myStrength online tool encourages happier, healthier employees

Whether it’s stress, chronic pain, sleep, depression, drug or alcohol abuse or anxiety, a new online tool for wellbeing offered through the Mass General Brigham Employee Assistance Program (EAP), is available to all MGB employees and household members. myStrength, described as a virtual gym for the mind, offers guided learning programs, simple tools and exercises to coach individuals on their journey toward self-improvement.

This online program, optimized for easy use on a mobile device and available in English and Spanish, is designed to deliver the right support based on a personal wellness assessment and profile. One of the benefits of myStrength is that you choose how to use it, either during short periods of need or on an ongoing, longer term basis to meet your unique needs, whether you want to improve your mood, manage stress, learn better sleep techniques, supplement chronic pain management, help a loved one with substance misuse or achieve another wellness goal.

“We know there are people who don’t feel comfortable reaching out for help,” says EAP and Work & Life Resources Director Andrea Piraino Stidsen, LICSW, CEAP. “A lot of times people may know that they are struggling with something, but they don’t know what to do about it. They feel like they have to figure it out themselves. This is a self-help tool to help people do that.”

The program is completely free, confidential and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When you register for myStrength, in addition to guided learning programs, simple tools and exercises, you will receive a unique myStrength homepage based on your personal wellness assessment and profile.

“It’s the kind of thing you can use whenever you feel like you need a break, a little boost in mood or when you want to work on a particular self-improvement goal,” says Stidsen. “There are so many activities to try. And, best of all, it doesn’t require you to pick up the phone and call to make an appointment to ask for help, which we know is a major barrier for some people.”

Stidsen stresses myStrength is not intended to replace the EAP or behavioral health counseling. It’s simply another tool employees and their families can use on their journey toward a healthier, happier life. And it’s clearly a tool that is in demand. “We’ve had an incredible response already,” says Stidsen. “Since the program became available, we have had over 1,000 people register. It’s obviously something that people want and need.”

In fact, here at Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital, employees are finding it very helpful. Clinical Nutrition Manager Shannon Vukosa, RD, LDN, was eager to try it out as soon as she heard about it. “It was very easy to sign up and navigate the site,” she says of her experience. “There is a lot of content and the site can guide you to focus areas that you may want to improve in your life. So far I have most enjoyed the one minute meditations, which give me a much needed break in the hustle and bustle of my busy day.”

To learn more about myStrength, watch this video.

To register for myStrength, click here.