Brain Resource (San Francisco, CA) has been busy lately. In March the company launched a partnership with Aetna to use its Web-based tools to help individuals optimize brain health, reduce stress, and increase productivity. Last month, the company announced that its technology would be used at St. Gregory Retreat Center (Des Moines, IA) to improve the cognitive and emotional capacities of patients undergoing drug and alcohol treatment. The company’s most recent partnership is with Keas (San Francisco, CA), which will offer Brain Resource’s brain exercises and online content as part of its cloud-based social gaming-based employee wellness platform.
The Keas program enables users to identify goals and then track progress towards reaching them. To measure that progress, the site uses a points-based system, which can be used to incentivize friendly competition among employees to meet health goals such as weight loss. “Our content fits right into that paradigm because we award ‘brain points’ for working the brain-health exercises that we are providing Keas,” Gregory A. Bayer, PhD, CEO of Brain Resource told Medgadget. The company’s proprietary exercises that will be featured on the Keas platform include “Think Focus,” “Relaxation Room,” and “Catch the Feeling,” which are designed to reduce stress, improve focus, and promote positive mind states and productivity.
“The employee has the ability to go in and use those various exercises to their advantage,” Dr. Bayer explains. “To give an example, there is the ‘Relaxation Room.’ The employee can go in and do a period of relaxation online taking advantage not only of visual but auditory relaxation prompts,” he says. “It also features a widget that shows the MyCalmBeat visual that guides them through some guided breathing exercises to help relaxation them. And at the same time, they have the opportunity to view a landscape and to hear auditory descriptions of deep muscle relaxation or mindfulness.”
Keas co-founder and CTO Adam Bosworth explained in a statement that ”the number one reason corporate wellness programs don’t work is a lack of participation. Only by making wellness engaging, and truly fun, will employers be able to see a significant return. By integrating Brain Resource’s scientifically proven brain games, we’ll be able to offer players another fun activity that will have a positive impact on overall employee health.”
Press release: Brain Resource Partners with Keas to Provide Innovative Online Brain Health Tools to Employees…
Flashbacks: Aetna Helps Improve Brain Health By Offering MyBrainSolutions; The Shifting Paradigm in Behavioral Healthcare: An Interview with Brain Resource CEO Gregory Bayer, PhD