Beyond Reimagination: Improving your client outcomes by understanding what big tech is doing right (and wrong) with mental health apps
Curt and Katie chat about the big tech “disruptors” in the mental health space and what therapists can learn from their tactics to support clients. We look at who is using mental health apps, what mental health apps are getting right (and wrong), and how therapists can take what is working and work differently to more effectively serve our own clients. This is a continuing education podcourse.
Looking at the gaps in mental health treatment and how big tech is working to “fix” them
- Exploring the goals from the Rand report on fixing mental healthcare in the United States
- Mental Health apps (with many broad definitions)
- Access to lots of different types of services and self-help
- A one stop shop with a full range of services
- Direct negotiation with insurance companies
The types of technology used in mental health apps and the risks and benefits of these advances
- Algorithms
- Geo location data
- Complex payment structures
- Outcomes and feedback
What mental health apps are doing well for clients
- Getting clients into therapy much more quickly
- Decreasing costs for consumers
- Increasing flexibility and availability
- Not requiring for things to happen in real time (asynchronous therapy)
What mental health apps are getting wrong
- McDonaldization and commoditization
- Proprietary treatment methods and incentives for specific worksheets or staying within the app
- Misalignment between the goals of the client and the goals of the corporation
- Self-driven, leading to folks to potentially getting insufficient resources
- Individual versus community focus
- Caseloads and potential for therapist income (as well as burnout and poor care)
Concerns about the additional risks that can happen with mental health apps
- The apps are not bound by HIPAA, but instead the SEC
- Data sharing and Alexa suggesting supplements to address client mental health concerns
- Additional legal and ethical risks
Who is using app-based mental health services?
- Therapy veterans are moving to apps
- Access is not actually improved
- The reasons that clients are moving from a traditional therapist to therapy apps
- Outcomes across different types of apps and different types of clients
- Niche apps are more effective than generalist apps
What we can do to move our therapist practices forward?
Using the benefits of technology to decrease friction for your clients accessing therapists
- Increasing flexibility and creativity
- Be a better therapist and understanding the digital therapeutic alliance
- Paying attention to laws and ethics, scope of practice, and treatment planning
Receive Continuing Education for this Episode of the Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide
Hey modern therapists, we’re so excited to offer the opportunity for 1 unit of continuing education for this podcast episode – Therapy Reimagined is bringing you the Modern Therapist Learning Community!
Once you’ve listened to this episode, to get CE credit you just need to go to learn.moderntherapistcommunity.com/pages/podcourse, register for your free profile, purchase this course, pass the post-test, and complete the evaluation! Once that’s all completed - you’ll get a CE certificate in your profile or you can download it for your records. For our current list of CE approvals, check out moderntherapistcommunity.com.
You can find this full course (including handouts and resources) here: https://learn.moderntherapistcommunity.com/pages/podcourse
Continuing Education Approvals:
When we are airing this podcast episode, we have the following CE approval. Please check back as we add other approval bodies: Continuing Education Information
