A pilot mental health benefit that never touches the medical certificate.
Pilots are trained to manage risk in the cockpit, but the FAA's medical certification process asks directly about mental health history, and many believe that seeking care, even quietly, puts the certificate they need to keep flying at risk. A standard airline EAP does not solve that fear, because pilots know who runs it. CEREVITY gives regional and charter carriers a confidential pilot mental health benefit, delivered by private-pay telehealth with no insurance claim and no visibility to the airline.
A pilot mental health program is a confidential, private-pay therapy benefit that airlines offer alongside an existing EAP, built to solve why most pilots avoid care: fear that disclosure will jeopardize their FAA medical certificate. CEREVITY delivers it by secure telehealth in all 50 states, in 50-minute, 90-minute, and 3-hour sessions, with no insurance claim filed and no record visible to the airline or an examiner.
What CEREVITY is.
A nationwide network of independent licensed clinicians, offered as a confidential benefit a pilot can use without the airline, the FAA, or a scheduling system ever seeing it.
CEREVITY is a nationwide network of independent licensed clinicians providing private-pay therapy by secure telehealth across all 50 states. It is not an app, not a coaching marketplace, and not an employee assistance program. Each pilot is matched by hand to a clinician experienced with high-consequence, licensure-sensitive careers, the same clinical base behind our clinical guide to therapy for commercial airline pilots.
For a carrier, the model is simple to reason about. Care is private-pay with no insurance claim filed, so nothing routes through the airline's health plan and no claim record is created that a chief pilot's office or an aviation medical examiner could discover. The benefit sits above the existing EAP rather than replacing it, built for pilots whose willingness to seek care depends on it staying off any record the airline can see. The result is a pilot mental health benefit pilots will actually use, because using it costs nothing in exposure.
Business aviation operators face a related but distinct problem, working through the FAA's HIMS reporting framework for crews already under monitoring: see our crew and pilot wellbeing program for business aviation. This page is built for the commercial regional and charter operating model instead, the pilot workforce and staffing pressure a VP of Operations or Chief Pilot manages day to day.
Why pilot mental health is different in regional and charter operations.
The barrier is not awareness. It is the certificate.
Every pilot who flies for compensation holds an FAA medical certificate, renewed on a fixed schedule through an Aviation Medical Examiner, and the certification process asks directly about mental health history and treatment. A pilot does not have to be told this creates an incentive to say nothing. The dynamic is not unique to aviation: pilots describe close to the same calculation as attorneys navigating state bar reporting concerns, a pattern our overview of confidential therapy and licensing boards covers across professions.
The scale of that silence is documented directly by pilots themselves, in the largest survey of its kind.
of pilots surveyed reported a history of avoiding healthcare specifically because they feared losing their aeromedical certificate, and more than a quarter admitted withholding or misrepresenting health information on a certification questionnaire. Source: Hoffman WR, Aden J, Barbera RD, et al., "Healthcare Avoidance in Aircraft Pilots Due to Concern for Aeromedical Certificate Loss: A Survey of 3,765 Pilots," Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2022.
Sources · Schad, Knueppel and Pfoertner, "Determining the Causes of Mental Health Issues in Airline Pilots," Cureus 18(2): e103870, 2026.
Wu, Donnelly-McLay, Weisskopf, et al., "Airplane Pilot Mental Health and Suicidal Thoughts," Environmental Health 15:121, 2016.
Regional and charter carriers are running this risk against a workforce with no slack in it. An October 2023 Oliver Wyman analysis found regional block hours still running at roughly two thirds of pre-pandemic levels, and estimated that restoring regional flying to pre-pandemic capacity would alone require about 6,000 additional pilots industry-wide. A workforce that thin cannot absorb pilots leaving quietly because they were afraid to ask for help.
A standard airline EAP was not built to close that gap. It is a high-volume, short-term counseling benefit typically run through HR, and pilots know it. The perception that using it creates a paper trail is often enough to keep a pilot away, a pattern our analysis of why leaders do not use their EAP documents in a different population with the same underlying structure.
What pilots actually bring to the flight deck.
The presenting issues behind the resignation letters and the sick calls, in the language of the operation.
The certificate fear
The single biggest reason a pilot in distress says nothing. Even a pilot who wants help delays or avoids it because disclosure feels like it puts a career-defining credential on the table, a dynamic our explainer on what pilots can do without reporting to the FAA lays out in detail, and CPAs facing board reporting concerns describe an almost identical calculation.
Fatigue and circadian strain
Report times before dawn, red-eyes, and multi-leg days that cross time zones keep a pilot's body clock in a state commercial scheduling never fully accommodates. Chronic fatigue degrades mood and judgment long before it shows up as a fitness-for-duty problem, the same pattern behind decision fatigue therapy.
Reserve and irregular scheduling
Short-call reserve means a pilot's life is scheduled around the possibility of flying, not the certainty of it. The unpredictability is itself a chronic stressor, one that never resolves into an actual routine.
Nights away from base
Hotel layovers disconnect a pilot from the ordinary supports that regulate most people's stress: a home routine, a regular exercise habit, a partner across the table. Family therapy is part of the network because that disconnection reaches the whole household, not just the pilot.
Shortage-driven upgrade pressure
A tight pilot pipeline is moving first officers into the left seat faster than seniority once allowed, and a new captain absorbs command authority and passenger-facing responsibility with less runway to grow into it. The pressure shows first in high-stakes anxiety, well before it shows up in a check ride.
Post-event stress
A diversion, a mechanical failure handled correctly, a hard landing, a passenger medical emergency: pilots are trained to manage these events professionally in the moment and are given almost no structured way to process them afterward. Left alone, the aftermath surfaces as anxiety and depression rather than as a single identifiable incident.
Why the standard benefit misses the flight deck
A workforce-wide app or a generalist EAP is built for volume, not for a population that reads every touchpoint for career risk. Our review of mental health vendors beyond Headspace and Lyra covers why point solutions built for a general workforce routinely fail the population that most needs confidentiality.
Relationship strain at home
A schedule built around the operation, not the household, puts real strain on marriages, and the pilot is rarely home for the conversation that would resolve it. Couples therapy is part of the network for exactly this reason.
A pilot who is afraid to get help is not lying about being fine. They are managing a risk we put in front of them.
Session formats built for trip pairings.
Three lengths, no rigid weekly slot.
The steady cadence of ongoing therapy. Most clients spend most of their care in 50-minute sessions.
For work that needs more room than a standard hour can hold. See 90-minute sessions.
For work that needs uninterrupted time to reach resolution. See 3-hour therapy intensives.
Care is delivered in 50-minute, 90-minute, and 3-hour sessions by secure telehealth, nationwide. A pilot on a rotating trip pattern can do a single 90-minute or 3-hour block between pairings rather than forcing a standing weekly appointment that a schedule change will break. Continuity is preserved because the pilot keeps the same clinician throughout, and modality is matched at intake rather than assigned. When the situation is urgent, same-week access is the norm rather than the exception.
Give pilots a reason to actually use it.
A confidential conversation about a pilot mental health benefit takes one call. Nothing about it touches a certificate or an airline record.
Start a partnership conversationHow a pilot is matched.
Every pilot is matched by hand, not by an algorithm running against an intake form.
The eligible individual submits a confidential intake form covering presenting issues, modality preference, professional context, and scheduling parameters. Operated by CEREVITY directly, not by a broker.
Intake is reviewed by CEREVITY's clinical leadership against the network's active capacity, current licensure footprint, and modality availability. This is the step that does not exist in an EAP.
A specific clinician is matched to the pilot, who receives the match with the clinician's profile, modality, and credentials, plus a direct online scheduling link.
Scheduling runs directly through CEREVITY infrastructure with no phone handoff. First sessions are typically scheduled within 5 to 10 business days of the match.
Care continues on the cadence the clinical work requires, in 50-minute, 90-minute, or 3-hour sessions, without an employer-imposed session cap.
Capability comparison for regional and charter airlines.
An evaluation framework on the dimensions that matter when scoping a pilot mental health benefit. All three models have a place; they are designed for different populations.
| Dimension | Typical EAP | Executive-tier platform | CEREVITY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Network model | Broker layer between employer and contractor roster | Single-vendor platform, W-2 or contracted pool | Independent clinical network with direct relationships |
| Clinician assignment | First contractor to reply with availability | Algorithmic matching on intake-form inputs | Clinical review by network leadership |
| Intake and scheduling | Phone handoff to the clinician's line | App-based intake and scheduling | Network-operated intake, direct online scheduling |
| Session formats | Standard 50-minute, capped session counts | Standard 45 to 50-minute sessions | 50-minute, 90-minute, and 3-hour formats, no cap |
| Clinical scope | Acute, broadly applicable concerns | Workforce-wide, executive tier as an upsell | Built around the presenting issues of pilots |
| Modality fit | Generalist talk therapy | Generalist therapy with some specialty | CBT, DBT, psychodynamic, IFS, matched at intake |
| Reach | National via roster density | National telehealth, roster variance | All 50 states via telehealth |
| Payment model | Employer-sponsored, in network | Per-employee-per-month seat pricing | Private pay, out of network, partnership agreement |
| Carrier visibility | Aggregate, broker-mediated | Vendor dashboards with engagement metrics | Administrative reporting only |
| Right fit for | Workforce-wide acute support | Mid-tier ongoing care with an executive add-on | regional and charter airlines, end to end |
If you are running a formal evaluation, our notes on what to look for in a private therapy provider cover the procurement side in detail. For a step-by-step process view, see setting up confidential therapy for company leadership.
What the carrier sees, and what it does not.
For a pilot mental health benefit to function, the pilot has to trust that using it creates no visibility into their care for the airline, and no new entry in any record connected to their certificate. CEREVITY is built around that requirement.
- Confirmation that contracted services were provided to eligible individuals.
- Aggregate utilization at the partnership level, where contractually appropriate.
- Invoicing and eligibility reconciliation.
- Nothing tied to a specific named pilot's clinical content.
- Whether a specific named pilot has scheduled, attended, or engaged.
- What clinical issues are being addressed, or which clinician is assigned.
- Session notes, treatment plans, or diagnostic information.
- Any attendance detail at the individual level.
Clinicians are independent licensed professionals operating under their own licensure and the confidentiality and privacy obligations that attach to it. Protected health information is held within the clinical infrastructure, and the agreements governing it are defined in writing before the partnership goes live. Our notice of privacy practices and privacy policy are published in full.
Clinical records, session content, and individual engagement data sit inside the clinical platform. The administrative layer the partner interacts with is structurally separate from the clinical layer.
Eligibility lists are maintained on the partner side and confirmed at the point of intake. Administering eligibility does not require the partner to receive clinical information back.
A Business Associate Agreement is executed where the partnership structure requires it, and whether one applies is a determination made with counsel rather than assumed. The partnership agreement defines the administrative reporting scope in writing before anything goes live. See also our terms of service.
Pilots frequently ask what a chief pilot's office could learn about their care. The honest answer: CEREVITY does not report to the airline. See confidential therapy with no records your employer sees. Disclosure on a future medical certificate application remains a matter between the pilot and their Aviation Medical Examiner; CEREVITY does not provide FAA regulatory or legal advice.
What the first 30 days look like.
The hardest part of a flight-deck partnership is not the contract. It is the period between signature and the first pilot in care.
A 60-minute kickoff with your team and CEREVITY's partnership lead. We confirm the partnership shape, the eligibility model, the administrative reporting scope, and the internal owner. The BAA, where applicable, is executed.
Your team provides the eligible-individual list. CEREVITY confirms it against the network and establishes the verification path at intake. Only eligibility confirmation flows forward.
CEREVITY provides a confidential, flight-deck comms template explaining the benefit, the privacy posture, and how to access intake. It is written to be received without stigma.
Eligible individuals begin intake on their own cadence. First sessions are typically scheduled within 5 to 10 business days. By day 30 the partnership is operational and a quarterly review cadence is in place.
The business case for the carrier.
Retention, safety-relevant performance, and recruiting are the levers, and they are the levers a thin pilot pipeline already runs on.
Retention of trained pilots
Every pilot who leaves early, especially quietly and for reasons never disclosed, lands on a training pipeline already running at capacity. One peer-reviewed case study of turnover at a Part 135 operator put the cost of replacing a pilot at $17,405, well above the $13,996 average across all US jobs and industries (Kiernan, 2018). A confidential benefit is retention infrastructure aimed at the pilots least likely to ask for help any other way.
Performance and safety-relevant judgment
Fatigue, unmanaged anxiety, and chronic stress degrade the same judgment and attention a flight deck depends on, and they do so well before either one becomes a reportable event. Burnout's impact on productivity is measurable long before a pilot self-grounds or calls in sick, and care that reaches the underlying pattern protects performance rather than just responding to its absence.
Recruiting in a tight labor market
In a hiring environment where pilots compare offers on quality of life as much as pay, a confidential mental health benefit signals that a carrier treats its pilots as a long-term asset rather than a rotating seat. That reputation compounds when the next class of first officers is choosing where to build seniority. Start a conversation to see how the benefit is positioned in offer letters and bidding packages.
Questions carriers and pilots ask first.
Does this replace our airline's existing EAP?
No. CEREVITY sits above the EAP as a confidential pilot mental health benefit. The EAP continues to serve the broader employee population at high volume, while CEREVITY provides matched clinical care for pilots and flight crew whose willingness to use a benefit depends on it staying private. The reasoning is set out in EAP versus private therapy: an honest comparison.
Will using this pilot mental health benefit affect a pilot's FAA medical certificate?
CEREVITY does not report attendance, diagnoses, or any clinical detail to the airline, the FAA, or an Aviation Medical Examiner. Care is private-pay with no insurance claim filed, so there is no claim record for anyone to discover. Whether and how a specific condition must be disclosed on a pilot's own medical certificate application is a matter of FAA regulation the pilot resolves directly with their Aviation Medical Examiner; CEREVITY does not provide FAA regulatory or legal advice. Our Aviation Mental Health Disclosure Gap research covers this barrier in detail.
Which pilots does a pilot mental health program typically cover?
Scope is defined in the partnership agreement. Most carriers start with line pilots and captains and extend coverage to flight crew and dispatch on request. Some also include pilots currently working through a HIMS monitoring agreement who want supportive care alongside it, though CEREVITY is not a HIMS-qualified sponsor and does not replace that program.
Can a pilot already in the FAA's HIMS program use CEREVITY?
Yes, as supportive care alongside a HIMS agreement, not as a substitute for it. A pilot under HIMS monitoring has separate reporting obligations to their HIMS-trained Aviation Medical Examiner that CEREVITY does not alter or fulfill. Our clinical guide for corporate jet pilots addresses how private care and a HIMS framework can run in parallel.
How quickly can a pilot be matched?
Once the partnership is in place, an individual pilot is matched by hand to an appropriate clinician, typically on a same-week basis depending on licensure footprint and modality fit. First sessions are usually scheduled within 5 to 10 business days of the match. Matching is reviewed by CEREVITY's clinical leadership rather than assigned algorithmically.
Does CEREVITY cover pilots based at multiple domiciles?
Yes. Care is delivered by secure telehealth nationwide across all 50 states, so a single partnership can support pilots at every domicile a carrier operates, without anyone needing to be near a physical office.
What does a pilot mental health program cost the airline?
Structure is agreed in the partnership conversation and depends on the number of pilots covered and the scope of access. CEREVITY is a private-pay network with transparent fees, so there are no insurance-driven surprises in the accounting. Standard individual rates are published on our pricing page.
How do we begin?
Start a partnership conversation using the form on this page, by phone at (562) 295-6650, or through the contact page. A member of CEREVITY's clinical leadership will follow up directly and confidentially to scope a benefit that fits the operation.
Start a partnership conversation.
Tell us about your operation and the pilots you want to support. A member of CEREVITY's clinical leadership will follow up directly and confidentially.
Further reading and related partnerships.
Research, clinical writing, and the other verticals CEREVITY supports.
Research and reports
For operations and HR leaders
Clinical writing
A note on sources.
The 56.1 percent healthcare-avoidance figure is drawn from Hoffman, Aden, Barbera, et al. (2022), a survey of 3,765 aircraft pilots published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The depression-prevalence figures in the exhibit above are drawn from two independent surveys. Wu and colleagues (2016), published through Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, surveyed 1,848 airline pilots and found 12.6 percent met the clinical threshold for depression. Schad, Knueppel and Pfoertner (2026) surveyed 277 airline pilots and found 10.4 percent showed signs of major depressive disorder. The regional-shortage figures are drawn from an October 2023 Oliver Wyman analysis. The pilot-turnover cost figure is drawn from Kiernan (2018), published in the Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research. The structural argument on this page is based on the firsthand experience of CEREVITY clinicians who have served on EAP panels, combined with publicly available vendor materials. This page does not provide FAA regulatory or legal advice; certification questions belong with a pilot's Aviation Medical Examiner, and contractual questions, including any Business Associate Agreement, belong with counsel. Additional CEREVITY research is collected in the knowledge base.