Madison,
28
November
2021
|
13:37 PM
America/Chicago

AmFam Champ grant provides suicide prevention and COVID relief in Wisconsin

Read this X2AI case study about how a grant from the Steve Stricker American Family Insurance Foundation helped the organization create a digital mental health chatbot to assist with identifying suicide crises and assisting with prevention.

Challenge

After the financial crisis of 2008 and during the subsequent recession, suicide became the most common non-medical cause of death for the insured population (source: RGA).The current crisis caused by COVID has already resulted in an unemployment rate of over 10% - and can be expected to have a similar impact. High levels of depression and anxiety are linked with a risk of suicide, of which 5-10% result in a member passing away. In 2019, 4.1% of claims filed through American Family were for suicides, totaling $9,949,504 in claims paid.

Solution

American Family provides service to customers at important touch points in their lives and looks for community investment opportunities and creative partnerships to address societal challenges. Together with X2, American Family looked to suicide prevention in Wisconsin and providing COVID relief to the community and expanding care in their home region.

Sara, American Family’s digital chatbot developed by X2, is a low-cost, user-friendly solution that allows emotional support to be scaled to hundreds of thousands of people at a time. Through a grant provided by the Steve Stricker American Family Insurance Foundation, Sara was deployed as a resource available to anyone in need of support in Wisconsin. Sara provides support by triaging those in crisis by directing them to resources quickly and providing mental health support through conversation.

American Family implemented Sara as a resource distributed through a social media campaign to easily access and begin chatting. Sara is made available 24/7 and is integrated into X2's call center network of 5,000 on-call counselors, providing a well-rounded model of support.

Impact

After launching Sara as a resource available in Wisconsin, over 9,121 individuals started chatting with Sara and exchanged over 547,908 messages. Of the individuals chatting, 237 suicidal crises were detected and were de-escalated through Sara and X2’s call center network of counselors.

To achieve the same results through conventional care*, American Family would have spent $12,057,962 to provide support for their population. In contrast, at scale Sara's support costs just $5 per user and is available on demand, no appointment required.

Read more here

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About Steve Stricker American Family Insurance Foundation
Established in 2013 when Steve Stricker became a brand ambassador for American Family Insurance, the mission of the foundation is to inspire and develop strong families and healthy kids so they can pursue their dreams. The foundation supports organizations that produce tangible outcomes that align with this mission. 
Web: https://www.amfam.com/sponsorships/amfamchampionship/foundation; Twitter: @StrickerFNDN