Synergy HomeCare recently launched its Total Well-Being program, which focuses on helping seniors manage their health in three key areas: physical, mental and social. One of the most noteworthy aspects of the program is Synergy’s partnership with mental health platform BetterHelp.

In the past, home care companies like Right at Home and 24 Hour Home Care partnered with ride-share companies like Uber (NYSE: UBER) and Lyft Inc. (Nasdaq: LYFT) to address social determinants of health for seniors. The partnership between Synergy and BetterHelp signals the types of partnerships that home care could be turning to next.

Synergy’s Total Well-Being care program is essentially a wellness program. The program focuses on the three areas — physical, mental and social — that Synergy believes impact seniors the most, according to Rich Paul, chief partnership officer at Synergy.

“When we look at mental health issues, anxiety and depression affects as many as 25% of older adults … so access to mental health resources is very important,” he told Home Health Care News. “The second was social, and we’re addressing social wellbeing because we recognize the impact that social isolation and loneliness has on the health and wellbeing of seniors. Then, finally, we emphasize the importance of good physical health.”

Synergy is a Gilbert, Arizona-based non-medical home care company that operates more than 220 franchise locations nationwide. The company offers companionship services in addition to personal assistance, housekeeping, live-in care and 24-hour home care services. Synergy was recently acquired by Levine Leichtman Capital Partners.

For the mental health component of the Total Well-Being care program, Synergy clients will receive complimentary access to BetterHelp’s online talk therapy platform for 30 days. After this time has passed, clients have the opportunity to subscribe to the platform at a discounted rate.

Synergy partnered with BetterHelp because the company wanted a convenient resource for clients who were in need of mental health assistance, according to Paul.

“We chose BetterHelp as a strategic partner because they do a really good job of pairing an individual to a counselor that’s going to best meet their needs,” Paul said. “We wanted to give our clients choice, but more importantly, we wanted to be able to provide them immediate access and an immediate resource. Even though, as a society, we’ve done a great job in addressing mental health stigma, that stigma still exists among our seniors, and is a significant barrier.”

The two companies first connected because Synergy sought out BetterHelp for this opportunity.

“We knew of the organization, and several of us had worked with them previously,” Paul said. “We approached them because we saw this being a significant issue that we wanted to address for our clients. We also approached them because no other home care organization has incorporated access to mental health in the same way we’re trying to achieve that.”

Indeed, while home health companies have begun to incorporate behavioral or mental health services in their care offerings, this has not been as common on the non-medical home care side of the industry.

The partnership between Synergy and BetterHelp might be a sign that this is beginning to change. One of the reasons for this is how prevalent mental health challenges are among seniors, according to Katherine Vanderhorst, president of C&V Senior Care Specialists.

“We see agencies, on the private-pay [personal care] side, have tremendous interest in it, because it’s what their caregivers are seeing every day in the population,” she told HHCN.

C&V Senior Care Specialists is a Williamsville, New York-based behavioral health and dementia care training consulting company.

Vanderhorst also pointed out that home care companies are starting to see behavioral health as an offering that elevates their standing.

“They’re really looking for ways to stand out in the marketplace because they can offer a new service,” she said.

Currently, Synergy’s partnership with BetterHelp is strictly a referral-based relationship.

However, other home care companies eyeing the behavioral health space may opt to adopt a different business model entirely.

Overall, Vanderhorst believes that it is likely more home care companies will embrace behavioral health, through partnerships or otherwise. In other parts of the care continuum–such as in the skilled nursing facility sector–some providers have started to deliver behavioral health services directly.

“I think the interest will continue to increase as agencies look to diversify and create partnerships,” she said. “A lot of them want to survive. They want to be known in their community. The ones that actually can provide what we would call specialized services are the ones that really are likely to not only succeed, but be more successful financially and clinically.”

On its end, Synergy is focused on differentiating its services lines in an increasingly crowded home care marketplace. For example, the company also recently rolled out a specialized care program for individuals living with cancer.

“We want to help people stay in their homes as long as possible, and that means being able to address their needs holistically,” Paul said. “It may be that they need mental health assistance. It may mean that they need assistance with a medical issue in one form or another, and so we see home care as a nice wraparound service.”