Helping more families navigate behavioral health needs

For many families, concerns about a child’s mental health may start small.

Sleep problems. Rising stress at school. Anxiety that comes and goes. Questions about focus or behavior that may not feel urgent but still feel concerning.

In these moments, families are often looking for guidance, reassurance and practical support — not necessarily clinical care, but help understanding what is happening, how to support their child and what to do next.

UnitedHealthcare is expanding access to its child and family behavioral coaching program to help more people connect with early behavioral health support for children, teens and caregivers. The program focuses on:

• early intervention
• providing education
• coaching
• tools and resources
   

The coaching program is intended to focus on issues that do not require immediate clinical care, such as mild to moderate anxiety, ADHD, depression, bullying and sleep difficulties. For eligible members, the program includes up to four virtual coaching sessions per month with unlimited secure messaging.

Rather than waiting until issues escalate, families can connect with nationally board-certified health and wellness coaches — with appointments often available within 48 hours. This helps families have access to support that fits into their daily life. When additional care is needed, coaches can help make referrals to licensed clinicians.

“Early intervention can make a meaningful difference in a person’s mental health journey,” said Dr. Donald Tavakoli, national medical director for behavioral health at UnitedHealthcare. “Individuals who receive support for low-severity behavioral concerns early on may be less likely to develop more serious conditions later.¹”

Coaching is one part of a broader set of low-severity behavioral health solutions designed to meet people where they are — especially when they may not know what kind of help they need.

For some, the easiest entry point can often be digital. The expansion of the child and family behavioral coaching program is just one part of UnitedHealthcare’s broader effort to meet people earlier in their mental health journey. Other offerings include:

Calm Health, an evidence-based mental health app available to more than 13 million UnitedHealthcare members, offers personalized support through screenings, self-care content and resources tailored to individual needs. Among engaged users who completed multiple assessments, nearly 40% experienced improvement in both depression and anxiety symptoms.²

In-the-moment support, available 24/7 by phone, without an appointment, and at no cost to members helps connect you to confidential support from a master’s level specialist. Whether someone is dealing with stress at work, challenges at home or a difficult moment that feels overwhelming, specialists provide real-time help with recommendations on next steps. According to a UnitedHealthcare analysis, more than half of members who used this service did not have a behavioral health-related claim within 90 days.³

As families continue to seek ways to support mental health and well-being, having multiple entry points — from coaching to digital tools to real-time conversations — may help make the path forward clearer and more manageable from the very beginning.