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We’re working on several initiatives that we plan to launch in 2022

Here’s a sneak peek at what’s ahead.

Prevention of mental health issues will be critical post-pandemic. The goal of our Mental Health Coach pilot was to connect at-risk employees with the help they need. It was both well received and effective. As a result, we’ll be launching this program to all Clients in 2022.

The Mental Health Coach proactively reaches out to employees by email. If the employee chooses to engage, they can book a 20-30 minute phone session. All Coaches are registered mental health professionals, and all sessions are free of charge.

The Mental Health Coach program isn’t counselling. Instead, Coaches work with plan members on an action plan to find the right treatment. The Coach guides employees to find and use the mental health resources available through their group benefits plan. The Coach can also guide them to other resources provided by external organizations and provincial health plans.

It’s a flexible approach that can plug into whatever resources the plan sponsor offers. For example, a plan sponsor may have their EAP with one provider and virtual care with another. The Coach can include either or both in their recommendations, depending on what’s best for the plan member.


We’re launching our Stress Management & Well-Being solution through Lumino Health Virtual Care, powered by Dialogue in 2022. It will provide plan members with unlimited access to mental health specialists (such as psychologists and psychotherapists). This ensures they can continue their treatment until the remission of their mental health concern.

The program isn’t intended for chronic or more complex mental health disorders. Instead, it’s designed to help at-risk employees recover from issues such as anxiety and depression before a work absence occurs. For plan sponsors, it provides a cost-controlled option to provide more coverage, without increasing extended health care psychology benefits.

We continue to research the intersection of group benefits and DE&I initiatives. We’ll be conducting a national survey of employed Canadians, looking specifically at the group benefits experiences, perceptions, needs and preferences of those belonging to diverse groups.

In addition, our Integrated Health Solutions team will be embedding new DE&I best practices into our organizational health assessments. This helps ensure that Clients are incorporating these practices as part of their overall well-being strategy. We’ll also be embedding these best practices in training, reporting recommendations, as well as in the evolution of our toolkits.

 


We’ll be introducing the latest evolution of Sun Life Real Health Solutions – our Real Health modules. These five modules, for both Clients and advisors, make it easier to match organizational health goals with the right solutions. It’s a targeted approach that can help you understand the solutions available based on your organization’s most pressing needs.

 


We’re partnering with the Conference Board of Canada to study the experience of Canadian employers in supporting workplace mental health through the pandemic. We’ll also examine where these organizations are headed in terms of mental health support as the pandemic eases.

 



Small business Clients have unique needs related to workplace health. Most lack the resources of larger firms to improve it. We’ll be launching new resources in 2022, with additional toolkits that focus specifically on help for small businesses.

 



We’ll continue to expand our Product Listing Agreement program. This involves negotiations with drug manufacturers to deliver significant savings to our Clients.

 



We’ll be expanding our Salary Continuance product to include accommodation support. We’ll also be renaming and repositioning the solution to make it easier to understand.