Thanks for subscribing!
You will now receive future content from Lyra Health.
Teenagers are experiencing a mental health crisis that’s so severe it’s considered a national emergency. A staggering 1 in 5 are suffering from a mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder. Even more alarming, the suicide rate for children aged between 10 and 14 has tripled in recent years.
Addressing this crisis has been integral to Lyra Health since our founding. We know foundational coping skills taught at this pivotal age can create a positive ripple effect for decades. That’s why we’ve spent the last eight years recruiting thousands of adolescent specialists who are committed to practicing proven therapies. Now, a new teen starts on their Lyra care journey every 39 minutes, avoiding the weeks- or months-long wait times that most are forced to endure.
Building on this momentum, we’re excited to unveil even more support. We’re launching new, specialized teen care and reimagining support for the entire family.
Immersive teen therapy: Lyra Care for Teens
Despite surging rates of mental health concerns, 80% of kids aren’t receiving the care they need. There simply aren’t enough specialists available. For example, there are only 14 adolescent psychiatrists for every 100,000 children in the U.S.
Source: https://www.aacap.org/aacap/Advocacy/Federal_and_State_Initiatives/Workforce_Maps/Home.aspx
Your employees’ teens face significant and nuanced challenges. That’s why we’ve developed specialized care just for them. Available this June, Lyra Care for Teens makes high-quality therapy accessible when the need has never been greater.
Recognizing the challenges in finding specialists, we’ve guaranteed availability by bringing our care in-house. While others in the market outsource treatment to contractors, only Lyra Care for Teens employs full-time specialists well-trained in evidence-based therapy.
And where conventional treatments stop, we’ve created an ongoing dialogue. Between sessions, teens stay engaged with age-appropriate video lessons and exercises encouraging the continued practice of key therapeutic skills. If issues or questions crop up throughout the week, teens can message their provider using the Lyra app.
Knowing we’re competing with TikTok and YouTube for attention spans, we made it a priority to test our content with teens themselves. We developed the universe of characters and scenarios in our video lessons in partnership with a cohort of teens, ensuring the content resonates.
The interconnectedness of family mental health
The reality is this issue doesn’t stop with teenagers. When a child is suffering, focusing on anything else can become unimaginable for the parents. Child mental health challenges can unearth a swirl of emotions that ripple through the whole family.
The heavy burden teen mental health imparts on parents is reflected in the data: Parental anxiety and depression rates are similar to those experienced by their teens. With 55% of U.S. workers supporting a child with a mental health challenge, the need to care for parents in parallel is increasingly urgent.
Since family mental health is so interconnected, addressing one part of the equation in isolation won’t work. Families need a solution personalized to each individual’s needs. This inspired how we built family care at Lyra. Only Lyra provides comprehensive support for the entire family, from self-care to individual, couples, and family therapy.
Caring for the caregiver: Coaching for Parents
Among our family care options, we continue to invest in specialized support like our Coaching for Parents program. It can be hard for parents to know where to turn for reliable advice when struggling or navigating their child’s behavior. This challenge is compounded by an overwhelming sea of parenting content, each claiming to offer the “definitive” solution.
Cutting through the noise, Coaching for Parents offers trustworthy, expert-guided parenting advice to tackle challenges like technology use, fostering independence, and managing arguments.
For parents of teens facing mental health issues, getting personalized care alongside their child can be vital. Studies reveal that adolescents have a higher likelihood of improving if the entire family is receiving care.
Care for the whole family—all in one place
Despite its proven benefits, coordinating care for the whole family often becomes a stressor itself. Parents are suddenly thrust into a maze of searching for care, scheduling appointments, and completing provider forms, often without the time or support to navigate everything effectively.
To simplify this, we’re launching the family hub on the Lyra platform. Instead of a post-it note collage of appointment times and co-pay reminders, parents will have a single space to view upcoming sessions, oversee referrals, and access family-relevant wellness content.
Teen mental health is a workplace issue
While family mental health challenges have a palpable impact on the household, it’s essential to recognize the impact in the workplace. Organizations like yours become a catch-all for family mental health spending. Children with a mental health condition accounted for nearly half of total pediatric medical spending, with child mental health costs rising by 31% last year. Organizations like yours may be seeing this impact in your health plan.
For employers, kids and teens offer the biggest opportunity for plan savings when compared to other age groups. Independent cost savings analysis found that employers offering Lyra Health experienced an average 26% reduction in annual health plan spending, with kids aged 1-18 contributing over $3,300 in annual savings.
Beyond hard costs, employers feel the effects of lacking teen mental health support via presenteeism, absenteeism, and turnover. Ensuring that children receive the care they need inevitably becomes the parents’ highest priority, drawing all resources towards making that happen. More than half of working parents say they’ve missed work at least once a month to support their child’s mental health, and over a third changed their job or resigned.
When viewed from this lens, supporting families is not only crucial for their mental well-being, it’s also beneficial for the entire organization.
Build mentally healthy families with Lyra
In the face of a growing crisis in family mental health, organizations like yours play a pivotal role—not just in addressing the immediate needs of your employees, but also in shaping a future generation equipped with coping skills that will serve them for decades to come.
We’re here to partner with you to make mental health a cornerstone of organizational success.
Learn how Lyra can support your people and their families
Get a free consultation
Stay in touch and get the latest blogs
