myStrength Is Our Strength

Program Description

Burrell Behavioral Health (BBH) is a non-profit organization contracted with Missouri Department of Mental Health. Selected as one of eight states to participate in a two-year demonstration project through the federal government Excellence in Mental Health Act, BBH has transitioned into becoming a Certified Community Behavioral Health Center (CCBHC). myStrength Is Our Strength is an innovative program by which BBH has partnered with myStrength to offer lifetime subscriptions to employees, clients and community stakeholders to improve mental and physical health. BBH has promoted the use of this innovative tool as it offers a vast array of digital, evidence-based resources for personal and professional use. BBH employees have enrolled 589 clients, 341 employees and 141 community stakeholders spanning over two regions which include 17 counties in rural and urban areas across the State of Missouri. Compared to other CCBHC organizations across the state, BBH has excelled in myStrength enrollment and usage. myStrength enhances traditional clinical services by providing convenient and secure access. Users have access to tools like mood trackers and guided programs targeting anxiety, depression, substance use, stress, chronic pain, and insomnia. myStrength offers hundreds of articles and videos on a wide range of wellness topics to strengthen overall well-being.

Creativity

BBH understands the needs of the communities they serve. Many are rural and experience a shortage of mental health providers. However, BBH clients and community members have access to electronic devices and use those devices in their daily routine for a variety of reasons including getting news and information, online purchasing, socializing, playing games and entertainment. Why not include accessing healthcare as another option? myStrength Is Our Strength embraced the opportunity to reach people outside of the clinic setting and business hours to provide them with high-quality, evidence-based mental and physical health care interventions that people could access around the clock and integrate into their daily lives. BBH clinicians found the myStrength format to be user-friendly and effective in session with clients, between appointments and to provide crisis-prevention and client symptom tracking options. Clients are invested in their treatment and clinicians have a wealth of interventions at their finger tips.

Leadership

BBH identified myStrength champions – Cristin Martinez (Southwest Region) and Rachel Jones (Central Region, rachel.jones@burrellcenter.com). Champions integrated myStrength training and information into all new employee orientations and provide ongoing new staff training. Our team collaborates with Lisa Martin, from myStrength, on a monthly basis to share region-specific implementation strategies and successes and myStrength features, developments and updates. myStrength aggregates data and shares with BBH on a monthly basis, which is then shared with the organization as a whole. A key aspect of our meetings is strategizing ways to increase marketing of myStrength. BBH features myStrength on their website for easy enrollment and access. Additionally, leadership use social media, community speaking engagements, outside agency collaborations and opportunities at the state-level to present the information to other DMH contracted organizations about how they can implement myStrength in a similar manner for the communities they serve around the state.

Sustainability

BBH included myStrength into the payment rate for CCBHC services. This guarantees the use of myStrength over the two-year demonstration period. During that time, BBH intends to continue exceeding enrollment goals for staff, clients and community stakeholders. Partner organizations such as health clinics, public schools, court systems, addiction treatment agencies, department of social services and other community agencies across our two regions have a vested interest in the continuation of this program because it has the capacity to reach hundreds of people in remote areas and supplement the work of providers across disciplines. This is a great crisis prevention tool. If awarded, a portion of the $25,000 would go to sustainability including purchasing additional years of subscription with myStrength so BBH can continue to offer it after the two-year CCBHC period ends, in the event it is not permanently included in the payment rate for services.

Replicability

BBH functions like other CMHCs across the state and nation. Strategies BBH has implemented to increase myStrength enrollment and use can be applied across other organizations with the right leadership support and marketing efforts. The myStrength leadership team has presented information at state-level meetings with other CMHCs to share these strategies and outcomes. myStrength has a team of account service representatives that have implemented myStrength to over 140 healthcare organizations. myStrength executes a training and implementation process, continuously refined from those implementations. Specific to any provider, myStrength has detailed discussions regarding scope, technical integration, analytics, etc. in order to suggest the most efficient and effective implementation plan. myStrength offers training options to engage all staff, case managers, peers, and physicians. myStrength conducts onsite training on the effective use of the platform as well as web-based trainings. In collaboration with Relias Learning, online self-paced trainings are available for the myStrength platform.

Results/Outcomes

See “myStrength Partner Scorecard” attachment for additional outcome data. Treatment outcomes: Clients have a tool to use between sessions, which gives them ongoing mental health support that clinicians are not always capable to provide between scheduled appointments. Clients are able to access the interventions easily and quickly, which increases their likelihood to continue using the tool. Clients have come to session and showed their providers which interventions they have used. In group settings, some clients have modeled to peers how they can use the app on their phone to manage symptoms. Clients can use the tool during safety planning and crisis prevention. Clients use tool upon discharge for continued support after treatment has been completed. Clinicians have a large volume of evidence-based interventions that can be used during treatment and clinician education about mental health has improved.