Every company has employees who are struggling with their mental health in some way. There’s the high-performing director whose stress levels spiked during last quarter’s busy season. Or the first-time father quietly overwhelmed after returning from parental leave. In organizations with traditional or digital Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) – which are primarily reactive, crisis-response tools – it’s unlikely these employees would receive help at this stage. Yet, without early support, their mental health needs may surface later in more intensive circumstances, such as emergency care, extended leaves, or turnover – all of which are difficult for the individuals, disruptive for the organization, and financially costly for both.
A proactive approach offers support at the first sign of a mental health concern – well before a crisis – and, as a result, delivers better outcomes across the board. According to a new, multi-year analysis, Journey Proactive EAP helps avoid 17 high-cost visits and saves roughly $5,000 in healthcare and lost productivity per at-risk employee per year. For employers under pressure from rising expenses, clinician shortages, and concerns for employee wellbeing, these findings represent one of the clearest demonstrations that prevention in mental health care delivers tangible ROI.
In this article, we dive into the study and its findings, as well as what the findings mean for employers looking to reduce costs while supporting their workforce more effectively.
Inside the Study: Evaluating Claims and Engagement Patterns
Led by inZights Consulting, a health outcomes research firm, the study examined whether engaging with Journey Proactive EAP changed healthcare costs and clinical outcomes for employees with mental health concerns – particularly those at high risk of crisis – compared to those under a traditional EAP.
Using two years of verified healthcare claims and Journey engagement data from an employer with more than 7,700 employees and dependents, analysts looked at both outpatient behavioral health utilization and high-cost clinical events that spike when mental health conditions escalate, such as emergency room visits and psychiatric hospitalizations. They also reviewed patterns of engagement with Journey’s preventive measures, including emails, in-app check-ins, digital resources, and live programming – all to understand how early intervention influenced downstream outcomes.
What the Study Found: Higher Engagement, Fewer Crises, Reduced Medical Spend
The results of the study offer significant evidence that a proactive approach with early intervention changes the mental health care cost curve for organizations in meaningful ways.
First, Journey achieved 38% employee engagement – an exceptionally high rate compared to the 2–3% engagement typical of traditional EAPs. The employer’s data showed that 9 in 10 employees carried some level of clinical mental health risk, which means, at 38% overall engagement, Journey was able to reach over one-third of the at-risk population.
Second, engaging with Journey led to approximately 17 high-cost visits avoided per at-risk employee per year, reflecting significantly fewer clinical escalations and a substantial reduction in crisis-level care compared to the employer’s previous reactive EAP.
Third, fewer escalated cases resulted in an estimated $5,000 savings in healthcare and productivity costs per at-risk employee per year. Considering such positive impacts of Journey’s proactive approach on productivity measures – including absenteeism, presenteeism, disability incidence, and turnover – these savings estimates point to as much as 6x return on investment. In recent years, top-tier mental health programs have been found to deliver between 1.9x and 4x ROI, according to studies led by the World Health Organization and published in JAMA Network Open. The report’s projection puts the ROI for Journey Proactive EAP above every other program thus far.
These impacts emerged quickly. Early signs of clinical stabilization appeared within the first six months of Journey implementation, with measurable reductions in high-cost claims appearing within 12 months.
How Journey Achieves These Results: Engaging Early and Often to Prevent Escalation
Journey’s impact comes in large part from shifting the point of intervention earlier, before symptoms require acute care. While both clinical and operational, at its base, that shift is only possible if employees use the program and can easily find the resources they need.
Seeing 10x the engagement levels of traditional EAPs, Journey achieves such high numbers through inclusive content, an accessible platform, and effective engagement strategies, including:
- Daily emails sharing mental health tips and links to resources
- Integrations within apps and platforms used by employees every day (e.g., email, calendar, messaging apps, and video-conferencing platforms)
- Resources and clinical support available in over 100 languages and 190 countries
- A full library of digital content speaking to specific mental health needs, identity groups, life stages, and experiences
- Automatic outreach powered by Journey Signal™ AI intelligence engine after changes in employees’ mental health check-ins, behavioral patterns, life events, or major local events
- Mental health–related communication campaigns designed around holidays, national and international observances, and major events
- Wellbeing initiatives created with organizations’ employee resource groups (ERGs)
- Urgent campaigns to deliver resources immediately after traumatic incidents or crises affecting employees, including in-person support as needed
- Ongoing customized offerings created with HR and wellbeing teams to fit the organizations’ unique needs and industries
All of these measures allow for employees to find help and receive care in ways most useful to them as early as they need it.
Preventive Workplace Mental Health Care in Practice
What does this whole approach look like in practice? Consider the employees from our introduction again.
- The high-performing director facing deteriorating mental health starts interacting with Journey through anonymous mood check-ins. After reporting high stress more than two days in a row, the system sends them content with stress-management techniques, deep-breathing exercises, and strategies for improving sleep. Finding stability using those practices, the director avoids burnout and long-term mental health leave.
- The first-time father feels exhausted, unfocused, and really down returning to work. But in his first week back, the Journey Daily emails give him videos on mental wellness for new parents and articles on infant sleep patterns, financial planning for young families, and navigating parental guilt. The internal families ERG also reaches out and reminds him to use PTO to get restorative time off when he needs it. Instead of progressing toward counseling or absenteeism, the employee is buoyed by the outpouring of support and remains engaged.
For both of these employees, intervention with Journey Proactive EAP occurs months before a traditional EAP would typically register a case, averting high-cost admissions and propelling savings within weeks of implementation.
What This Means for Employers and Benefits Leaders
For employers, the takeaway from this analysis is not simply that early support is a “good idea,” but that the timing, accessibility, and consistency of support definitively determine their healthcare cost trajectory. Mental health becomes expensive when needs are acute. Preventive EAPs reduce acuity and, therefore, expense.
There will always be employees like our high-performing director and first-time father who need mental health care. So, the question for employers is not whether the risk of acute needs exists – it clearly does – but whether their EAP can engage those employees early enough to matter. The inZights Consulting study shows without a doubt that Journey Proactive EAP can.
About Journey Proactive EAP
Journey Proactive EAP is a first-of-its-kind employee assistance program focused on prevention while offering the full spectrum of care for employee mental health. Blending tailored engagement strategies, inclusive content, and easy access to clinical care with a modern digital platform and concierge-level employer assistance, Journey proactively engages employees to support their mental health before challenges escalate into crises. Journey consistently delivers 10x higher engagement rates than traditional EAPs while helping organizations save millions in healthcare costs every year. Through our efforts over 11 years, Journey has touched more than 11 million lives. Learn more at www.journey.live.
