Healthy Minds @Work and the Spark Appreciation Challenge

1. Create an account by clicking here.
2. Download the Healthy Minds program app on your phone.
3. Log in (don’t use “Sign up”) with the credentials you set up in step 1. 
4. Open the Explore tab at the bottom of your screen.
5. Tap on the Spark Appreciation Challenge box.
6. Click Join the Challenge.
7. Check your email and follow the Get Started schedule.  

1. Open the Healthy Minds program app on your phone.
2. Open the Explore tab at the bottom of your screen.
3. Tap on the Spark Appreciation Challenge box.
4. Click Join the Challenge.
5. If you don’t see an Explore tab, please force quit your app and re-open it.

The Spark Appreciation Challenge is a three-week well-being challenge that provides simple guided meditations and podcast style lessons to support healthier habits of the mind. Each week of the Challenge you will explore the components of appreciation including innate self-worth, cultivating gratitude, and appreciation for everyone. The Challenge includes personalized feedback on your app so you can track your progress along the way.

Yes! Hoos Well offers Healthy Minds @Work and the Spark Appreciation Challenge to all UVA employees and their spouses. However, the $25 reward is available only to enrollees in the UVA Health Plan or the UPG Anthem Health Plan.

While there is no specific start date, you are encouraged to begin the challenge soon, so that you can participate along with your 2,000+ UVA colleagues who have a Healthy Minds program account. You may begin the 3-week challenge anytime between February 2 and November 2, 2023.

UVA employees and spouses on the UVA or UPG Health Plans can earn a $25 reward for completing the Spark Appreciation Challenge. Visit your Rewards page in the Hoos Well portal, scroll down to the bottom, and click on “Complete the Spark Appreciation Challenge by Healthy Minds @ Work.”  (If you don’t already have an account in the Hoos Well portal, create one here.)

Complete and submit the short form to attest to your completion of the challenge. Please note that the first day you can complete the 3-week challenge is February 23, 2023.

The reward will appear immediately in your Virgin Pulse account when you complete the challenge and submit the completion form. All Hoos Well rewards are directly deposited into the health plan subscriber’s paycheck after each quarterly rewards period. Please allow approximately one month for rewards to be processed after the close of each quarter. For example, rewards earned by March 31, 2023 will be paid to the subscriber by late April or early May.

If you have the Healthy Minds free app you have 2 choices. One is to delete your free account and the other is to maintain 2 accounts with 2 different email addresses.

Option 1:

To delete your current account, follow the steps below:

1. Please navigate within the app to Profile > Settings (gear icon in top-right) > Delete Account. *Note this will delete all of your data
2. Follow the step-by-step sign-up instructions to create a new account:

Option 2:

If you would rather maintain 2 Healthy Minds accounts with 2 different email addresses:

1.  Log out of your current Healthy Minds app by navigating within the app to Profile > Settings (gear icon in top-right) and scrolling down and tapping the Logout button.
2. Then use the signup instructions to create a new Healthy Minds account with an alternate email address.
3. Go back to your app and tap the Log In button and enter the credentials you used to create your second account.
4. By logging out and logging back in again, you can access each account.

Please check your spam folder for emails from hello@hminnovations.org. If you still don’t see the emails, please contact Support@hminnovations.org

Plan to dedicate 5-10 minutes per day to the Challenge over the course of three weeks. The app will guide you through five activities each week.

All participants will continue to have access to the Healthy Minds Program app, with access to the “@Work” practices and additional training modules unlocked. In addition, Healthy Minds Innovations will offer quarterly well-being Learning Labs to attend periodically.

In the app, you can tap the My Path button at the bottom of your Healthy Minds app home screen and either begin at the top of the path or jump back in where you left off.  The Healthy Minds four pillared program will help you understand the connections between what's happening inside your brain and how you're interacting with the world around you–with results ranging from increased focus to decreased stress and higher levels of health and well-being.

Healthy Minds Innovations, Inc. (HMI) was started in 2014 by world-renowned neuroscientist Dr. Richard Davidson. They are a nonprofit affiliated with the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison driven by a mission to translate science into tools to cultivate and measure well-being.

HMI takes the discoveries and insights gleaned from the Center’s research–as well as that of their own scientific team–and translates them into tools that help people around the world build skills of well-being through the use of traditional contemplative practices (like meditation), skill building techniques, and opportunities to learn about the science behind the practices.

Please see the Healthy Minds Program mobile app "Help, How To's, and About the App" page for common app related questions and assistance. If you need technical assistance, please fill out this form or send an email to Support@hminnovations.org

Hoos Well and UVA will never know how you personally answered any questions in your assessments. 

Healthy Minds Innovations prioritizes data privacy of all users. Healthy Minds Innovations will never disclose personally identifiable data to anyone other than the individual themselves. HMI stores data using Amazon Web Services in one of its US-based data centers. This data is encrypted in transit and HMI provides limited, as-needed access (for individuals) to application data in order to provide product and end user support. Access to this data is further protected using multi-factor authentication and monitored using identity and system access management logging. Any data provided back to UVA will be de-identified.

Learn more about HMI’s data privacy policies: Privacy Policy and End User License Agreement & Terms of Use.

If you already have an established meditation practice, we encourage you to experiment with the practices in the app to supplement your current practice. You can try adding a shorter 5-minute seated practice to your routine or bring a more meditative mindset to your daily activities with the active practices in the app.

Please note that the Healthy Minds Program is not a substitute for professional mental health treatment and is not intended to diagnose or treat illness. Contemplative practices such as mindfulness meditation may not be for everyone. If you are concerned, consult with your healthcare provider before beginning the program.