With hundreds of programs and apps out there that support your physical and mental wellbeing, it’s hard to know which one is right—it can feel daunting just googling them, let alone moving forward and sticking to one. As your partner in wellness, we want to be someone you can rely on. About five years ago, we invested in Balance®, an online program backed by science and behavioural change models. These models are proven to sustain healthy behaviours over time. We believe in trusted sources and principles of wellness backed by evidence as opposed to the sometimes-questionable launches of products and programs deemed to be the “magic pill”.
We brought on Balance® to give our employees and customers access to a program that’s trustworthy, engaging and able to meet people where they are at on their wellness journey. With this new wellness platform, our employees and customers have access to:
- Programs to help encourage physical activity
- mental health supports, tools and trackers
- Weight management and nutritional resources
- Healthy and delicious recipes
- Personalized goal setting and reminders
- 30-day challenges
- Incentives with chances to win prizes
Getting started with Balance® is easy and confidential
Everything is done through the Alberta Blue Cross® member site. Simply sign in as you normally would, click “Your benefits” and select “Balance®” from the drop-down menu. Any information you provide within the site is anonymized, meaning that individually-identifying information cannot be seen by anyone.
Balance® assesses your current health and wellness, identifying areas for you to focus on. You can benchmark your basis and even take assessments to evaluate your progress down the road. It puts you in charge by empowering you to easily prioritize and track the wellness activities you feel are the most important. We regularly add updates to Balance and share new resources to support your wellness.
Our customers have a lot to say about the benefits of Balance®.
“The trackers have been a useful way of increasing my awareness of the trends that I am living … It is interesting to review weeks at a time to see trends that I was not aware of. It also helps me reflect on my goals as I am more aware of where I am at.” – Peter Fielding
“I enjoy using the trackers to monitor my health. It is a great tool to keep you focused daily on the important goals to maintain good health. It is easy to do and fun to win a reward!” – Michael B.
“Good to see weaker points in my health, I have become much more aware of things since taking it! Especially when it comes to mood and physical activity. I have been much more mindful.” – Olyveia K.
“I had been having pain in my hands. After reviewing the Learn and Earn section, I began to suspect that I might have osteoarthritis. I eventually went to my doctor. He sent me to get some x-rays. The x rays confirmed the diagnosis of Osteoarthritis. The Learn and Earn section has been very useful in dealing with and understanding the long-term effects of this disease. I also learned hints on how to cope with and minimize the pains associated with osteoarthritis.” – Bill B.
“I absolutely love the trackers on here. I find that it makes me accountable and because of it I try to change my life style because I know I have to put it on here. The rewards are a bonus.” – Maria Verbonac
“I have regularly been monitoring my health-related activities whether it is food consumption, taking medicines regularly, and other physical exercise and could notice substantial improvement on my day to day activities.” – Avinash Saini
“The ability to go on daily to track progress and reflect is amazing. Thank you”- Paul W.
“I’ve found the quizzes really informative and fun. I’ve been fortunate to win several nice gift cards and rewards, which my wife enjoys a lot! It’s interesting to learn about the various aspects of health, diet, lifestyle management through the quizzes. It would be interesting to know about the diversity of the respondents to see who’s responding and participating! Cheers to you all.” – Elmer Doell
Balance® is a registered mark of the Canadian Association of Blue Cross® Plans, an association of independent Blue Cross® plans.
how do i join the program
Always looking at ways to improve physically and mentally.
Thanks for your comment! We appreciate you taking the time to read our blog 🙂
I would to attend an exercise class to help me physical a mentally, but I don’t know where to go. Thx