Marketplace Details
BeWell
Co-created with the Univ. of Saskatchewan and CAMH, inspired by COVID-19 isolation, anxiety and depression challenges this light-touch SMS Intervention checks-in and matches employees and members with curated mental wellness tools and promotes the benefits already made available by employers.
Problem: Mental Health Matters
The MEMOTEXT BeWell Mental Health Navigator is meant to increase what is traditionally low engagement with mental health supports and resources. Since 2020, stress, distress, anxiety and other mental health stressors have been negatively impacted by social anxiety, isolation, economic stress, mental health neglect and changes to everyday life. Mental health engagement even at the best of times can be challenging. The BeWell program aims to increase engagement with supports curated by our clinical partners and those already available from employers and providers.
A survey conducted in January 2022 by CAMH of about 1000 people at various times throughout the pandemic found:
- 25% experienced moderate to severe anxiety in the last week
- 25% reported to engage in binge drinking in the last week
- 24% expressed they felt lonely in the last week
- 22% expressed they felt depressed in the past week
What is BeWell?
Validated in an ongoing CIHR funded study, the MEMOTEXT BeWell intervention allows employers and educational institutions to promote validated mental health tools and engagement with their own eligible mental health benefits.
BeWell is an inclusive mental health text messaging program that provides support, promotes curated mental health resources, and provides wellness supports to users. Features include:
- Routine Mental Health Screening
- Personalized Tool/Resource Recommendations
- Regular General Wellness Tips
- Iterative design to help improve personalization and increase amount of relatable and helpful content
- BMJ Open: Supporting population mental health and wellness during COVID-19
- Dr. Gillian Strudwick and Dr. Tracie Risling present SaskBeWell at #MOVES22
- BeWell AMIA Poster Presentation
- Global News Dr. Tracie Risling ‘Be SaskWell’ text-based service helping people
- CBC Listen: Be SaskWell: New USask text-based service offers mental health supports
- The Conversation: Texting for Wellness: Using digital mental health tools for support in another COVID-19 winter
- Canadian Healthcare Technology: New digital mental-health tool from Memotext
- Impacts in Digital Mental Health Engagement: A BeWell @ Georgian College Story
- Lessons learned developing and deploying a provincial virtual mental health support during the COVID-19 pandemic
- BeWell AMIA 2023 Poster Presentation
Engagement at Scale
Leveraging cultural and demographic data, a tool is matched and presented to the employee the day after enrollment. Weekly wellness tips and resources help contribute other routine tools that can be leveraged. With various opportunities for feedback, the program can evolve and flourish over time with increased use and iteration on delivered resources and tools.
The Team
Co-created by The University of Saskatchewan, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and MEMOTEXT Corp, the secure mental health check-in, support and recommendation tool was developed based on a CIHR funded research grant with Dr. Tracie Risling and Dr. Gillian Strudwick.