For those who prefer an online, anonymous form of mental health support, Canopy Wellbeing has partnered with Supportiv to provide on-demand digital peer support.

As part of Canopy’s mission to “reduce stigma surrounding EAP access, while contributing to improved employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention,” the organization has chosen to make Supportiv available as a covered service.

In conversation with Canopy’s Humberto Chacon, Supportiv Co-Founder & CEO Helena Plater-Zyberk speaks to the role of anonymous online peer support in meeting population emotional needs, encouraging individuals to move forward through struggles.

To frame the conversation, Plater-Zyberk cites groundbreaking data from Mental Health America, showing that 81% of people surveyed (mean age of 49) expressed interest in accessing mental health services via an online peer support community (like Supportiv).

Supportiv serves as a much-needed point of access to mental healthcare, especially for groups of people historically marginalized from mental healthcare (like men, POC, and people with disabilities).

Building on the concept of support groups and programs like Alcoholics Anonymous, Supportiv makes the power of support groups available 24/7, on-demand, in an actually anonymous format–nobody knows your name or what you look like. Individuals are routed to topic-specific groups based on what they’d like to talk about; groups are also filtered by age (as determined by Natural Language Processing).

The conversation covers the fact that peer support is not just venting. Instead, it involves an entire “conversational arc” – including connecting with other humans who understand your struggle, and connecting to hyper-relevant resources for what you’re going through.

People leave Supportiv chats with tools to take with them into the real world, to feel better and keep on top of daily life stresses. The best part is that the service is available 24/7, no appointments necessary.

View the full conversation on Youtube, contact Canopy Wellbeing, or contact Supportiv at info@supportiv.com for more information on evidence-based digital peer support for your community.