Employee Assistance Benefits with Lyra Health

Lyra is a Smiths Group-sponsored benefit that connects employees and their dependents to mental and emotional health care that is effective, convenient, and personalized. Using technology, proven treatments, and a network of top therapists and coaches, Lyra matches you to the right care for your needs, from short-term therapy and coaching to mental wellness tools. Lyra also provides work life services to help you work through personal life obstacles. These services include legal, identity theft, financial, and dependent care services.

Yes. In addition to offering behavioral health services to support your emotional well-being, Lyra offers Legal, Financial, Identity Theft, and Dependent Care services to assist you and your family during challenging times.

• Legal services include a free 30-minute consultation with an attorney or mediator and access to 24-hour emergency support.
• Financial services include a free 30-minute consultation with a financial counselor and a free 30-minute consultation with a CPA.
• Identity Theft services include a free 60-minute consultation with a fraud resolution specialist and a free ID emergency response kit.
• Dependent Care services include resources and referrals for child, elder, and pet care and 24-hour online and phone support.

For more information on these benefits, please visit the work life service page or contact the Lyra team at (877) 331-4678.

Lyra is here to serve U.S. benefits-eligible Smiths Group employees, spouses and domestic partners, and dependents (up to age 26).

Lyra can help with stress, anxiety, depression, communication issues, sleep disorders, and other common issues that can be addressed through services such as therapy, coaching, or mental wellness tools. Maybe you are feeling sad, disinterested in things you used to enjoy, or like anxiety has taken over your life. Perhaps you can’t sleep or eat, or you are sleeping or eating too much.

Lyra can also help with family or couple issues. Whether you feel stuck in a relationship and don’t know what to do next, are going through a rough patch with your partner, or have encountered a life change that impacts the entire family, Lyra providers can help.

Use our online platform or contact our care team directly to tell us about what you’re going through. We’ll then share how we can help with different care options, such as Guided Self-Care, Mental Health Coaching, therapy, and mental wellness tools that fit your needs and preferences, and get you started right away. Throughout your experience with Lyra we’ll check in to see how it’s going and be there for you every step of the way.

Our goal is to provide care that will help you feel better as soon as possible. Lyra supports evidence-based methods that have been proven by research to be effective, also known as evidence-based care. Evidence-based care focuses on building new skills and can include daily or weekly activities and exercises to practice these skills in your everyday life. It’s the regular practice that makes the skills stick and accelerates your progress in care.

All of Lyra’s providers are vetted to ensure they use these evidence-based treatments. Because evidence-based care is highly effective, many members that choose to see a provider feel better and complete care in just 6-13 sessions, while others with more acute symptoms might need more care.

It usually takes just over 10 minutes to complete the online assessment and get connected to a top therapist, coach, or self-guided program for your needs. You can also call the care team at (877) 331-4678 to start the conversation immediately.

There’s no cost to you for mental health care as a benefits-eligible employee or dependent! Lyra has partnered with Smiths Group to cover the cost of outpatient therapy and mental health coaching services. We cover up to 16 sessions per calendar year as long as you are eligible for benefits from Smiths Group.

We also cover the cost of your first consultations with work life services, after which you will be able to pay a discounted fee if you choose to continue engagement with the service.

A Lyra therapist can help you to understand the relationships between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and how problems in one or more areas can lead to conditions like depression, eating disorders, or post-traumatic stress disorder. A Lyra therapist can also support you in identifying factors that increase emotional distress and suggest new strategies for managing these situations effectively. Lyra only supports evidence-based therapies, which means the methods used by our providers have been proven to work.

In therapy, you may learn new skills for managing intense anxiety or deep depression and alternatives to coping strategies that haven’t been working for you. Over time we’ll help you develop tools to manage and relieve your symptoms so you can start to feel better and get back to feeling more like the real you.

Watch this video to learn more.

Meet with a Lyra coach to get to the root of your challenges, gain new insights, and see things through a new lens. Sessions can be weekly, bi-weekly, or even monthly. Between sessions you’ll get activities and strategies to build on what you learn, and you can message your coach if anything comes up. As new challenges arise, you can discuss them with your coach and come up with strategies for lasting change. Most members have around four to six sessions with their coach.

You may have heard of life coaches or health coaches before – Lyra’s coaches are different.

Lyra’s mental health coaches can help you pin-point what you’re dealing with and can support a range of challenges including stress, anxiety, burnout, grief, relationship challenges, loneliness, perfectionism, life transitions, mild depression and more.

Only 3% of coaches pass Lyra’s extensive vetting process and all of Lyra’s coaches have top level training at International Coach Federation (ICF) accredited programs. Once coaches join Lyra, they complete our exclusive four-month training program so you know they are more than qualified to support you.

Lyra coaches use effective techniques that draw from clinically validated treatments proven to work including cognitive behavioral therapy and positive psychology. 89% of members working with a coach improved their stress and well-being according to our validated clinical measures.

Most importantly, 97% of members would recommend their coach to a colleague or friend.

At Lyra, we think about mental health on a spectrum and understand that there is no one-size fits all solution, so we have different care options for different needs.

Coaching is often most helpful for members that need support getting challenges like stress, burnout, anxiety, relationship issues under control so the feelings don’t get worse. Your Lyra coach will work with you to identify challenges, get to the root of the issue, listen, and help you learn new strategies to feel better and stay on track.

Therapy is often most helpful for members dealing with clinical diagnoses or more complex or long-standing mental health challenges such as PTSD, depression, or eating disorders.

Start with a consultation session with your Lyra coach to share what’s going on. Afterwards, your coach will craft a personalized care plan with exercises and strategies for you to work on independently, at your own pace. Your coach will keep you on track, provide you with specific feedback along the way, and be available via messaging for questions and support. It’s a great option if you don’t want or don’t have time for regular sessions or if mental wellness tools sound nice, but you still want someone there to keep you engaged.

Our goal is for you to feel better and get back to living your life, not to remain in therapy indefinitely. If you reach your 16-session limit for the year, and your therapist determines you would benefit from additional care, you may elect to continue working with your Lyra provider, but any future sessions would require out-of-pocket payment. You may be able to submit claims to your medical plan to cover part of the cost of care if your plan includes partial reimbursement for out-of-network providers. Alternatively, you may opt to find a provider who is in-network with your medical plan.

For therapy, you can choose whether to meet in a provider’s office or by live video from any place with an internet connection. For Mental Health Coaching, you have the option to meet by live video, live messaging, or telephone for your sessions. There are also mental wellness tools available. Not sure what is right for you? The Lyra care team can answer your questions 24/7 by phone at (877) 331-4678, by email at care@lyrahealth.com , or by web chat at smiths.lyrahealth.com.

Services that are not covered include: psychiatry, inpatient or residential treatment, hospitalization (including partial), intensive outpatient treatment, emergent care, long-term care or counseling, prescription medication, autism spectrum disorder treatment, services for remedial education, executive coaching, and non-evidence-based behavioral health care. Please check with your medical plan or benefits portal for coverage of these excluded services.

Lyra does not share information with Smiths Group that identifies which individuals are in care unless you request us to share this information. For more details about the types of information we collect and/or share, please see our privacy policy and HIPAA notice.

When you start care, it’s important to talk to your provider about their cancellation policy. Most providers require 24-48 hours’ notice for cancellations. Please refer to your provider for questions about their cancellation policy and fees. If you do not cancel on time or miss an appointment without cancelling, for any reason, you will be required to reimburse your provider for the missed session.

Any missed or late sessions will not count against the 16 sessions you get per calendar year.

You may find yourself in a situation in which you want to encourage someone you know to try Lyra or help them get registered. Below are guidelines to follow when pursuing care for another individual:

• Adults who have the Lyra benefit need to sign themselves up for Lyra for privacy reasons. You can recommend the person you are concerned about to register directly with Lyra, as long as they have the Lyra benefit.
• Benefits-eligible employees who are over the age of 15 can independently search for and schedule care with a Lyra provider without parental permission. Lyra collects individuals’ dates of birth during registration to determine appropriate use and may restrict access. If you experience difficulty accessing the platform and believe you should be able to, please contact a member of the care team.
• Access to mental health care for minor dependents is governed by state laws. Some states require parental or guardian consent while others do not. To comply with these laws, access to Lyra’s care platform is not available for non-employee members under the age of 18. Parents or guardians of minors can contact the care team on their behalf. A member of the care team, when legally appropriate, can help individuals find and receive care.
• If you are the legal caretaker of another adult, please contact the Lyra care team at care@lyrahealth.com to determine how they can access care.

Part of Lyra’s mission is to ensure that people are getting high-quality, evidence-based care so they can feel better, faster. A standard part of evidence-based care is to capture ongoing feedback from you so that your provider can better understand your progress and tailor your treatment plan. Typically, you are asked to report on your progress in treatment once a month or weekly depending on the care program you are in and provider preference.

To protect your privacy, we require our providers to utilize HIPAA-compliant and secure platforms. Your provider will share additional information and instructions about which platform they use and how to meet via live video. Research has shown that online tools, including video therapy, video coaching, and computerized therapy, can be just as effective as in-person treatment.

Live messaging sessions are available to members in Mental Health Coaching. Sessions take place on our HIPAA-compliant and secure platform and last up to 45 minutes so you have plenty of time to connect with your Lyra coach. During your session, your coach will message with you and be 100% focused on your conversation. If you start with live messaging coaching sessions, you’ll always have the flexibility to switch between live messaging and video sessions for added convenience.

Live messaging coaching sessions may be a good option if it’s difficult to find a private place to join a video session or if you do not want to connect face-to-face.

We know that for some members, finding a provider that self-identifies as Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color (“BIPOC”) is very important. When available and a good fit for what you’d like to address in therapy, you can find providers that self-identify as BIPOC directly in the Lyra platform and you always have the option to contact our care team if you need help searching for a provider that meets your needs.

Smiths Group will continue to cover the cost of care as long as you are on an approved leave of absence or elect and pay for EAP COBRA coverage.

Your group health and welfare benefits end on your last day of employment, but if eligible for COBRA you may elect this benefit at your cost. Lyra is available under COBRA for Smiths Group members. Smiths Group will continue to cover the cost of care if you elect and pay for EAP COBRA coverage.

Because telehealth laws vary by state, your provider may only be able to deliver care in the state in which they are licensed. It is important to discuss your travel plans with your provider in advance to determine if you’ll need to adjust your session schedule. Lyra does not recommend providers to continue sessions when a client travels outside of the United States unless the provider is licensed to practice in the applicable jurisdiction.

Lyra covers short-term, evidence-based outpatient mental health services, at no cost to you. There are no copays, no deductibles, and no prior authorizations or referrals needed to begin care.

Your medical plan is a more appropriate option for certain types of intensive care such as medication management, emergency care, long-term care, or psychiatric conditions that would require hospitalization.

If you are currently seeing a provider and are interested in learning if your sessions could be covered under the Lyra benefit, you can invite your provider to apply to join Lyra at lyrahealth.com/apply-now. If your provider chooses to apply, we’ll evaluate their approach to short-term, evidence-based therapy and see if they meet other criteria to become a Lyra provider.

To work with Lyra, your provider must:

• Practice evidence-based therapies
• Utilize short-term therapy approaches
• Have the appropriate credentials, including an active and independent clinical license in your state
• Adhere to Lyra’s policies and procedures, including the reporting of outcomes

Of the hundreds of therapies practiced today, only 20% of them have been proven to work through peer-reviewed studies. Lyra only works with providers who practice these proven, short-term, evidence-based therapies. As such, some providers may not be a good fit for Lyra’s approach to care, or they may decide they don’t want to partner with Lyra for any number of reasons. If that’s the case, Lyra can recommend top-tier providers whose expertise matches your needs and who practice evidence-based therapy for your consideration. We can also help you understand all options available to you through your health plan coverage and other employee benefits, so you can make the best choice for you.

If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know. We look forward to hearing from you!