GitLab offers mental health care services to all team members via Modern Health. Modern Health provides technology and professional support to help reduce stress, feel more engaged, and be happier. Through GitLab, you have access to 5 coaching sessions and 6 therapy sessions at no cost to you as well as 100+ digital programs & mediations and unlimited live provider-led group sessions or circles.
For more information on Modern Health and getting started, we recorded an information session in April 2021 and another session in December 2021 that walks a team member through valuable information about this benefit and how to start utilizing it.
Modern Health is the one-stop shop for all tools related to mental well-being and self-improvement. Members gain access to the following features:
2021-03-18, GitLab has added Therapy to the offerings through Modern Health. As a GitLab team member, your first 6 therapy sessions are complimentary. After the allotted sessions have been utilized, team members can work directly with the provider to determinate a path forward at an additional cost to the team member.If you’re still not sure where to get started, we recommend that you:
Modern Health cultivates the resilience needed to weather the ups and downs of everyday life. Here are the specific areas where we can help:
Note: This list isn’t intended to be comprehensive. Please reach out to help@joinmodernhealth.com with any questions about how or where to get started.
The philosophy towards mental health comes from the World Health Organization (WHO): “in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.”
Modern Health’s model is grounded in evidence-based approaches, primarily Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Mindfulness.
Your benefits reset on March 20, 2022. Note: Unused sessions do not rollover when your benefits reset.
The platform is currently available in English and Spanish. If English or Spanish is not your preferred language, please note Care is provided in most languages. Feel free to email help@joinmodernhealth.com to find out more.
If you have trouble registering for Modern Health, please don’t hesitate to reach out to help@joinmodernhealth.com with a note or screenshot. Their customer support team will verify the information against what they have on file to provide you the best instructions on how to successfully access Modern Health.
Similar to an annual physical with your primary care physician, Modern Health’s well-being survey serves as a check up for your mental health. You can retake the survey to track your progress overtime.
Your well-being score empowers experts at Modern Health to provide you the best user experience. It enhances the customization of your personalized wellness plan, which makes it more effective in addressing your specific needs. Although the ups and downs in well-being score are inevitable, the data-driven approach keeps up with how you’re doing over time to support you with the tools to improve no matter where your score is at today.
What is coaching? Coaching is a collaborative process to help you make important changes in your personal and professional life. Your coach is there to help you figure out how you want to change and the steps you need to take to do so. Your coach’s job is to help you organize your thoughts, emotions, and goals and break things down into smaller steps that create forward movement and growth. The client is the driver of these sessions, while the coach is there to provide reflection, clarity, and accountability.
What is therapy? Therapy is talk-based mental health treatment delivered by licensed clinicians to help with mental health needs. Therapy is appropriate if there is a clinical concern, as defined by the duration of symptoms (e.g., most of the time for two weeks) and their severity (e.g., interfering with someone’s ability to function in an important area of life). Those with a clinical need essentially experience symptoms (e.g., depression, anxiety) that are strong, last a long time, and impact the ability to function.
What is the difference between coaching and therapy? Modern Health’s belief is that anyone can benefit from working with a coach, and some people need therapy in addition to or instead of coaching. The primary difference between coaching and therapy is that therapy is conducted by licensed mental health professionals who are trained to treat clinical difficulties (e.g., depression, anxiety), whereas coaches work on non-clinical issues (e.g., personal growth, financial well-being, and professional development). You can maybe think about it as the difference between seeing an orthopedic surgeon and a physical therapist. If you have broken your leg, you should see a surgeon since they are uniquely qualified to support you. But if you’ve sprained your ankle, a physical therapist is a much better fit. Not only would seeing a surgeon be more intense than you need, but physical therapists are better trained to help you gain strength. In this metaphor, therapists serve as the surgeon and coaches serve as the physical therapist.
Here is a breakdown of the different types of providers in our coaching and therapy networks:
Coaching: Coaches work with individuals to help them have the kind of lives they want. While there is no specific degree or license required to practice as a coach, all Modern Health coaches are rigorously vetted, certified, and trained in evidence-based approaches.
Therapy: Therapy can be provided by therapists or psychologists. Therapists can have a variety of titles (counselors, therapists, clinicians, etc.). What they have in common is a master’s degree (M.A., or M.S.) in clinical psychology or a related field and are licensed in the state in which they practice. Common licenses include Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), and Licensed Professional Counselor(LPC). These therapists are also trained in the assessment and treatment of mental health concerns. Psychologists have a doctoral degree (Ph.D., or Psy.D.) in clinical psychology or a related field such as counseling psychology or education and are licensed in the state in which they practice. They are trained in the assessment and treatment of mental health concerns.
Why do I only see coaching as an option? Based on your answers to the well-being survey, Modern Health will determine the appropriate care for your level of well-being needs and direct you to match with either a coach and/or a therapist. We believe that everyone can benefit from working with a coach and some people can benefit from working with a therapist if they have a clinical need.
If you weren't matched to a therapist based on your well-being survey, but would still like to be matched with a therapist, you can reach out to help@joinmodernhealth.com and notify the Care Team that you were matched to coaching, but would like to be matched to a therapist. The Care Team will then work with you on your preferences, areas of focus, etc. and make sure you receive great matches for therapy.
How do you match me to a provider? Modern Health matches you to appropriate coach based on a proprietary algorithm that takes into account your well-being assessment and areas you want to focus on.
How often should I meet with my coach or therapist? How often you meet with your coach or therapist depends on your personal situation. Some people like to meet weekly, whereas others meet every month or two.
Can I complete sessions with my partner or a family member? Yes, you are able to use your sessions with your partner or a family member. If you choose to do so, each completed session will count as one of your covered sessions. Please discuss this directly with your coach or therapist.
What can I expect during my first coaching session? During the first session, your coach will kick things off with an introduction to what coaching is and what you can expect during the session, including reviewing confidentiality (nothing you discuss is shared with Modern Health or your employer unless you request more support or need crisis resources). They will then ask you a few questions to better understand what you hope to get out of the coaching experience and what a successful experience would be for you. By setting expectations up front, the coach will be able to better help you identify personal goals and take steps towards achieving them. In subsequent sessions, the coach will follow up on any action items to understand their impact and you will together come up with next steps. The standard coaching session is 30 minutes and takes place over video, usually every two weeks or once a month. In between sessions, you are encouraged to reach out to your coach with any follow up questions or advice via Modern Health’s digital messaging tool in the app as well as utilize the digital CBT and meditation programs.
What can I expect during my first therapy session? Similar to coaching, therapists will start each session with an introduction and review of expectations and confidentiality to make sure that you feel comfortable with them and the process. They will then ask you a series of questions to get a better understanding of your symptoms and background to best identify how you can work together to achieve your goals. After this initial assessment, they will work collaboratively with you to formulate a treatment plan and review different methods to help you address your needs (e.g. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy). They will likely give you some follow up action items that you can take away from the session. In follow up sessions they will review specific action items and alter your treatment plan based on your needs. Typically, therapist visits will be 45-50 minutes in length and occur in person or via video, often weekly.
How should I prepare for my first session? Before your first session, we encourage you to ask yourself a few questions. As with many other aspects of your life, the more effort you put into your coaching and/or therapy experience, the more you’ll get out of it. These can help guide your initial conversations with your coach or therapist.
What happens if my provider isn’t a good fit? Our goal at Modern Health is to find someone that you feel you can do good work with and who can do good work with you! If you think the first person you meet with doesn’t seem like a good fit, just let the Modern Health team know (help@joinmodernhealth.com) and they will connect you with someone new.
Managers can set up Coaching Sessions through Modern Health to receive guidance on managing a team, including advice on how to best support your team's mental health.
Once you register for your Modern Health account, you can add "Managing Others and Supporting a Team" to your topics of focus and schedule a session.
In addition to Coaching, please see additional Modern Health Manager Resources:
Note: Modern Health is not a crisis resource. If you are experiencing a mental health emergency, please go to the nearest emergency room or contact a local emergency response line. You can find local and international resources by selecting “Information” on the bottom right of your mobile app, and then clicking the red “Access to 24/7 Crisis Information” banner at the top of the screen.
Does my employer know if I’m using Modern Health? No, a list of new GitLab team members is sent to Modern Health on a weekly basis so they can update GitLab's database but whether a team member chooses to use Modern Health or not is confidential and will not be shared with GitLab. All information submitted through the Modern Health application is kept confidential and used to deliver a more personalized experience. No individual usage data will ever be shared back with your employer.
Is what I discuss with my coach/therapist confidential? All information between you and your coach is confidential, except in the following cases:
How do you protect my information? Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) encryption measures for all data exchanged between our members and the application. Conversations are encrypted in transit via SSL (TLS v1.2) and each conversation (between a member and a provider) has its own encryption key which is stored in a separate, secure management system. Message contents are encrypted upon receipt by the web server and are transported and stored in internal systems.
What do I do in a crisis? If you are experiencing a crisis (e.g., thoughts about suicide, thoughts about harming yourself or others, medical crisis, or in a dangerous situation) please call:
The purpose of the Modern Health Weekly Reporting is to share a list of new team members to Modern Health to ensure that anyone who joins GitLab will have access to Modern Health within one week of their hire date. The information that Modern Health requires from us are: employee number, names, work emails, hire date, country, department and job title.
Instructions for Total Rewards:
Modern Health Upload spreadsheet on the google drive and paste the report under a new tab