79% of employees surveyed are more likely to stay at a company that provides high-quality mental health resources yet how they receive support is also important. Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) which have been the dominant model for employee mental health benefits since the 1970s are no longer effective. Many employee assistance programs (EAPs) and insurance providers boast seemingly impressive provider-to-employee ratios, but many fail to meet employer and employee needs in a meaningful way. These programs also don’t prioritize culturally centered care, which is a critical component of quality care. Rather than ensuring providers integrate an employee’s cultural background into clinical care, many EAPs focus instead on quantity over quality, making the search for a mental health provider a long and frustrating process. 

At our core, Modern Health is invested in providing the best support and outcomes for every employee, raising the bar for mental health care. We thoroughly vet every provider in our global network, including therapists and coaches. At Modern Health, we actively monitor our providers for quality assurance, ensure speedy access to care with less than one day average to first available appointment with a new provider, and leverage our demographic targets for local characteristics and needs. 

But care doesn’t simply stop with a connection to a provider. Employees want to know that when they reach for support, their mental health provider will understand how their identities might affect their needs and strengths at every level, including stressors that may arise from the societal and cultural factors impacting them, such as race, ethnicity, gender, language, orientation, and socio-economic background. 

Culturally centered care takes all of these factors into account, providing support based on the individual’s many social identities. Providers engaging with culturally centered care will need to practice cultural humility: a core component of a multicultural orientation that involves inward self-awareness, outward valuing of others, and upward growth as a means to appreciate and respect different cultural experiences.

Modern Health Vets Providers for Cultural Humility

Integrating culture into mental health care requires four key components: 

• Awareness of culture
• Knowledge of cultural aspects
• Understanding the difference between culture and stressors
• Ability to integrate concepts into mental health care
  

In seeking to provide the best care for people of all identities and backgrounds, Modern Health sources our providers from around the world. Each expert is vetted for clinical expertise, certifications, experience, and cultural humility practices. This allows us to match employees with the best possible provider for their burgeoning therapeutic alliance, regardless of geographic location. Employees can also filter within our network for preferences on race, language, and care type, allowing them to connect with the exact resources they need. Different global regions may have varying preferences for care, so Modern Health takes the patient-centered approach by catering to those preferences. 

Finally, we maintain a network of only engaged providers who have availability for new patients. Our Provider Engagement Index allows us to see which providers are the most active working with members, leveraging our proprietary provider dashboard, collaborating with others in our provider community, or attending training and workshops. In giving careful consideration and effort to the curation of our provider network, we’re able to ensure employees are satisfied with the care they receive—96% of current Modern Health users report being confident in their provider’s ability to support them. And we check in with our providers too, conducting ongoing quality assurance practices and enabling providers to develop the tools they need to adapt to an ever-changing world. 

Culturally Centered Care and Cultural Humility At Every Stage

Even without matching directly, employees will encounter culturally centered care from our providers in other settings outside of direct 1:1 care, such as through our Circles, Courses, meditations, and other self-guided digital programs. Coaches and therapists lead live Circles, building a sense of community via group discussions and shared experiences, Members of our provider network sit on Modern Health’s Global Inclusion Council, contributing to the development of our international member resources. 

Regardless of which touchpoint an employee begins with at Modern Health, they will be met with equitable, high-quality care from providers who work every day to ensure they bring the most respectful and aware perspective to every interaction. Click on the guide below to learn more about the differentiators that set Modern Health’s global providers apart, and our framework for ensuring diverse, inclusive, and culturally responsive care.