Prioritizing Mental Health: Our Expanded Benefits Put People First
As mounting evidence shows evidence shows Americans need better mental health support, IGS Energy leadership decided to take action.
“Something we pride ourselves on at IGS is listening to and acting on employee feedback, including their input on the benefits we offer,” said Chief People Officer, Jenni Kovach. “A sentiment we heard often was that people and their family members needed, sometimes desperately, better access to mental health resources.”
In the last couple years, we’ve expanded mental health support for IGS-ers to include a suite of programs that go beyond typical healthcare benefits — and reflect our people-first mentality — most notably with the addition of Lyra, a full-service mental health platform.
Here, we offer an overview of mental health support resources at IGS Energy and hear directly from IGS-ers who’ve used these benefits.
Expanding Access to Mental Health Support
In addition to an employee assistance program that offers 24/7 access to live and digital care options and a free membership to Headspace — a well-being app offering meditation, movement, and sleep support — IGS employees, their spouses and domestic partners, and their dependents, have access to 12 free visits with a mental health specialist each year through Lyra. Lyra provides mental health support both virtually and in-person within 48 hours of when an employee contacts the service, and this benefit includes continued care and medication management support even after the 12 therapy sessions are used.
As of late 2023, nearly 20 percent of IGS Energy employees had used the benefit.
“After hearing from employees that they needed additional mental health support, we found a great partner in Lyra,” Kovach said. “It’s been incredibly impactful for a lot of our people and their children, specifically, because they don’t have to wait long to reach a mental health provider.”
Lyra books personalized appointments with top coaches, psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists, for sessions that can be conducted via live video, live messaging, phone, or in-person. Employees can seek care for various concerns, including anxiety, PTSD, and relationship issues.
Fostering community and important conversations
We’ve made our largest investment in people development by implementing Positive Foundry’s BetterYet program Foundry’s BetterYet program across the entire company. The program is focused on 12 skills — including growing your Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ), leading with mindfulness, and developing resilience — that support personal and professional growth. We think of it as a toolbox filled with scientifically proven techniques to help our team members thrive.
And a forthcoming new mental health IGS IGS Community, called Mindworx, is a welcome addition to our many ongoing mental health benefits. This Community will be dedicated to combating the stigma surrounding mental health and will serve as a space for employees to share personal experiences, provide helpful resources, and promote mental health awareness.
“Mental health is physical health,” explained Shane Cartnal, warranty claims solutions supervisor and one of the leaders of Mindworx, along with IGS-ers Jessica Fetherolf and Darren Pocta. “And if you're not in peak mental health, you're going to struggle. We want to make sure we provide a safe space for people to discuss their situations while experiencing support because it's not just those experiencing a mental health crisis coming to these [meetings]. The Community will be open to the whole company, as we know there’s a really good support system for all of us here, and we really want to take advantage of that.”
Putting Mental Health First
When asked about his experience using the Lyra benefit, here’s what Shane Cartnal had to share:
“Lyra is a really good program, and they're very quick to get to you; I reached out on a Tuesday and had an appointment the next day for my first session. It was an amazing experience in terms of how quick the response was, and they helped me a lot. As a supervisor, I need to be focused, but personal issues can bleed into your work. Once I was able to talk with a professional, getting up the next day for work was better, getting up the next day for my daughters was better. I want to be my best for my family, for my significant other and, also, for work. A lot of good came out of my experience with Lyra.”