Prevail Health Solutions

Prevail Health Solutions is a Chicago-based healthcare technology company that has created a system for online delivery of evidence-based mental health care . The company aims to create greater access to cost-effective therapy for those who have difficulty seeking and receiving adequate treatment. Prevail’s first product is Vets Prevail, a 6-week intervention designed to treat depression among veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)
Company History
Prevail is a Health 2.0 company founded in January 2008 by Richard Gengler and Roger Sweis, then MBA students at University of Chicago. It was born out of the need to provide effective and accessible mental health care to the growing number of soldiers and National Guard members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Gengler, a former US Navy pilot, and Sweis, the former CEO of Oak Forest Psychological Services, combined their backgrounds to create a unique delivery model to bring mental health treatment to returning troops.
Prevail has received grants from the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Interest Research Program. The Vets Prevail program has received grant funding from the McCormick Foundation and Major League Baseball’s Welcome Back Veterans Initiative.
Products And Services
The company’s flagship product, Vets Prevail, is a veteran-created online intervention program designed for returning OEF and OIF soldiers suffering from depression and PTSD. The program combines the principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with interactive e-learning techniques to provide veterans with tools to overcome the mental health challenges that they face upon returning from combat.
Vets Prevail offers live chats during the intervention, live interaction with trained social workers and a peer network of veterans to motivate and help other veterans to readjust to civilian life.
The beta version of the Vets Prevail intervention program was developed in conjunction with leading experts in the field of mental health over the last year. Prevail is in the process of undergoing clinical trials of the program throughout the summer and fall of 2009, and expects to have a market-ready product by early 2010.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
The Vets Prevail intervention is based on the principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a psychotherapeutic approach that aims to influence dysfunctional emotions, behaviors and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure.
CBT takes a hands-on, practical approach to problem-solving. Its goal is to change the patterns of thinking or behavior that are behind people’s difficulties, and so change the way they feel. It is used to treat a wide range of issues from sleeping difficulties to drug and alcohol abuse to anxiety and depression.
CBT is currently considered the standard of care for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression by the Department of Veteran Affairs. Clinical trials have shown that CBT is as effective as pharmacological treatment for many emotional disorders, including PTSD and depression, with longer-lasting benefits.

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