Ones To Watch: The 6 Companies Digitalizing Mental Health Treatment
The awareness and understanding of mental health issues have been steadily increasing in recent years.
More resources are becoming available for the diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions, and conversations on the subject are taking place in the public domain.
But the COVID pandemic has amplified mental health struggles for individuals across the globe.
In the UK, around 17% of adults were experiencing some form of depression in the summer of 2021 - a 7% increase compared to pre-COVID levels. This has been a constant theme throughout the pandemic, and the impact is still being felt today.
As a result, demand for effective mental health treatments is escalating rapidly.
So what can be done to help?
Several digital healthtech brands have emerged to tackle these issues. Digital platforms can provide individuals with instant access to mental health care, affordable treatments, and a new level of convenience.
At Harmonic we’re incredibly passionate about championing mental health awareness and are inspired by the work of many companies in this space.
We’ve pulled together 6 of the most innovative digital platforms in the world of mental health treatment to shine a light on the services that they provide.
Alena
Alena is an app designed to help individuals recognise and overcome social anxiety.
Social anxiety is often dismissed as shyness or nervousness, but it’s a condition that can have a serious impact on everyday routines and personal relationships.
The Alena platform is all about personalisation, creating tailored solutions for individuals based on their unique behaviours. Users are prompted to play a few simple games that help the app to understand their cognitive processes.
Alena then creates a ‘personalised path’ for each user, aiming to help them achieve confidence, clarity, self-compassion, and self-esteem.
The platform offers an interactive form of therapy that empowers people to overcome their anxiety issues in a safe and trusted space.
The accessibility of the app is hugely beneficial, as it means that more individuals may be encouraged to actively tackle their social anxiety rather than neglecting it.
Inflow
Inflow strives to help individuals with ADHD to access affordable and effective alternatives to traditional therapies.
The platform was designed by a team of clinicians and coaches and is rooted in science-based solutions. The program involves daily exercises and challenges that are based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy - proven to be effective in managing ADHD.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy focuses on helping individuals to manage negative or disruptive thoughts and emotions. Inflow equips users with the tools they need to cope with ADHD in the long term.
Inflow is also passionate about neurodiversity, which is defined as the viewpoint that brain differences are normal rather than deficits and is an important talking point. The app approaches ADHD as a variance and embraces the uniqueness and diversity of each user.
Psyomics
Psyomics is a digital platform that helps individuals and clinicians to accurately assess mental health. It was developed by specialist clinicians and healthcare professionals, being tested in a large-scale clinical trial by the Cambridge Centre for Neuropsychiatric Research.
Although mental health treatments are incredibly important, identifying these conditions in the first place can be equally challenging. Individuals may not realise that they’re struggling with specific symptoms and can easily miss out on support without a proper assessment.
Psyomics utilises algorithms and research-backed questionnaires to help people identify mental health conditions more efficiently.
The technology then aims to connect users with the right treatment pathways as quickly as possible. Individuals can generate their own reports through Psyomics, but the platform also supports NHS Trusts and psychological therapy services.
BetterSpace
BetterSpace is built to help employers provide personalised wellbeing resources to their employees.
Employees are allocated their own wellness budget, offering them more control over their treatment options. They’re then prompted to complete a confidential wellbeing assessment, which allows BetterSpace to suggest personalised apps and services for treatment.
The platform boasts some impressive results when it comes to employee mental health. 70% of employees improve their wellbeing, while 91% of users approve of the app.
The initiative revolves around six key wellbeing pillars - sleep, exercise, meaningful activity, social connections, helping others and stress management.
Working environments can be highly stressful, and these six pillars provide employees with vital opportunities to improve and maintain their well-being.
BetterSpace is focused on ‘prevention rather than cures’, and this proactive thinking is key to engaging individuals and helping them to identify mental health challenges.
Harper Care
Harper Care provides users with the opportunity for a thorough mental health assessment and ongoing clinical support.
The platform works alongside scientists from universities like Oxford and Cambridge to develop advanced digital tools that can help individuals to improve their mental wellbeing.
Users begin the process by completing several psychological tests and games, accompanied by a saliva test. These outputs are then analysed by Harper Care, which connects individuals with coaches that construct tailored programs based on the results.
Support is provided through weekly check-ins and in-app messages that ensure individuals are benefiting from their treatment.
The Harper Care approach is fuelled by scientific research, with a strong focus on personalised plans and solutions. This combination of precision medicine and accessible technology is a huge benefit to users.
SPOKE
SPOKE is a free-to-use platform with a unique approach to mindfulness and mental wellbeing.
The app combines scientific research with ‘audio escapism’. Users gain access to a mixture of Lo-fi music, hip-hop and meditative spoken word that can strengthen their mindset and improve their sleep.
Individuals using the app will gradually ‘level up’ once they complete audio episodes. They can then access a wider catalogue of content as they progress.
The SPOKE platform also personalises episode recommendations around individual users, so listeners will receive tailored audio based on their desired outcomes.
All of this content is created by qualified artists working in combination with neuroscientists, psychologists and therapists. The result is a unique blend of creative executions and scientific techniques that seeks to improve mental wellbeing.
Digital healthtech is an extremely promising addition to the world of mental health treatment.
For one thing, these apps and platforms are incredibly accessible to users. This increases the likelihood of individuals engaging with specialists and therapists to improve their mental wellbeing.
This also aids the prevention of mental health conditions worsening, as users can access support and guidance more easily.
Digital platforms are also able to offer a high level of personalisation very quickly, as user data is collected and analysed to generate more effective treatment plans.
These apps are leading the charge in removing the stigma of mental health issues, encouraging more open conversations, and increasing access to vital services.
All of this is hugely important in dealing with the ramifications of COVID and enhancing the mental health treatment sector.
Owen Jones
If you work for a biotech/healthtech/medtech business and are looking to recruit across finance or operations please get in touch at [email protected]