A hidden gem: United Way wants mental health website to have a higher profile

CredibleMind n WHAT: A digital platform that provides expert-curated and scientifically-backed mental health and self-care resources that are specifically chosen to match your unique needs and preferences. n WHO CAN USE IT: Employers, hospitals, health insurance providers, community organizations and government agencies. n TOPICS: ADHD, gaming for well-being, OCD, PTSD, anxiety and young adults, and health and lifestyle assessments. n WHO WILL KNOW: CredibleMind is secure and confidential. Information is never shared with other users, your employer, health plan providers, or used to identify you in any way. n WEBSITE: lakelands.crediblemind.com

How do you solve a problem when you're not even sure you have one?

That is a question Marisel Losa, president and CEO of the United Way of the Lakelands, faced years ago. The answer is CredibleMind, a website that presents reliable information on mental health issues and how to effectively address them.

The platform provides mental health and well-being information. People don't have to have severe mental illness to learn from it, she said. It addresses many things, such as anxiety, sleeping issues and how to meditate. It even offers an assessment to determine whether someone is burned out. A person can walk through assessments and learn how to customize a plan to address issues, Losa said.

Information ranges from career burnout, eating disorders, working on relationships, dealing with drug use and thoughts of suicide, seasonal affective disorder, post-partum depression, eating disorders, online therapies and support groups, and even internet gaming disorder.

Other sections include Dry January, which encourages people to reduce or eliminate alcohol consumption for the month, to providing information on starting the new year with the three A's — attitude, affirmation and activity — and highlighting creative problem-solving exercises to improve the performance of work teams.

The site also has a "need help now" tab in the upper righthand section. It provides contact information for a teen line for callers to talk to trained teen listeners, a crisis text line, an eating disorder support line, a maternal mental health line, LGBTQIA+ support programs and other services.

"There is such a spectrum of information, it's a world that opens up for folks to manage on a day-to-day basis," Losa said. It helps educate a person and can make them realize, "Hey, maybe I need to see a provider."

Losa hopes to add a chat function that would provide someone for people to talk to.

CredibleMind was formed in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic was getting started. Losa said when it hit, the site was an instrumental tool for a lot of clients who were dealing with challenges. Since the pandemic, she expressed concern that the website is underused.

It would be great for the community to embrace it, she said. It's a hidden gem that isn't used as much as it should be.

Studies show more than 75% of people will first look up information because of a stigma associated with mental health issues. Losa said this is scientifically valid information that is available for free. It is a huge benefit, as opposed to randomly researching something on Google where people don't know the source of the information, she said.

It's interesting to have conversations with younger people and those from underserved communities who get information from each other, she said. You can be misinformed that way.

Work on the CredibleMind website started months before the pandemic hit. Losa said she was contacted by Deryk Van Brunt, a former associate, about his work to develop the website. He identified the need for valid mental health information. Van Brunt asked the United Way of the Lakelands to be a beta site for CredibleMind. He has never come back to ask for a bill, Losa said. Many communities have to pay for the service.

"We are limited with mental health providers," she said. "We have huge issues with people who have insurance that doesn't cover mental health."

People have many concerns, said Justo Chalaire, a community engagement and data specialist with the United Way. The Mental Health Alliance, which is under the Greenwood Counts Community Consortium (GC3), launched a survey addressing challenges to obtaining mental health service. It received 380 responses and the biggest issues were cost, having the time to get an appointment for help and stigma — a belief that people don't need to prioritize mental health care.

In many cases, people are expected to "tough it out," Chalaire said. People sometimes also have fear or shame in seeking care.

It's not like going to doctor for a sprained ankle, Chalaire said. A person shouldn't feel shame about having a sprained ankle, he said, but with mental health, there is a lot of stigma. He said most people don't realize how common mental health issues are or they are concerned about how others in the community will see them.

Losa noted that a Lakelands Counts data platform, which provides access to quality of life data, received 25,000 hits on mental health issues.

Caretakers who face issues with their families have expressed interest in the website to learn how to handle stress, Losa said. The United Way uses it to help its employees and to provide resources to its clients. It's n also a resource for providers as they can point out information for their clients who can walk away with something tangible they can refer to, she said.

"My favorite part of the tool is you can access information on different media — watching a video, reading a blog or looking at a PowerPoint presentation or reading an article. You can select how you want to see it because everybody learns differently," Losa said.

Losa uses it for sleep issues and to get advice on mindfulness.

The Mental Health Alliance also is working on education initiatives, such as ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experience) Training. Evidence indicates there is a link between ACEs and mental and physical health outcomes, Chalaire said. There are plans to set up locations for training on mental health first aid for adults, youths and veterans, and to host meetings with residents to hear their concerns.

The United Way sends out a newsletter featuring a topic of the month, such as depression and heart health month, Losa said. It also has "Mindful Mondays" that are used to promote information from the site.

"I always end my meetings with "tell someone, tell someone, tell someone," she said. "We know mental health is not something one person or organization can solve."