Toronto – September 1, 2021 – NexJ Health Inc. (NexJ Health), a provider of advanced virtual care solutions for chronic disease prevention and management, announces that Resource Assistance for Youth, Inc. (RaY) has selected NexJ Connected Wellness to launch a mental health, substance use and addictions program, RaY Wired. The program will be provided to at-risk youth, including Indigenous youth in rural and remote communities in Manitoba, who are seeking mental health and addictions support.   

RaY is a non-profit street-level agency working with homeless youth up to the age of 29. The organization is non-judgmental and non-partisan, employing a harm reduction approach to all interactions with youth in need. RaY has been operating an integrated service hub for providing prevention, intervention, and outreach services for over 25 years.   

Participants will be onboarded to the RaY Wired program through RaY’s integrated service hub. Using NexJ Connected Wellness, participants will have the ability to securely message and video chat with their mental health support worker. The program will enable access to educational content on anxiety, depression and self-compassion to provide youth with information, tools, and activities to help manage their mental health. Participants will receive additional educational content on substance use, addictions, harm reduction and available treatment options. The program will also facilitate the completion of assessments to evaluate the participants’ experiences and outcomes.   

“We’re excited to be working with NexJ Health on the mental health, substance use and addictions program to engage Indigenous youth on their health journey,” said Kelly Holmes, RaY’s Executive Director. “The young people we see are dealing with a lot of trauma. We meet them where they’re at, which means virtual services are a natural next step. Providing health coaching and mental health support can help reduce suicide rates and help our youth make positive changes for their futures.”   

Access to virtual support has become essential for individuals following the onset and continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic. NexJ Connected Wellness is a natural fit for RaY’s highly trained service providers, who have extensive training in youth care and are looking to adapt their skills to an online coaching environment. At-risk youth are often isolated due to the lack of social connection or strong family support. NexJ Connected Wellness will provide them with access to much needed mental health and addictions support, and information to encourage positive, sustainable behavioral change.   

“It brings me great pride that NexJ Health’s virtual care platform is playing an important part to improve the access to mental health, addictions and harm reduction services for vulnerable young adults,” said Daniela Liggio, President, NexJ Health. “RaY is truly an incredible organization. Partnering with them to provide the digital tools needed to extend its services beyond the brick and mortar, and to help deliver a range of critical services that are needed by so many is what motivates NexJ Health to constantly innovate to improve accessibility across the continuum of care.”  

NexJ Health will work with RaY to deliver the program with the aim of increasing the scale and scope to include the prevention and management of diabetes and cardiovascular disease for young adults to access virtual care services.  

About NexJ Health Inc. 

NexJ Health Inc. is a provider of patient-facing population health management solutions that deliver patient engagement for chronic disease prevention and management. At NexJ Health, we believe that the most efficient and cost-effective way to offset the rise in chronic disease is to empower patients, with the support of their families, friends, and healthcare professionals, to actively participate in managing their own chronic condition(s). By engaging patients through NexJ Connected Wellness, we help to achieve healthcare’s quintuple aim: improve the patient experience, improve population health, lower the per capita cost of care, increase provider satisfaction, and deliver business efficiency. For more information about NexJ Health visit www.nexjhealth.com, e-mail info@nexjhealth.com, or call 416-227-3700. 

About Resource Assistance for Youth, Inc. (RaY) 

Resource Assistance for Youth, Inc. (RaY) operates as a “one stop shop,” providing wrap-around services for youth in need. It is a single place where homeless youth can access everything they need, on their terms, to better their lives. With a key focus on the Social Determinants of Health, this fully integrated service model was one of the first of its kind in Manitoba. RaY uses four pillars to guide our work towards giving youth a better life: respond to immediate needs; address youth homelessness; improve health and wellbeing; and build skills for success. At RaY, the goal is to move youth from a place of depending on services, to being able to take care of themselves, to becoming powerful advocates who can give back to their communities and help others. This process is not always linear and RaY supports youth at all stages of their journey. 

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