users sleep better and lower levels of stress and anxiety.
Calm has raised more than $143 million to date and is also valued above $1 billion.
Lyra’s employer clients who opt to purchase the Calm integration will be giving their workers an additional tool to manage everyday stress and anxiety, on top of providing them access to Lyra’s contracted behavioral health providers who can treat more serious conditions.
Users can be directed to Calm through Lyra’s matching platform. Eligible members can also download Calm’s app directly.
“The partnership was driven by a desire to make it even easier for employers to offer immediately accessible mental health tools to their workforce, all in one place,” a Lyra representative told Behavioral Health Business in an email.
It’s unclear exactly how many Lyra clients have adopted the Calm integration, which became available October 1. However, one of the first customers to do so is Pinterest, which is proving Calm through the Lyra platform to their employees and contractors.
“As a benefits leader, it is our job to look out for the best interests of our employees and our business,” Alice Vichaita, Head of Global Benefits at Pinterest, said in a press release announcing the news. “This integrated offering from Lyra and Calm addresses both of those duties and aligns with our broader focus on destigmatizing and prioritizing mental health and well-being in our workplace.”
The Calm integration isn’t the only new offering at Lyra. In 2021, the company is also launching a new guided self-care coaching program. As part of the program, members will have the option to access to a personalized, six-week digital self-care plan.
As is the case with the Calm partnership, the goal is to give members access to more convenient and flexible preventive support.
“What’s different about this new offering compared to a self-led app is that members benefit from the continued engagement and expertise of a dedicated Lyra coach,” a Lyra representative said.
Lyra members who decide to take advantage of the new offering will kick things off by meeting with a coach for a same-day consultation. Afterward, that coach will build a custom care plan for that person, complete with digital lessons, activities and assessments that can be completed anytime at the member’s own pace.
Instead of leading weekly sessions, the coach then supports the member over that six week period by providing feedback on activities and communicating via messaging.
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