Priya Chagan

Life insurance specialist, TAL, has partnered with leading virtual healthcare provider, Teladoc Health, to offer additional mental health support to TAL customers.

Initially offered to a select group of TAL’s advised customers and customers with insurance through superannuation, ‘Mental Health Assist’ will be available for eligible TAL customers on claim with a mental health condition.

Dr Priya Chagan, TAL General Manager, Health Services, said, “We are delighted to be able to offer this additional mental health support to our customers. ‘Mental Health Assist’ improves customers’ mental health outcomes by fast-tracking access to a team of multidisciplinary mental health experts tailored to the customer’s situation. Leading psychologists and psychiatrists can conduct a review of the customer’s mental health via video conferencing and provide detailed treatment plans.

“One of the insights from our White Paper on Mental Health and Life Insurance is that access to mental health support in Australia is stretched, with only 13 psychiatrists per 100,000 people and 88 psychologists per 100,000 people^[1]. The number of psychiatrists available for Australia’s population is low compared to other developed countries and this can lead to long waiting times for expert care, which can have an adverse impact on a person’s recovery journey.

“Through ‘Mental Health Assist’, eligible TAL customers will be able to access the mental health care they need in only nine days, with a tailored team of experts to support them and their recovery journey.”

Glenn Baird, TAL Head of Mental Health, said, “‘Mental Health Assist’ has been designed by Teladoc Health for the Australian life insurance market and it has been delivering outstanding outcomes for the past two years. It has had some great success in improving patient mental health outcomes, seeing up to a 68% improvement in depression symptoms within three months and improved work attendance and productivity for patients who return to work.

“This program will enable us to continue to improve outcomes for TAL customers experiencing mental health conditions,” he said.

‘Mental Health Assist’ is recognised for its clinical excellence and innovation, with awards from the Australasian Life Underwriting and Claims Association (ALUCA), the Financial Services Council (FSC) and Canstar.

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[1] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)

Brett Clark05

Leading Australian life insurer, TAL, has launched a white paper aimed at stimulating stakeholder and life insurance industry discussions on mental health support, mental health policy, and the role the life insurance industry can play in supporting and engaging Australians who experience mental health conditions.

Developed by TAL’s Health Services Team, the white paper aims to leverage the experiences and learnings from the life insurance industry, both locally and globally, to help inform stakeholders who develop and shape mental health support across Australia. Specifically, the white paper seeks to encourage greater life insurance industry, Government and community alignment and collaboration on mental health support for the millions of customers we serve.

TAL Group CEO, Brett Clark, said, “Through this white paper we are seeking to contribute to the important discussions currently being had on mental health, including the role service providers, and in particular life insurers, can play in better supporting Australians in managing their mental health.

“This white paper takes a ‘whole of environment’ approach and examines factors ranging from mental health terminology, diagnosis, and treatment, to the way we are designing products, addressing support, and delivering prevention initiatives.

“The importance of maintaining mental health has been brought into sharp focus over the last year, as evidenced by the Australian Government’s additional investment in and support for the mental health of Australians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“TAL is committed to continuing to invest in our ability to support positive mental health outcomes for our customers and the community.”

TAL was the first insurer to introduce a dedicated Head of Mental Health, whose role includes informing product development and practices and ensuring they reflect evolving clinical best-practice.

TAL Head of Mental Health, Glenn Baird, said the white paper summarises TAL’s insights in relation to the way insurers can better support and engage with individuals who are experiencing mental health challenges in Australia.

“It’s crucial that insurers are both aware of and prepared for potential changes in regulation, ongoing community expectations and changes to mental health funding models. The comorbidity of mental health conditions with other conditions is significant. Life insurers and other stakeholders need to take this into account in the design of support and prevention programs.”, Mr Baird said.

“Getting this right for the future starts with meaningful engagement with the community, customers, regulators, Government and industry.

“TAL established a Mental Health Action Group in 2018 to bring together leading external mental health experts, including those with lived experience of mental health conditions, to drive positive change across product, underwriting and claims processes.

“Through that initiative and partners such as the University of Sydney Brain and Mind Centre, some of this work is already well underway. Broader industry and stakeholder alignment would support sustainable change into the future and this white paper has been developed to facilitate that engagement. 

Read the white paper.

Mental health plays a crucial role in holistic health and wellbeing.

It is well known that mental health plays a crucial role in holistic health and wellbeing, and that making small improvements in day-to-day activities can help all of us thrive and stay mentally healthy.

Financial advisers in particular have a significant opportunity to support the health and wellbeing of their clients. To do this effectively advisers must be engaged with their own mental health. At TAL, we believe it’s important for advisers to be equipped with tools and services to raise awareness on mental health and start supportive conversations that help to better connect with their clients.

Regardless of what is happening around us, our mental and physical health must remain a priority.

Here are some simple tips to help you and your clients maintain good mental health:

1. Keep up education

Mental health education helps to foster an environment where people feel supported, both personally and professionally. Education and awareness start with understanding the importance of looking after our own mental health. Y

ou and your team could benefit from learning skills that enable you to offer appropriate advice, support, and strategies that help your clients who may be facing mental health challenges.

The TAL Risk Academy is a good place to start your learning, and there are courses available exploring the fundamentals of mental wellbeing, as well as practical strategies you can utilise with your clients.

2. Encourage open conversations

As a financial adviser, you are in the unique position of being able to help your clients feel connected with, and excited about, their financial situation now and into the future.

Creating an open and safe environment for your clients can help encourage conversations on sensitive topics like mental health, while building further value into the relationship.

While it’s not always easy to have these conversations, empowering your clients to take control of their mental health is a positive step in creating a trusted relationship with them.

3. Lead by example

Be approachable and authentic in your communication, and don’t hesitate to initiate conversations around mental health.

Leading by example and showing empathy are two good starting points. Sharing personal experiences and encouraging your clients to do the same can have positive and lasting impacts on their mental health.

4. Take notice and be mindful

It’s important to take some time for yourself – make time in your day to rest and relax. Practising mindfulness can be a helpful way to regulate emotions, improve sleep and reduce stress levels.

Being aware of the world around you and giving your mind and body time to recharge, can help to minimise your negative thoughts and worries. It may also help you to notice clients that may be facing mental health challenges.

It’s important to remember that the best relationships between financial advisers and clients go beyond transactional advice. Advisers play a trusted role in helping clients navigate their challenges and opportunities throughout all stages of life.

A solid grounding in understanding mental health – both your own and your clients’ – will ensure you’re equipped to play that role and support them to the greatest extent possible.

By Glenn Baird, Head of Mental Health

Glenn Baird

Mental health is a journey of learning to understand ourselves and make healthy choices that build resilience and help us live a fulfilling life. It is an incredibly important topic for us all to be aware so we can encourage conversations in an open and accepting environment and help people be well and thrive.

When it comes to financial advisers, understanding the importance of looking after mental health in everyday life can help them recognise the behaviour and communication needed to best support their customers. It’s not always easy to have conversations around sensitive topics and that’s why at TAL we believe it’s important that advisers are equipped with the right skills to adapt to the evolving mental health sector. This can enable advisers to provide their customers with the appropriate support they need, including advising on both the prevention and return to health of customers living with mental health conditions.

Education and awareness are key in helping to create an environment where people feel supported both professionally and personally. Being educated on the behaviours that can improve our mental health is important and having a workplace that is fostering these behaviours is important in seeing these actions become routine. Adviser education on mental health should be focused on raising awareness and providing helpful tools to start the conversation with their customers and create a safe space where they feel supported and understood.

Advisers can be amongst the most trusted people in a customer’s life, and it’s critical that the advice profession continually seeks knowledge on the impact, positive and negative, that mental health can have on overall health and wellbeing, therefore equipping advisers to better manage customers’ needs.

It’s with that in mind that TAL has launched a new course to help financial advisers to reflect on and improve their own mental wellbeing, while equipping them with the skills to apply the fundamentals of mental health and wellbeing to their businesses.

The course, offered through TAL’s Risk Academy, focuses on explaining the fundamentals of mental wellbeing as well as providing advisers with evidence-based tips to improve their personal wellbeing and function at their best. The course provides guidance on how to support customers experiencing depression or anxiety as well as help advisers themselves deal with the mounting pressures and stress arising from changes in the industry.

Supporting our advisers both professionally and personally has never been more important. The environment continues to experience rapid change, with advisers facing widespread scrutiny, compliance pressures, higher education demands and reforms.

To help form a supportive network it is important for advisers to create and cultivate an open environment and encourage conversations around mental health. Mental Health does not need to be seen as a weakness. Requesting support from those around us is actually a sign of strength.

There are a number of ways advisers can initiate the conversation and help reassure customers that they are in an environment that is open and supportive. Leading by example and showing empathy are two good starting points. There is strength in being human, sharing our experiences, and encouraging employees and customers to do the same. Together, advisers, employees and their customers can drive change within the mental health space.

By Glenn Baird, Head of Mental Health.

Beau Riley

TAL, a leading Australian life insurance specialist, is running a training course to help financial advisers understand and support their customers who may be suffering from grief.

Run through TAL’s industry leading product-agnostic Risk Academy, the ‘Supporting Grieving Clients Course’ is run by Glenn Baird, TAL Head of Mental Health. Glenn currently leads TAL’s mental health strategy and he has more than 14 years’ experience as a qualified psychotherapist, facilitator and trainer.

TAL Head of Licensees and Partnerships, Beau Riley, said the course was developed to help advisers gain a greater understanding of the support they can provide customers who may be suffering from grief as well as knowledge on other resources advisers can draw on when their customers need additional help.

“Under the new adviser education requirements, financial advisers have increased requirements to obtain continuous professional development (CPD) hours across various FASEA areas, one of which is Client Care and Practice. While current education options traditionally offer a lot of course content in the technical space, there is a need for more support in the soft skills space.

“Very little training is available to equip advisers to have the right conversations when their customers are suffering from grief. Feedback from advisers tells us that this is the most important area they need to get right to effectively support their customers and that having these skills can be a real differentiator.

“Through TAL Risk Academy, we aim to provide easily accessible resources that advisers can use to develop skills such as improving empathy, recognising grief symptoms and responding to grieving people. These are core soft skills that advisers can embrace to help their customers when they need them most,” said Mr Riley.

Financial adviser Nathan McCullum is an advocate for more advisers to complete training in this space. Mr McCullum completed the Accidental Counsellor course last year through Lifeline Northern Beaches and has found value in the training to improve his ability to deal with difficult customer conversations.

“I encourage other financial advisers to do more training in this space, particularly young advisers. Many advisers may not be aware of their responsibility to get these conversations right, but advisers have a key role to play in providing trusted support to our customers.

“Advisers often operate small practices and they just don’t have the resources to draw on to gain these skills. It’s good to see TAL providing more education in this space,” said Mr McCullum.

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Beau Riley

TAL, a leading Australian life insurance specialist, is running a training course to help financial advisers understand and support their customers who may be suffering from grief.

Run through TAL’s industry leading product-agnostic Risk Academy, the ‘Supporting Grieving Clients Course’ is run by Glenn Baird, TAL Head of Mental Health. Glenn currently leads TAL’s mental health strategy and he has more than 14 years’ experience as a qualified psychotherapist, facilitator and trainer.

TAL Head of Licensees and Partnerships, Beau Riley, said the course was developed to help advisers gain a greater understanding of the support they can provide customers who may be suffering from grief as well as knowledge on other resources advisers can draw on when their customers need additional help.

“Under the new adviser education requirements, financial advisers have increased requirements to obtain continuous professional development (CPD) hours across various FASEA areas, one of which is Client Care and Practice. While current education options traditionally offer a lot of course content in the technical space, there is a need for more support in the soft skills space.

“Very little training is available to equip advisers to have the right conversations when their customers are suffering from grief. Feedback from advisers tells us that this is the most important area they need to get right to effectively support their customers and that having these skills can be a real differentiator.

“Through TAL Risk Academy, we aim to provide easily accessible resources that advisers can use to develop skills such as improving empathy, recognising grief symptoms and responding to grieving people. These are core soft skills that advisers can embrace to help their customers when they need them most,” said Mr Riley.

Financial adviser Nathan McCullum is an advocate for more advisers to complete training in this space. Mr McCullum completed the Accidental Counsellor course last year through Lifeline Northern Beaches and has found value in the training to improve his ability to deal with difficult customer conversations.

“I encourage other financial advisers to do more training in this space, particularly young advisers. Many advisers may not be aware of their responsibility to get these conversations right, but advisers have a key role to play in providing trusted support to our customers.

“Advisers often operate small practices and they just don’t have the resources to draw on to gain these skills. It’s good to see TAL providing more education in this space,” said Mr McCullum.

The post TAL launches grief support training course for advisers appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Margo Lydon

TAL, Australia’s leading life insurance specialist, is rolling out mental health coaching programs to its frontline claims managers and people leaders as part of its commitment to improving the mental health of its customers and employees.

Led by TAL’s Head of Mental Health, Glenn Baird, the two coaching programs are based on best practice approaches outlined by TAL’s community partner, SuperFriend, a national mental health foundation focused on creating positive, healthy and safe working environments where employees can be well and thrive.

The coaching program for claims managers focuses on strengths-based, outcome-focused techniques to understand the person on claim’s goals and shape the claims management process with these in mind.

Loraine van Eeden, TAL General Manager, Claims, said, “The training for our claims managers uses a framework that highlights the need for empathy and understanding, as well language that focuses on the strengths and efforts of the person on claim as they navigate their way back to wellness. The program is being delivered to all claims teams across TAL, with ongoing coaching to refine the skills.”

The program for people leaders equips TAL managers with the right skills and tools to support their teams and foster an environment where they feel comfortable discussing mental health. TAL has made this training mandatory for all people leaders to complete over the next six months.

Commenting on the new programs, Mr Baird said, “These coaching programs are key initiatives in TAL’s mission to enhance our mental health capability, drawing on professionals and partners to empower TAL customers to live their best life through good health. Equally, as an employer we are committed to encouraging positive mental health and wellness in our people so that everyone at TAL can be well.

“The training for our people leaders was developed in partnership with SuperFriend. We understand that it’s not always easy to have sensitive conversations around mental health in the workplace and this practical program will help our people identify when support is needed, how and when to have discussions with their teams, and give them resources to support them in their roles. We are proud to be leading the industry in making mental health and wellbeing training mandatory for all people leaders across TAL.

“By partnering with SuperFriend, we are ensuring we employ best, evidence-based practice in managing the wellbeing of our people; as well as responding to mental health claims and interactions with our customers to give them the very best support we can,” he said.

Margo Lydon, CEO of SuperFriend, said, “Through regular mental health and wellbeing training of all people leaders, organisations can make a real difference to their people, customers and the broader community.SuperFriend is proud to partner with TAL to help achieve this.

“Taking a whole of business approach to building the skills of people leaders in mental health is to be commended. Through our partnership with TAL, we are able to deliver this best practice mental health and wellbeing training to help TAL and their staff provide better care to their customers,” she said.

These internal programs complement TAL’s external partnerships with the Black Dog Institute, the University of Sydney and Professor Neil Greenberg. Through the Black Dog Institute, TAL provides customers with access to evidence-based mental health resources, while the University of Sydney and TAL are working to explore the alternative risk predictors of mental health disorders. The partnership with Professor Neil Greenberg fosters best practice management of traumatic stress among claims case managers.

TAL announces new partnership that will see Remedy Healthcare’s ‘MindStep’ program added to its broader health support services.

TAL, Australia’s leading life insurance specialist, has announced a new partnership with Remedy Healthcare, a leader in innovative healthcare.

The partnership will see TAL introduce Remedy Healthcare’s ‘MindStep’ program to its broader health support services, enabling TAL to offer optional, free-of-charge life coaching services to customers on income protection claims associated with depression or anxiety.

The optional MindStep program will draw on trained mental health coaches from Remedy Healthcare to offer a series of behavior activation sessions to TAL customers aimed at increasing motivation and facilitating improved wellbeing.

TAL Head of Mental Health, Glenn Baird, said that the MindStep program represents another step in TAL’s mission to build out its mental health capability, drawing on professionals and partners to empower TAL customers to live their best life through good health.

“Mental health is an important focus for TAL and one of the top three reasons our customers claimed in 2017. We are committed to providing the best possible support for our customers with mental health conditions and one of the ways we do this is by facilitating access to mental health support through partnerships with the external health community.

“Our partnership with Remedy Healthcare will enhance our mental health claims offering by providing additional support mechanisms that can improve our customers’ mindset and assist in return to work planning,” he said.

The optional MindStep program will complement the care that customers receive from their GP, psychologist or psychiatrist. The program takes place over a period of seven weeks, with trained mental health coaches working directly with the customers’ usual doctor or health professional. MindStep draws on the UK-based “Improving Access to Psychological Therapies” (IAPT) service, which has assisted more than 1 million people.

David Brajkovic, Remedy Healthcare Executive General Manager, said, “We are delighted to be bringing the MindStep program to TAL, who have done some leading work in the mental health space within the life insurance sector.

“Our MindStep program has resulted in a measurable improvement in the mental health of over 70% of our previous participants and we are confident that together with TAL we will be able to deliver positive and meaningful support for TAL’s customers.”

This partnership adds to TAL’s recent working relationships with the Black Dog Institute, the University of Sydney and Professor Neil Greenberg. Through the Black Dog Institute, TAL provides customers with access to evidence-based mental health resources, while the University of Sydney and TAL are working to explore the alternative risk predictors of mental health disorders. The partnership with Professor Neil Greenberg fosters best practice management of traumatic stress among claims case managers.

The appointment is in line with TAL’s wider health strategy, which aims to expand TAL’s ability to understand, manage and support the mental, physical and financial health of its people and its customers.

Commenting on the appointment, TAL General Manager for Health Services, Dr Sally Phillips, said: “We are exceptionally delighted to have someone of Glenn’s calibre join us in this pivotal and industry leading role.

“Mental health is an important focus for TAL and a driving force behind our creation of Glenn’s role. Mental health represents the second largest category of claims after cancer and it is a growing theme in society and in our customers’ lives. It’s important that we have the right expertise to make objective decisions, reflecting evolving medical best practice, and give our customers the very best support.

“Glenn will drive TAL’s mental health strategy both internally and externally, working with TAL’s broader Health Services team and multiple mental health groups to encourage the health and wellbeing of TAL’s people and of all Australians. This will include advising on both the prevention and return to health of customers suffering from mental health illnesses.

“We have every confidence that Glenn’s skills and experience will make him ideally suited to the new role,” said Dr Phillips.

Mr Baird is a registered psychologist and an accredited trainer to various mental health stakeholder groups, such as Beyondblue and LivingWorks Australia, which work to address issues associated with depression, anxiety, related mental disorders, and suicide.

Prior to joining TAL, he was a Director at SportsLife iQ, a support and counselling group for elite athletes, where he developed and delivered training programs in the area of mental health and wellbeing.

Mr Baird commenced the role yesterday in TAL’s Sydney office.