How OpenUp Is a Supplement to Occupational Health Services and Apps Like Calm or Headspace

19 Sep ‘22
3 min
Work performance
Mindfulness
Editorial Board OpenUp
Reviewed by psychologist Pia Linden

Mental health is (thankfully) high on the agenda at many organisations. It’s no surprise that new products and services keep coming onto the market to offer support here. It’s a wonderful development, if you ask us. But it sometimes makes things difficult for organisations, because which of these products or services do you really need and how do they relate to one another? In other words, what’s going on in the world of mental health? And how does OpenUp fit into this?

 

In this article, we’re going to explain how OpenUp differs from occupational health services and discuss the significant differences and similarities between self-help apps and OpenUp. Obviously, we’ll be preaching to the choir a bit here, but we’ll try to explain everything as objectively as possible.

 

Occupational health services vs. OpenUp

 

Every employer in the Netherlands is obligated to work with an occupational healthcare service provider. Two of the core tasks for occupational health services are prevention of illnesses and sick leave support.

 

Occupational health services focus on minimizing absences and getting employees back to work as quickly as possible. OpenUp also helps with this, but our primary focus is on helping people to achieve and maintain long-term health. 

 

We give them tools so that they can tackle the kinds of mental health challenges that all people face. Our work is 95% preventative. While occupational health services will usually get involved if somebody calls in sick with (mental health) symptoms, the aim of OpenUp is to render occupational health services unnecessary.

 

We do this by supporting employees through a variety of challenges and issues related to mental health. For example, this could be increased pressure at work or struggling to find motivation. We’re there when somebody needs a listening ear or wants to work through a mental health challenge with a licensed psychologist. This could be through group sessions, one-on-one online video consultations or live chat services.

 

We also help out when an employee is in a good place with their mental health but would like to grow and develop. In addition, together with HR professionals, we create more awareness around mental health and teach employees to develop skills related to topics like self-confidence, stress, work performance and more.

 

This means that the mental health support offered by OpenUp is more approachable and varied than that provided by occupational health services. OpenUp is there (preventatively) for everybody, while occupational health services are there for people who need help.

 

Self-help apps vs. OpenUp

 

There are hundreds of apps on the market that help people to reduce stress, sleep better, and become more resilient. For example, you might have heard of Calm, Headspace and Happify. As a company, you can give your employees free and unlimited access to these apps. We’re fans of that.

 

Along with these self-help apps, OpenUp also helps people with stress, sleep and resilience. Along with self-confidence, relationships, work-life balance and even more. But we do that in a different way.

 

Our focus here is on personal contact. While you interact with self-help apps by yourself through your phone, our licensed psychologists support people via live chat, online video calls, in group sessions or during a mindfulness consultation.

 

In addition, your personal customer success manager at OpenUp works in collaboration with your HR department to improve awareness around mental health within your organization. We offer online self-help modules and guide people towards appropriate specialist mental health services where necessary. 

 

By helping your employees, OpenUp supports your entire organization

 

In short, OpenUp is here to help employers who place mental health high up on their agenda. The aim is to make people stronger and more resilient so that they can perform better. And everybody benefits from that, both employees and the organization.

 

Activate up to 100% of your employees to boost their resilience and work performance by improving their mental health.