Beating the Odds of Typical Therapy

March 18, 2025

How 90% of members improve with Lyra Care

The odds of improving in typical therapy can be worse than a coin flip—only 40%. 

That’s a 40% chance of overcoming an all-consuming depression or crippling anxiety.

At Lyra, we refuse to leave mental health to chance. Everyone deserves life-changing care.

So we built something better. We built the kind of care we’d trust for the people we love.

We call this model Lyra Care. With Lyra Care, 90% of members improve or recover.

These exceptional results set a new bar for quality, making Lyra Care the most significant breakthrough in employee mental health.

For the last seven years, we’ve honed Lyra Care through rigorous scientific validation, publishing numerous studies. Now, with new peer-reviewed research, the evidence is stronger than ever: Lyra Care delivers unmatched improvement.

What sets Lyra Care apart?

Lyra solves a long-standing problem in mental health: access. We give your employees same-day access to top providers practicing evidence-based, gold-standard care. But Lyra Care truly stands alone by tackling a deeper flaw: low-quality care. It does this by going beyond typical therapy, creating positive change when and where it matters most.

Beyond therapy: the power of Guided Practice Sessions

Typical therapy relies on weekly 50-minute sessions. While these sessions can be powerful, most of life’s challenges—arguments at home, deadlines at work, sleepless nights—happen between sessions. This is where people need the most support, yet it’s exactly where typical therapy falls short.

Lyra Care doesn’t stop where typical therapy does because Lyra Care is not typical therapy. Instead of ending in the therapist’s office, Lyra Care extends treatment into everyday life with a game-changing addition: Guided Practice Sessions.

Just like learning a new language or instrument, mental health improvement requires consistent practice outside of lessons. Guided Practice Sessions embody this approach by bolstering live therapy with between-session activities. Using clinically validated tools such as educational videos, interactive exercises, and messaging, employees practice new skills and stay engaged in their care throughout the week. Exercises are specifically chosen by the therapist to support each employee’s needs and reinforce what was discussed in therapy.

Therapy becomes an immersive, ongoing experience, reinforcing new skills exactly when and where they’re needed: at work, at home, and in daily interactions. The result is stronger, longer-lasting results, and thriving employees.

The proven impact of Guided Practice Sessions

A groundbreaking 2024 study of 33,000 clients found that members’ engagement with Lyra Care’s Guided Practice Sessions uniquely contributed to improvements in anxiety and depression, above and beyond the impact of live sessions alone.

Sustained engagement is key to these results. By combining expert provider guidance with high-quality, research-backed content, 96% of Lyra Care members engage in digital content when in care.

Guided Practice Sessions bring therapy to life with engaging videos and interactive exercises that immerse employees in relatable stories. These lessons simplify complex mental health concepts and model the use of key therapy skills in real-life scenarios.

Our interactive content is enhanced by personalization, expert feedback, and real-time support—elements missing from self-serve apps and other mental health benefits. Lyra Care providers monitor progress in real time, offering feedback throughout the week that strengthens the effectiveness of therapy. Research shows that provider feedback can boost clinical progress for up to two weeks—an impact that’s only possible with the Lyra Care model.

Strengthening the employee-provider bond

Guided Practice Sessions do more than improve symptoms, however; they create a new space to deepen trust and connection not found in typical therapy.

This trusting, collaborative relationship between client and provider, known as the therapeutic alliance, is at the heart of effective therapy and is correlated with better outcomes.

New research shows that Lyra Care’s continuously engaging approach creates exceptionally high therapeutic alliances, which are known to fuel faster, more sustained improvement in anxiety and depression.

Controlling costs with long-term results

One of the biggest but least visible risks in mental health benefits is ineffective care. In typical therapy, employees may attend session after session without meaningful progress, driving up costs for employers without delivering results.

Lyra takes a different approach. Our care model is designed with a clear goal: to help employees develop lasting skills so they can navigate life independently. New research confirms just how effective this approach is.

Our study published in Internet Interventions found that 81%+ of members experienced significant clinical improvements for up to a year after completing Lyra Care Therapy, even without additional sessions.

This lasting impact sets Lyra apart. No other solution has the data to measure lasting outcomes, let alone demonstrate them.

Effective care for even the most complex cases

While challenges like anxiety and depression are prevalent, severe conditions drive the highest health care costs. The 6% of individuals with complex mental health needs drive a staggering 44% of an employer’s total medical costs. Despite this fact, most mental health benefits don’t focus on treating this group in-house in a specialized and effective way.

Only Lyra delivers results across the full spectrum of mental health conditions.

A landmark study published in Nature: Scientific Reports found that 83% of members with PTSD symptoms experienced significant improvement with Lyra Care—an exceptionally strong result.

Unlike other mental health benefits that outsource severe cases, Lyra provides integrated, in-house care, reducing dropout rates and ensuring consistent, effective support for your entire workforce.

The care you need to be care-free

As an HR leader, you see it all. You witness both the triumphs and struggles—the promotions and achievements and the personal hardships that affect performance and well-being.

You don’t have to navigate these challenges alone. Lyra is your partner for your employees’ mental health.

Lyra Care ensures that every employee gets the care they deserve. This isn’t just about reducing symptoms. It’s about empowering employees to be fully present for the moments that matter most, at work and at home. That’s what true well-being looks like.

And that’s what Lyra Care delivers.

Take the next step

Join the HR leaders redefining workplace mental health. Book a demo today and see how Lyra can transform your workforce.