Guardian is expanding its Anytime service including emotional wellbeing and aches and pains support for existing and new policyholders across all cover types from 1 December.
Delivered in partnership with HealthHero, the new emotional wellbeing and aches and pains support will be available Monday to Friday between 9am to 5pm.
Policyholders can have a 30-minute phone consultation with a specialist who can help deal with emotional wellbeing issues or signpost the appropriate action to take regarding aches and pains.
Consultations will be delivered by experienced practitioners registered with appropriate professional bodies and promote education, self-help, and signposting, the insurer said.
Emotional wellbeing advisers include registered mental health nurses and counsellors.
During consultations, they will carry out a holistic assessment to understand the factors that may be impacting the policyholder’s emotional wellbeing.
They will listen to the policyholder’s concerns and provide helpful advice, suggest coping strategies and signposting to resources that can help.
Aches and pains advisers include physiotherapists and sports therapists. Depending on the nature of the concern, they can provide guided self-help in the form of remedial and lifestyle information, exercises, and guided videos.
While the service is not designed to treat more significant conditions or provide ongoing treatment, where necessary, advisers can help signpost the most appropriate course of action.
Jacqui Gillies, marketing and proposition director at Guardian, (pictured) said: “Life can be emotionally and physically challenging, and almost everyone needs support from time to time.
“We wanted to help our policyholders look after their mental health and seek advice, when required, from a qualified professional on how to prevent any aches and pains from worsening.“
Gillies added that according to HealthHero, one in four people have a mental health condition and one in four have musculoskeletal concerns.
And she noted that industry claims data also shows that mental health and musculoskeletal are two of the top three causes of income protection claims.
“By giving our policyholders access to these new services, available to them free of charge from tomorrow, we can better support them to proactively manage their health and tackle any issues before they get worse,” Gillies said.