J'avance! Self-Management Virtual Workshops

The five “J’avance! Self-Management Virtual Workshops” will render accessible and scalable an already-proven and life-transforming solution: the “J’avance! Face-to-Face Workshops” (FTF Workshops). The Virtual Workshops will attract individuals with anxiety, depression or bipolar disorders who want to regain control over their mental health, but have limited access to local support.

The J’avance! Virtual Workshops will address the lack of mental health support for 10’s of thousands of individuals affected by anxiety, depression or mood disorders who want to regain control over their health. Over 600 million people worldwide are affected by anxiety, depression and bipolar disorders.

Our J’avance! Virtual Workshopswill provide an already-proven and life-transforming solution. They will be adapted from J’avance! Face-to-Face (FTF) Self-Management Workshops: Anxiety, Bipolar Disorders, Depression, Self-Esteem, and Workplace.

The FTF Workshops were delivered to over 2,700 participants so far by Revivre and 35 Partnering Organizations in Canada and Europe. Their creation and validation involved 14,000 hours of work, $600,000 of investments, 42 experts as well as funded research (Houle 2016).

Providing access to Self-Management support improves people’s ability to manage their anxiety, depression, or bipolar symptoms. Self-Management includes all actions people can take to regain control over their health, including adopting behaviours that reduce symptoms, prevent relapses and improve their well-being on a daily basis. The approach developed by Revivre is aligned with best recovery-oriented practices, emphasizes peer support and includes turnkey content and training to ensure replicability by Partnering Organizations.

Unlike other online tools, our solution will provide an optimal combination of technology and human intervention, including professional facilitation and peer support. Our Virtual Workshops will: 

1. Allow individuals to join a live mental health support group remotely, by logging into the virtual meeting room (overcoming isolation);

2. Allow over 100 Partnering Organizations to leverage their resources by sharing a unique Solution for their respective clientele

3. Replicate the clinical results and testimonials obtained in our FTF Workshops;

4. Collect international data that can be used to build evidence-based practices and further improve mental health services.

Over the next three years, our project will benefit 20,000 participants supported by 100 Partnering Organizations in North America and Europe.

Worldwide, 615 million people suffer from depression or anxiety and 60 million from bipolar disorders. Less than 50% receive treatment (WHO, 2016).

Revivre provides support to 10,000 people every year. We witness the extreme suffering of those affected and the detrimental impact on their personal relationships, work performance, social participation and risk of suicide. There are 800,000 suicides a year worldwide (WHO).

Our Virtual Workshops overcome issues from existing solutions. Our Face-to-Face Workshops, despite their positive impact, cannot reach out to all, even if fully deployed. Various reasons stop people from accessing Face-to-Face workshops (ex. stigma, reduced mobility, under-serviced rural areas). 

Built with the help of our “social impact” coaches, our theory of change became our long-term vision that drives our daily activities. Supported by research and guidelines, Self-Management Support is a new approach with a growing number of supporters, becoming one of the three pillars in mental health, together with psychotherapy and medication, away from traditionally paternalistic approaches.  By using a group approach and turnkey content that allows for replicability and scalability, the Virtual Workshops address the endemic lack of quality mental health services and become a key player in the systemic change currently occurring in the mental health field.

In three years, the Virtual Workshops will have reached over 20,000 participants, delivered by more than 100 Partnering Organizations in North America and Europe.

Our solution will provide an optimal combination of technology &human intervention, including professional facilitation and peer support: 

1.  Allow individuals to join a live support group and monitor their evolution during the program.

   

2. Allow Partnering Organizations to leverage their resources by sharing a unique Solution 

3. Replicate the clinical results obtained in our FTF Workshops 

4. Collect international data that can be used to build evidence-based practices and further improve mental health services.

Track number of participants - 20,000 participants over the next 3 years

Conduct pre and post clinical interviews/questionnaires - Significant and sustainable improvement in quality of life for participants

Track number of organizations using Global Data Management System - 100 Partnering Organizations offering workshops through the tool over the next 3 years

Unlike existing solutions, our Solution provides an optimal balance of technology and human intervention, integrating professional facilitation and peer support. The goal: to replicate the clinical results obtained in our FTF Workshops and to overcome isolation. 

Other online tools are beneficial but none combines state-of-the-art self-management support, validated key-hand content for facilitators, and the benefit of peer support. Our technology can be white-labeled and adapted for similar health challenges.

A Dashboard will allow each participant to privately monitor their personal progress and access new content each week of the program. Participants can communicate with each other upon mutual agreement.

Even without a marketing budget, the J'avance! FTF Workshops have attracted over 2,700 participants. Started in 2012 at Revivre, our methodology and approach are now used by 35 partnering organizations, thanks to over 300 trained professionals, in 30 locations in Canada and Europe. People with lived experience were involved at all stages of the thorough creation and validation process (pilots, expert committees, research, Advisory Committee), which included 14,000 hours of work and $600,000 of investments. For creating and validating the Virtual Workshop, we will first start with a pilot to fully incorporate participants' experience and opinion.

As per the FTF workshops, we are expecting Virtual Workshops to obey to various business models, in order to optimize accessibility, scalability and sustainability, by establishing partnerships with various type of organizations (e.g. public health network, community organizations, private health clinics, etc.). Revivre's model is currently almost fully self-financed, through fees charged to partnering organizations offering the workshops (training of their workshop facilitators, material and tools). Fees for workshop participants vary by location, some being nil, according to the partnering organizations budget and/or according to the participants' ability to pay (level of revenue or insurance coverage). 

With over 25 years of existence, Revivre has maintained strong financial statements, including a contingency margin. Sources of revenues are diversified: government, foundations, individual and corporate donations, as well as an increasing portion of self-financing (through FTF Workshops). 

The Virtual Workshops Project is made of various components: Technology Tools (Participant Dashboard; Videoconferencing Tool; Global Management System ; global data collection; Managers’ Dashboard; OWASP Security compliance); Clinical review &adaptation; Measurement &evaluation; Promotion &deployment.

This will require initial investment obtained through fundraising and/or innovative impact investment (various options to be considered). A portion of measurement &evaluation will be performed in-kind by our partners. As per our FTF Workshop, we expect the workshops to be self-financed once we reach the Promotion &deployment phase, through charging reasonable fees for our Partnering Organizations using the the Technology Tools.

Excessive Demand: Technology will facilitate access, therefore dramatically increasing demand for our workshops. As live facilitators are required, this will create pressure on Revivre’s and our Partner Organizations’ human resources. We must maintain high quality while minimizing waiting lists. Solutions to manage supply/demand include: expanding our network of Partner Organizations, self-financing and “agile” workshop scheduling.

Suboptimal Replication of Live Experience: To preserve clinical efficacy, we will hold brainstorming sessions with individuals with lived experience of disorders to identify creative live &look-alike components.

Confidentiality and Security: Mental health data must remain confidential, with country-specific rules. Risk mitigation tools must be implemented.

http://javance.revivre.org/

http://www.cjcmh.com/doi/abs/10.7870/cjcmh-2016-033

Not only is our Solution impactful, innovative, scalable and feasible, it is also rallying: Dozens of individuals and organizations currently support our Solution: i.e. clinical and technology experts, researchers, corporate leaders, public figures, non-profit organizations, and most importantly, people living with anxiety, depression or bipolar disorders. Coupled with E-Mental Health, our impact will be multiplied and will address, as part of the continuum of mental health services, the endemic lack of access to quality services.

Solve can help Revivre make its vision come true by connecting us with the right partners: technology, business, clinical, research institutions and funders.

J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, Bell Let’s Talk, Mental Health Commission of Canada, Centre national d'excellence en santé mentale, Mood Disorders Society of Canada, UQAM, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Université de Montréal, Université de Sherbrooke, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canadian Mental Health Association, Les Toises (Switzerland)

To the best of our knowledge, Virtual Self-Mgnt Wrkshps using a Network of Providers do not exist