From EAPs to AI Signals: Rethinking Workplace Mental Health with Stephen Sokoler of Journey

Stephen Sokoler (0:03)

We need to take the model and turn on its head. We need to be proactive, we need to be preventive, we need to leverage all of the data that exists nowadays to be able to recognize when an employee might be in need and support them earlier. And that support is not limited to just mental health.

Logan (0:25)

Stephen Sokoler, founder of Journey. Great to have you here with me on StartUp Health.

Stephen Sokoler (0:30)

Thanks, Logan, happy to be here.

Logan (0:32)

So 11 years, 11 million lives, you've been in this mental health, particularly mental health for employers space longer than most people. You've seen changes of attitude, changes of stigma towards mental health concerns. Let's start by telling me where are we at in 2026 in this world and kind of what Journey is providing right now?

Stephen Sokoler (0:53)

Sure, yeah, I feel we've made a lot of progress. So that's the good news. I'm talking societally in terms of the understanding of mental health, the availability of support. The challenge is not static, right? And so with things like social media, which we all now realize the challenges there, with AI both being here and coming at an accelerating pace, it continues to be more and more newer challenges that we just didn't have, nor did the human body evolve for. So societally, maybe if you and I were having this conversation, you know, 50 years ago, 40 years ago, 30 years ago, mental health would be mental illness, right? That was how the term was used. Now when we talk about mental health, we're talking a lot about the full spectrum, and we understand people can be really struggling, and they can be thriving, and there's clinical needs, and some clinicals who have made a lot of progress.

The next evolution that we're starting to see is a focus towards preventive care. And that's not all that surprising because if we look at physical health, prevention is the name of the game. The sooner we can get to things, the better the outcomes, right? We all know this, whether it comes to an annual physical or a colonoscopy. And so we're starting to see a shift when it comes to mental health for the same thing.

Logan (2:01)

We know that preventive health is important. It doesn't mean that it's going to get reimbursed the way that it should. So how are employers thinking about preventative health? What does it take? What are the levers to get them to see the value of preventative mental health?

Stephen Sokoler (2:13)

Let me go back to the first question, because you had asked me who during is what's right.

SPEAKER_3 (2:17)

I jumped in.

Stephen Sokoler (2:18)

So we are a proactive preventive mental health company. Now, we are starting to see companies get smart to the fact that if you are catching things sooner, you're not going to miss work. You're going to be more productive. You're going to have better conversations, whether that's with colleagues or with clients. You are not going to perhaps turn over or burn out or hit the health plan. And I think we all know here in the States, especially for self-insured companies, every time somebody hit the health plan, it costs an arm and a leg. And those rates are going up at astronomical numbers.

The idea is let's invest a little more upfront to keep employees, to be a buffer so employees aren't hitting the health plan. So to your point, yes, it's something that some companies do recognize the importance. Sometimes it takes a powerful HR leader to say, hey, let's look at the numbers. Let's meet the business case, which we as a company of course help our clients to do because everything we've done has been studied clinically through a humanity, through New York University, through Georgetown. We've done a lot of those studies, but it is still, to your question, it's still something where the question comes up a lot.

Logan (3:27)

You mentioned new mental health challenges, social media, you mentioned reliance on AI and our new relationship with, how are you thinking about evolving your programming? It's hard for me to imagine a typical EAP program for a large employer that's helping me with my social media use, but maybe I have an old paradigm. Like how are the programs from employers shifting to address the times?

Stephen Sokoler (3:51)

Yeah, well, let's talk about EAP since you mentioned it. So EAP has been around for a hundred years. They started in the 19-thirds, right? And for let's call it 90 of those years, there was very, very little evolution. It was a safety net. It was, you know, break glass in case of emergency. It cost very little. Companies didn't really get much out of it, you know, 2% engagement, 3%.