The whole approach for the whole person.
Every person off work because of mental health or chronic pain challenges is unique, and more than their symptoms. But they’re usually not treated that way. At Odyssey Health, we consider all aspects of a person’s life, recommend and modify the right plan, and integrate medical and behavioural science into every treatment plan.
This holistic, integrated and customized approach is scientifically-supported for assessing and treating a near-countless range of challenges.
No assessment required
For less complex cases, swifter entry into treatment yields excellent results.
Odyssey
Express
Our short-term program for Clients recently off work, or absent for short periods (i.e. a few weeks/months) but less than a year. With no assessment required, clients can start within days of absence.
Assessment required
For those off work longer, choosing the right program is crucial and is based on a comprehensive, team-wide assessment.
Odyssey
Excursion
Our medium-term program for Clients off work for one to three years, and who would benefit from state-of-the-art behavioural intervention proven to improve the psychological/psychosocial factors of their absence.
Odyssey
Expedition
Our long-term program for people off work three or several more years, often with multiple prolonged absences, whose complex physical and mental health challenges have resisted traditional health care interventions.
Work Absence
Assessment
Treatment Length (approx.)
Why Odyssey Works
Everyone needs hope. We’ve earned a wide reputation as a source of hope – and results – for people suffering so long that they might have lost theirs. In addition to persistence and passion, here’s some of what’s behind that success.
Function Focused
People experiencing pain tend to focus on their symptoms and eliminating them. Our approach considers clients’ symptoms while simultaneously shifting their focus toward engaging in everyday activities they enjoy and value. That simple shift is transformational.
Cutting-edge, Evidence-Based Tools
We have always worked at the frontier of behavioural therapy, with scientifically-investigated and proven therapies including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Training, Behavioural Activation and more.
Values-Driven
Returning to function, and a life filled with what matters most, means something different to every person. We explore each person’s specific goals and aspirations and plan our path towards them. Individualization increases effectiveness.
Activity Tracking
By tracking their program activities daily, clients become more engaged and motivated by seeing and sharing their progress. And the whole team is on the same page: theirs.
A Whole-Person View
Three key factors – biological, psychological (stress, coping ability) and social (environment, family) – interact to influence how people function. This informs our Biopsychosocial approach, which ensures we treat the whole person, not just the symptoms, and creates a solid foundation for long term success.
Collaboration & Communication
Our highly inclusive team approach, where we regularly update and interact not just internally, but with all parties concerned about the client, is directly tied to our standout success.
We bring the same unrivalled experience to our insurer and employer partners.
We’re now in our fifth decade of exclusive immersion in this field, most of it centered on clients with complex, extended work absences that are complicated to manage and even understand. No matter where or what the situation, we bring an unequalled understanding of healthcare, insurance and employment issues to it, and guide our professional partners through these oftentimes choppy waters with the same relentless persistence and expertise that we bring to their clients.
Evidence-Based Treatment Modalities
Our success and reputation lie in our unique way of using and integrating key elements of third wave Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) tools, to help clients get back to lives filled with what matters most to them.
The words Acceptance and Commitment are the bookends of a highly respected toolkit that helps people let go of struggle and focus on living full, vibrant lives. ACT works on the assumption that suffering is an unavoidable part of life, and trying to deny or control it only leads to more. Mindfulness practices help clients move toward acceptance and self-compassion around painful thoughts and feelings, and put their energy into building a fulfilling life, guided by thought-provoking questions like, “What do you really want your life to be about?”
BT is guided by the idea that if a behaviour can be learned it can be unlearned. BT tools help clients understand how helpful behaviours can lead to meaningful changes, while helping them identify any barriers and difficulties standing in their way.
BA helps clients “disrupt the cycle” of avoidance and inactivity. Clinicians work with clients to examine unhelpful behaviours, and identify, plan and engage in activities that give them pleasure and a sense of accomplishment. Goals, routines, schedules and positive, active behaviours are all part of this highly-effective approach.
DBT is set of powerful tools that help people learn how to do two seemingly opposite (dialectical) things at the same time: learn how to accept their problematic thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and learn how to change them. It helps people address unhelpful thought patterns and avoid unhealthy behaviours, and is widely used for many presenting challenges.
Common Treatment Elements
At Odyssey Health, we don’t just help people change: we equip them for success with tools that improve sleep, physical function, work readiness and more.
Sleep disruption is a common problem for people with chronic physical and mental health conditions, leading to “non-restorative sleep” that exacerbates the very issues impairing function. Our structured sleep management approach addresses two key factors: the client’s personal daily habits and their sleeping environment. Learning how to optimize these areas is paramount to successful sleep and improved wellbeing.
Knowledge is power, and better outcomes are more likely when people are both better informed and less misinformed about their conditions and how to self-manage them. Our clients are making huge decisions about how to change their lives, so we make sure they’re doing it with the latest, most current information.
Our clients often describe avoidance and withdrawal as their primary coping strategy for managing their symptoms of suffering – significantly diminishing their participation in rewarding, rejuvenating activities. Our clinicians guide clients through a graduated return to meaningful activity, helping them achieve attainable reactivation goals, while incorporating strategies for managing their discomfort. The result is the resumption of active, social living despite their symptoms.
Mindfulness meditation is based on ancient meditation practices that focus one’s attention to the present moment with openness and acceptance. Today, mindfulness is scientifically supported to improve how people cope with pain. By helping people learn how to accept their experiences, rather than react to them with aversion and avoidance, mindfulness can help reduce the impact of painful thoughts and feelings.
People with chronic pain often resist movement and exercise, because, well, it can be painful. But if those people are able to focus on valued goals, not their symptoms – setting, then reaching, then increasing measurable activity goals – it can increase both their activity levels and their comfort with becoming more active. Our clinicians use graduated cardiovascular training and progressive resistance training to help clients resume their pre-disability level of functioning.
The term “work hardening” sounds challenging, but it’s actually designed to make returning to work much less so. For clients going back to work, this process of systematic, confidence-building preparation of body and mindset is essential. We use both cognitive and physical work hardening strategies that employ real and simulated work activities to restore physical, behavioural and vocational functioning. We also provide support during the return to work process, and provide vocational support for participants who may not have a job to return to, or have chosen to resume work elsewhere.