Video Summary
This session explores why workplace mental health benefits often fall short even when support programs are available. The panelists emphasize that access alone is not enough: employees need clear navigation, confidentiality, the right level of care, and a strong match with the provider or support model.
Mackenzie Chapin highlights the need to connect fragmented programs such as EAPs, virtual care, mental health allocations, coaching, and navigation so employees are not forced to act as their own clinical guides. Dr. Kush Amaria adds that the biggest barriers include stigma, privacy concerns, the ‘wrong door’ problem, long waits, scheduling friction, and poor fit with a therapist or modality.
The discussion positions EAPs as valuable but limited. They can normalize mental health conversations and provide immediate episodic support, but they may not be sufficient for chronic, complex, or long-term needs. Emerging models such as digital CBT, therapist-assisted ICBT, coaching, outcome-informed care, culturally safe pathways, and warm handovers can improve engagement and continuity.
The main recommendation for employers is to make the front door to care unmistakable, confidential, and easy to use. Organizations should train managers, communicate benefits repeatedly, measure outcomes, audit equity of access, involve wellness champions, and have leaders model mental health support as part of everyday well-being.
Chapters
Chapter I: Introduction and Panel Setup
The host introduces the session focus, panelists, and the core issue: mental health support must be accessible and usable in the employee experience.
Chapter II: Where Access Breaks Down
Mackenzie explains that employees often face fragmented programs and need guided navigation to find the right care pathway the first time.
Chapter III: Barriers Before Care Begins
Dr. Kush outlines stigma, the wrong-door problem, provider fit, privacy concerns, long waits, and scheduling friction.
Chapter IV: The Role and Limits of EAPs
The panel discusses where EAPs are effective, where they fall short, and why they should be connected to broader supports.
Chapter V: Supports Beyond Traditional EAPs and Therapy
Dr. Kush describes digital CBT, therapist-assisted ICBT, coaching, outcome-informed care, better matching, and culturally safe pathways.
Chapter VI: The Employee Journey
Mackenzie walks through the challenge of recognizing a need, finding language for symptoms, and avoiding poor-fit care experiences.
Chapter VII: Continuity and Effectiveness of Care
Dr. Kush explains how the wrong intensity, lack of measurement, transitions, paywalls, and repeated storytelling can disrupt progress.
Chapter VIII: What HR and Leadership Can Do
The panel recommends making the access point clear, communicating confidentiality, training managers, and protecting psychological safety.
Chapter IX: Culture, Champions, and Leadership Modeling
Mackenzie emphasizes wellness champions, leaders using the programs themselves, and normalizing mental health maintenance.
Chapter X: Practical Strategies for Organizations
The panel closes with actionable strategies: personalize care access, connect existing supports, reduce stigma, invite feedback, and model healthy workplace norms.
Chapter XI: Closing Reflections
The host summarizes that effective mental health support depends on access, connection, culture, and leadership reinforcement.
Full Transcript
00:08 Yes, thank you, Roger. And I see that we are joined by our guest panelists. So hello, Dr. Kush and Mackenzie. So today in this session, we’re focusing on mental health and how those benefits actually show up in the employee experience. We know that having support in place is one thing, but making sure people can access and use them when they need them is another. So what we’ll explore is what’s working, where people get stuck, and what organizations can do to make mental health support more effective in practice. And joining us in today’s conversation are two experts who bring both clinical and strategic perspectives on mental health and workplace support. First, we have Dr. Kush Amaria, who is a clinical and health psychologist with over 20 years of experience in mental health and workplace well-being. She is the director of clinical services at Green Shield Health, where she leads national programs focused on access, outcomes, and psychological safety, and has held senior roles at Key Health and SickKids.
01:12 She also serves on the CCMH board and regularly shares practical evidence-based insights on mental health. We’re also joined by Mackenzie Chapin, who is the AVP of Commercial Product Management at Key Health, focused on improving how organizations connect mental health access with real outcomes. He brings experience across healthcare navigation and workplace health systems with a focus on making support more human and effective. Let’s all welcome Dr. Kush and Mackenzie and let’s get into it.
01:41 So mental health support has expanded significantly, but many employees still struggle to access care when they need it. The first question is for Mackenzie. From your perspective, where do employees tend to encounter the most trouble when trying to access mental health support and what’s getting in the way of those resources being truly effective?
02:02 Yeah, thank you so much, Bianca. It’s a pleasure to be here with everyone today and talking about a topic that I’m really passionate about and that I think is really at the forefront of so many employers today is really this focus on mental health and how can they properly support their employee base. So, you know, that whole question of access to care is such a big one where, you know, We are seeing more and more in the market and across customers that we support today that access alone is no longer enough. We need to be offering employees guidance and support to accessing the appropriate care pathways.
02:45 We see so many fantastic programs in benefits plans today, ranging from EAPs to virtual care supports to, you know, their own mental health allocations. However, for an employee who’s struggling or for even an employee who’s just curious, that’s a lot to undertake and that’s a lot to try and figure out on your own. We’re almost expecting employees to act as their own clinical guidance and their own clinical navigators. And so from our perspective, and what we really work with with customers on supporting them is figuring out ways to connect those fragmented programs today, be that with care navigation, with, you know, coaching, and really providing that guidance to ensure that employees are accessing the appropriate services
03:39 program or support the first time, because I really think that that is one of the biggest impacts that we can make today on driving healthier outcomes for employees.
03:51 Great. And Dr. Kush, building on that answer, where do you see the biggest gaps that prevent people from getting into care in the first place? Mackenzie, that was a great answer because you’ve highlighted some of the things I would love to repeat, but I’ll try really hard not to. Sorry.
04:07 Oh, not at all. I would say that there’s still a need to normalize seeking help for your mental health from your workplace. And I have to say, this is a great starting point for so many employed Canadians who do have access to great levels of care and navigation.
04:22 There’s a couple other things. There’s the sort of wrong door problem. People start with one thing, but they might actually need a different level of care. Maybe it’s more structured. therapist assisted icbt program they might get bounced around and you can imagine how that feels in a state of vulnerability um and it goes with that sort of fragmented experience um it matters your fit and the quality of you know who you’re matched with if you’re thinking about traditional counseling services
04:48 Clinically, that has a big impact on people’s outcomes, their therapeutic outcomes for sure. Privacy and trust concerns, you know, employees are still worried about what employers can see.
05:00 We know that confidentiality is what’s actually going to improve engagement in any service, especially mental health service in a way. And I would like throw in there, even from a clinical perspective, you know, not being able to get the help when you need it. So it’s a right fit is important, but just long wait, scheduling friction. We see that in the employer world. We see that out in our communities as well, too. So this can really delay and worsen symptoms, which, of course, we know makes it even more difficult to engage in proper care for you when you need it best.
05:31 For sure. No, you both highlighted on some important barriers and how support is accessed. But I know Mackenzie mentioned the EAPs, and that’s something that I want to talk more on. So we know that EAPs are a foundational part of mental health benefits, but there are ongoing questions about how well they’re actually working for employees today. So Mackenzie, where do you see EAPs being most effective and the least effective for employees? And how can organizations help people better understand and actually use what’s already available? Thank you. Absolutely. I mean, EAPs serve a really core functionality and they’ve done a fantastic job at normalizing the conversation around providing mental health support for employees.
06:16 And I really see them as having done a lot of that legwork on destigmatizing the conversation and getting folks comfortable with that access to care. I think that what we’re seeing a lot today is
06:32 different health concerns are getting increasingly complex and we’re seeing so many and just even building on what you were chatting about earlier where you know health and wellness is becoming more complex and more holistic and we need to look at an employee from you know a 360 lens instead of just one and i think we need to be considering all of those together and EAPs are fantastic for those immediate supports, those kind of episodic instances, those kind of unique one-off cases. However, in situations where there might be a more long-term or chronic issue that is tied to mental health and physical health, or it’s even just a more chronic long-term mental health concern, I really see that EAPs, it’s a tough, it’s tough for employees to find that kind of meaningful support if they’re kind of
07:28 Being told that there’s a limited amount of sessions, a lot of EAPs today won’t connect you with the same practitioner that you started with, creating a very stop and start experience for members and employees. And from the employer standpoint, it’s really tough because there’s not really a baseline or a measurable outcome for employers to really see the value of that support for an employee. And so they definitely play a key role in the infrastructure of a benefits plan for mental health. I think there’s an opportunity to connect it and make it work with other existing programs inside of an employer’s benefits stack.
08:14 Yeah, that’s a great overview of where EAPs fit together today.
08:19 Dr. Kush, what are some emerging or non-traditional mental health supports that you’re seeing gain traction beyond traditional EAPs and therapy? And what gaps are these approaches trying to address?
08:31 Absolutely. You know, I would start by arguing we almost want to throw the traditional viewpoint of EAP in that sense. I mean, it’s a wonderful model, right? This idea that we’re going to give you support as an employee and it’s an assistance program in a way. But, you know, there’s so much more that organizations are offering across the board. And I always like to think a little bit about like our digital programs, our digital CBT, ICBT that’s delivered online.
08:57 all through a platform, right? You’re not making appointments. You’re not talking face to face. And that alone reduces a barrier that probably stops many people from getting started. But we almost want to take it a step higher. Sometimes that’s all you need. You need to walk yourself through a program. Other times you need maybe a more coach focus, right? You don’t really want to see a therapist. That actually would be a turnoff.
09:17 And so a coach led program to you’re really struggling and you would benefit from a traditional model of longer term therapy. um but it’s not really feasible through your employer and so digital cbt programs are a great alternative and they’re often designed to support people with chronic mental health issues because they are really robust um when they’re evidence-based they allow people to measure their well-being over time and so say i think some of the trends aren’t so much just in the type of therapy or modality we’re putting out there. It’s the way we change access. That’s the way we measure. So we want outcomes-informed care as standard practice, right? That means you’re doing natural, very routine check-ins. You’re using measures that are robust.
10:09 You’re
10:11 And our therapists ultimately are using that to guide what those next steps are, right? It helps you understand, do you need more? Do you need less? Have you met your goals?
10:21 These things matter when it comes to sort of meeting some of those initial gaps in a way. I’ll say something else that we’ve also learned is that the match you have to your therapist, I think matters way more than I as a therapist wanna believe sometimes. And what I mean by that is it’s really hard to know upfront what you think would work for you. You’re going to be matched to a digital therapist or you’re matched to more of the counseling kind of model in a way. So having a really robust system that asks you questions that you don’t even know you need to be asked or shared might really help you have that first moment, that first encounter be successful, right? If there’s no alliance, and this we’ve known for ages in the clinical world, there’s no alliance, you’re not going to stay connected, right? And that’s what we’re trying to solve for. We’re really confident in many ways that getting a person into the right care, right level, whatever that is, digital counseling, traditional short-term model is going to help if we match correctly.
11:19 But if you don’t have that fit, yeah, Let’s say, you’re probably out the door in a way. And so I think what it really helps is engagement, getting people into care faster, getting them feel comfortable. And it kind of fits with this idea of, you know, we need culturally safe pathways, right? We think about all the different ways we want to modify supports.
11:39 But there’s some really great, you know, Indigenous mental health supports that emerged. You can imagine 10 years ago, I’m not sure that it would be as easy to access a wonderful partnership, what we use, NOJMO here at Green Shield.
11:53 But just generally this idea of broader choice, right? Something that’s going to allow you to engage mental health support services in your life. And that goes, it may be inclusive in a traditional EAP or digital offering, or even kind of go beyond that. Mm-hmm. No, that’s amazing.
12:09 That’s amazing that there are other things available beyond the EAPs and the therapy. So that’s where we are today, right?
12:18 But what does it actually feel like for employees navigating it? Mackenzie, can you walk us through what that typical journey looks like from someone first recognizing they have a need to finding themselves meaningful support?
12:31 Absolutely. And I think Dr. Kush brought up a fantastic point where that first fit is so critical, right? And I bring it back to employees not having the right language to describe their symptoms, not… being able to properly articulate and ending up with a poor fit that might actually detract from their future experience. Or Dr. Kush also mentioned a really important point of stigma today, where folks might not be ready for a formal mental health treatment, but they might require support. And so we support a lot of, you know, customers that we work with, with coaching supports to help match them to the appropriate care pathway, help guide them to those things. But really it’s, it’s, I think that, you know, today’s journey, a lot of that onus rests on the employee to, to kind of figure it out themselves where, you know, they can contact their EAP, but they’re not really quite sure what kind of, you know, who their match might be, or they’re turning to, you know,
13:42 untrustworthy sources, one could say, where they’re relying on, you know, searching on search engines or asking an AI chatbot for support. And we really want to be able to put in supports that kind of mitigate that potential risk because something I always say is that trying to find a therapist in today’s world is kind of like going on three first dates where you’re footing a $200 bill every time, right?
14:08 And, you know, we want to make sure that instead of, you know, spending and claiming $600, let’s say, on your mental health allocation, that, you know, we want employees to be, like, claiming this money, we want them to be utilizing these services. But we also want to make sure that it’s driving value, that it’s moving the needle, that it’s improving their symptoms. And so what we really see is equipping employees with that opportunity to support them and guide them to that right care pathway.
14:44 is really critical because otherwise it rests on their shoulders, which translates into burdens in the workplace. They might ask a manager who might not be comfortable with that kind of conversation. They might not know. It might translate to additional pressures onto HR teams. And so it’s really about intervening as early as possible because right now the onus rests with that employee. Yeah.
15:10 And Dr. Kush, to add to that, where do you most often see challenges in the continuity or effectiveness of care? For example, maybe people not staying engaged long enough or not getting the right intensity. I know you mentioned the right fit already. So what are other challenges you’re often seeing?
15:30 I would say, besides just not connecting in the first place, you know, we have we have to acknowledge that we spend a lot of energy up front, right? Like, let’s remind people over and over again. So if we put that aside for a second. Yeah.
15:45 You might do all this work, get to a place, and it’s not the right intensity. It’s not the right time, right? And again, I use the example, maybe a therapist-led ICBT program or some kind of structured counseling model would have been a better entry than generic wellness coaching, as an example. Sometimes people need specialized assessment techniques. when work functioning is really impaired in a way. And so if we don’t have it right as close to the beginning, we’re never going to get it perfect. If we don’t have it right close to the beginning, that’s going to interrupt continuity. It’s going to impact effectiveness.
16:16 When we don’t track measurement and track care right measurement, we don’t track symptoms, we don’t track functioning, how are we going to know what’s working? How are we going to monitor what progress is going to prompt, whether it’s earlier adjustments and things like that in a way
16:31 And I think the other part is transitions are where people usually fall through the cracks. And so it’s not it’s not to say that every person needs to move from one thing to the next to the next. But maybe you are moving from a shorter term counseling model to a longer term care model. If that’s not, you know, for example, within the same platform, if it’s not easy to do so, if a paywall barrier comes up that you’re not aware of, or benefits reimbursement slowed down, people will fall through the cracks in a way. And so all of this is like friction after that first step, right? You know, you’ve already got where you might need and you’re getting… you’re already getting more and more friction, more and more challenges along the way. And so I think all of these things, to be honest, are what we haven’t always designed systems to support continuity, right? And continuity might look like real time.
17:22 So You start with maybe a coach led model or you do some self-guided work. You’ve learned enough and you’ve got some good sense of what’s going on that you understand when you need an elevated level of care or a navigator gets you there or a nurse or whomever. You engage in that and maybe things don’t get better for whatever life happens in the middle of it all.
17:45 And so you need a higher level of care. Warm handovers, this idea that you’re not repeating your story, that that comes with you, your care plan gets transitioned, that in of itself, the burden that reduces on an individual who’s struggling with something, whatever that something is, really is going to help with our continuity. It’s going to help with the ultimate outcomes, which is people getting better, getting better faster, being able to be productive in their work lives, and of course, their personal lives as well.
18:16 Now, so knowing where people get stuck, now the next question becomes, what can organizations do about it? So sticking with Dr. Kush, how can leadership and HR people ensure that EAPs actually meet employees’ clinical needs? Yeah, I think it’s this idea of you want to make that front door unmistakable, right? Where is it? Is it the intranet? Is it the team page? Is it something posted around? Is it on the fridge in the coffee room?
18:42 So that everybody can really easily answer, where do I start? What’s confidential? How fast can I be seen? What if I need more sessions? And that means, you know, but is it running a quarterly how to get help campaign?
18:55 You know, something very short, blogs, reminding people of booking steps, eligibility, reminding them what their options are. We often think about doing that upfront, maybe a couple of times to remind people along the way, or if they come to us in those rare times where that happens and says, I need help.
19:12 But if it’s always there in the background. that’s wonderful it just helps us get to that really close really quickly when needed managers you know they need to be trained on warning signs how to check in what to say maybe not what not to say and really need to understand those referral steps too because they’re often the ones that individual the ones that notice right when we’ve trained them well and they’re also ones that can help people connect to care and
19:39 I think from an HR and leadership perspective, I would also say there’s a responsibility to protect psychological safety in all of this. And that’s not an easy, there’s no one stop shop on how I would teach somebody to do that.
19:55 But we want to disconnect this idea of performance and accommodation requests and things like that. from, you know, disclosures around what’s kind of going on. That’s tough, right? It’s tough to do that, but it’s very doable. We have a real good model for protecting psychological safety. And I think the other thing that I would…
20:11 really encourage HR leaders to do, and leadership in general to do, is continually audit your equity of access. The programs are designed to be variable. We have wonderful programs that really will fit for different people from different backgrounds, but we’ve got to check in on that. We want to say, is it really working? Is it working for those from different locations, shifts, roles? Do we need to adjust our communications? It’d be nice if we could just put one up, but maybe it looks different for remote teams or shift workers. in that way. So, you know, I want HR and leaders to be able to say, look, look, if you’re not sure where to start, let’s start here. It’s confidential. You can book directly or, you know, you don’t need to share personal details. You want them to have that at their fingertips as well, too.
20:54 No, for sure. Those are all great ideas. And Mackenzie, is there anything that you’d like to add to that?
21:00 You know, I think Dr. Kush makes a fantastic point, right, where it’s really about presenting ongoing reminders and normalizing accessing that care and normalizing that conversation. And perhaps it’s even, you know,
21:20 I think you were speaking earlier about councils inside of your organizations, having champions, wellness champions who are really committed to kind of creating a safe space in the workplace for those kinds of what could be seen as tougher conversations.
21:38 You know, we’ve worked with a couple of organizations where they have a wellness council and we’ve appointed them kind of champions of care where they themselves have gone through coaching models or used the services. And that way they can actually provide that kind of tangible real life feedback. Back to their teams, back to the folks who might be uncertain and unsure about accessing that care or if there’s stigma around it. Really take those folks who are, you know, advocates for your wellness protocols and your wellness programs and really take advantage of them because they’re going to be able to really
22:19 really kind of drive that message home in a way that is really relatable for the folks that are working with them. And so I think it’s, you know, it’s a question of supporting the folks who are there, you know, peer people, leaders, all of that. And then also walking the walk from a leadership perspective. I challenge a lot of our leaderships to actually engage with the programs themselves and walk the walk and say, you know, I’ve actually done this ICBT program. I’ve worked with one of the wellness coaches and, you know, share their personal experience. It goes on. Like, it really goes the distance when folks can really connect on a human-to-human level and see that, you know, everyone has these kinds of challenges. And when leadership does it and when your champions are doing it and it’s really talked about and normalized, it becomes…
23:16 so much easier for employees to raise their hand, to be the ones to say, I do really need that support. That does sound fantastic. I didn’t realize that the program was so, you know, it’s not therapy. I don’t have to feel like I’m, you know, in treatment, but rather I’m working on myself. It’s the same concept of, you know, We go to the gym to work on our physical health. Why aren’t we doing that same kind of approach and hygiene to our mental health and wellness? And so just really normalizing it through real life examples, I think does a lot of really good work there.
23:55 No, for sure. I agree with all that both of you have said.
24:01 It’s a mixture of the workplace culture and leadership support and how they could support the mental health of their employees.
24:08 I know we touched on it a little bit, but how can organizations foster that workplace support that generally supports mental health? And again, I guess last minute actionable strategies that leaders can take away and start to implement to make a difference.
24:24 We could start with Mackenzie and we could end with Dr. Kush. Yeah, for sure. I think Dr. Kush said it, and we speak about this a lot with our customers as well, but making that front door unmissable is such an easy way to really support your employees and your managers to understand that the burden doesn’t have to live with the manager to navigate an employee’s care. They don’t need to then ladder that up to HR going, I don’t know which program makes the most sense. Suddenly, one employee’s stress has been spread across three different teams, three different folks. You’re seeing impacts on productivity. You’re seeing increase in casual absence. So really making that access point unmissable and really personalizing that access point. So you know, making sure that when someone does decide to kind of walk through that front door, that they’re not getting a cookie cutter experience, that they’re not sort of feeling like they’re being pushed along into, um, uh, you know, a very kind of broad strokes program, but rather that something has been thoughtfully put together for them.
25:34 Um,
25:35 You know, we do personalized care planning with our wellness coaches so every employee gets something that feels really customized for them. And when they’re able to really feel like they’ve been seen and heard, that goes a long way of their own engagement in their own treatment and protocol. And I think…
25:56 it’s really not about overhauling an existing system, but rather about connecting what you’re already offering today, because employers are doing a fantastic job of offering comprehensive supports to employees. But what we’re seeing is that they aren’t working together. And when we’re able to connect them with sort of, you know, top layer of coaching or advisors or navigation, we’re able to really start to see some really meaningful outcomes and really meaningful improvement in employee symptoms, employee engagement, and all of those important metrics that HR teams are really honing in on.
26:42 For sure. Dr. Kush, do you want to build on that? What am I supposed to build on that? I’m so sorry. No, not at all. I’ll add a couple of things. I think those are really great. I love that idea, reminding about getting to that front door really easily. And so let’s also think about it, removing stigma in that how to get help moment, right? So you need resources. You also need to explain confidently, plainly. You need to simplify steps, right? I think in a world of jargon in terms. So I’m not the kind of person that’s going to write your, you know, the blog on the front page in a way. And so I think that’s important. I think inclusivity is really important in all of this. We need to invite feedback from our equity seeking groups so that psychological safety is real for everyone. And how do you make psychological safety real? You demonstrate it. So, you know, you teach people to respond with curiosity and not judgment. You thank people when they speak up about their mental health and wellness. And as individual leaders and managers and just colleagues, we follow through on what we say we’re going to do.
27:41 So I love the idea. Maybe I’ll close my closing point about inviting leaders to the conversation, right? We really want to normalize support seeking. And when leaders talk about mental health as part of everyday well-being, when they are the one sharing resources regularly, not just during times of crisis. with their modeling, taking time for care, which includes, of course, using our resources, but taking breaks and vacation and setting norms in the workplace, you know, that gives permission, right, for us to be able to seek help at times when we might need it or at times when we’re trying to keep ourselves well in a way. And so I think those are the things that we can all do in every organization, big and small, to be able to move this forward.
28:23 No, great. This has been such a great conversation discussion. You know, what stands out to me is that improving mental health support isn’t just about, you know, we said offering the programs, but actually making them accessible, connected. And like Dr. Kush and Mackenzie were just echoing is reinforced by the culture and leadership. Thank you to Dr. Kush and Mackenzie for joining us and sharing such great practical insights. And thank you all for joining the session. I will hand it off to Roger.
