MentalTech for Refugee Situations: A Force Multiplier for Mental Health Interventions Delivery?
Recently while reflecting on the almost daily news of the growing refugee crisis emerging in many places around the world and the prospect of its growth owing to economic, climate and military dislocation, I wondered about how mentaltech is being leveraged in this context. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, as of […]
AnxietyTech Conference “MentalTech Wearables Talk”
So aside from the great value of attending AnxietyTech, back in August 2019, I had the further honor of being able to deliver a talk on MentalTech Wearables, a mental tech area near and dear to my “gadgeteer’s heart. This was the 3rd time I have delivered this talk and the first time in about […]
AnxietyTech 2019: Nice Mix of Mental Health Advocacy & MentalTech
I had the extreme privilege and pleasure of attending and speaking at the 2nd annual AnxietyTech Conference in NYC on August 23, 2019. This conference’s attendance was majority developers and UX designers with a healthy representation of consumers, advocates and researchers also. There were two tracks. One track focused on stories of the lived digital experiences of what […]
The Positive Effects of “Cultural Tailoring” in MentalTech: A Study Summary
As I have ongoing conversations with colleagues about digitally mediated mental health interventions, a continuous theme that comes up is how to customize interventions for diverse audiences based on criteria like gender, socio-economic status, ethnicity, regionality, technographics, etc. As I read studies ongoing, I am always looking for examples that address this question, and appreciate […]
Pure-play MentalTech Investment Funds: Emergent Enablers in this Space
Pure-play Investors In my getting around in MentalTech circles talking with founders and implementors, I am often asked the question, “Do you know any venture capitalists who are focused on digital mental health. I have, for a long time, found these entities elusive in the ecosystem. I am happy to say that in the […]
Apply This!: Levels of Adoption of eMental Health Model
I recently came across this article by Milou A Feijt, et. al., in the Journal of Medical Internet Research titled “Perceived Drivers and Barriers to the Adoption of eMental Health by Psychologists: The Construction of the Levels of Adoption of eMental Health Model”. Here I am summarizing this model for its relevance, and because such […]
MentalTech I Use: Spire Stone: Breath Tracker & Trainer
My last post about how I use Mental Health Chatbots got me thinking about other mentaltech I have used with good success. This post I want to talk about my use of the Spire Breath Tracker. This wearable comes in the form of a stone shaped sensor which fits in the waistband of my pants. The […]
Digital Health Formularies: Digital Health’s Curators & eRx Facilitators?
One of the most vexing risks of the digital mental health space is that of efficacy and safety amid an overwhelming number of choices. I have been heartened to discover an emergent subcategory of services which play a similar role in the digital therapeutics ecosystems, as drug formularies play in the drug therapeutics space. I […]
Embedded Digital Mental Health: Gateway to next wave of adoption?
When we read about digital mental health (DMH) solutions, they are most often in their own manifestations as websites, apps, algorithms, wearables, etc., which require us to adopt new experiences into our present digital lifestyle. While this is acceptable for the pioneers, early adopters and even early majority users of DMH solutions, I suspect that a […]
The MentalTech I Use: Mental Health Chatbots
Recently, I while at the Healthcare Experience Design Conference (#HXD2019) in Boston, MA, USA, put on by MAD*POW, one of the best healthcare experience design firms on the planet, and participated in a Leadership Roundtable Workshop. During this workshop, the question of which are our favorite healthcare apps came up. In answering, I realized that lately […]
“Mental Health Comics”, the best of creative DMH Content (if you ask me!)
Anyone who knows me knows I love graphic novels and comics! You can imagine my extreme delight when I stumbled across this Graphic Medicine podcast, on Mental Health Comics, which then inspired this post. By the way, I cannot recommend this podcast episode enough for its examination of the mental health comics’ role as education, therapy delivery, economic resource […]
Insights from HackMentalHealth Hack-A-Thon, at Yale University!
February 22 – 24, 2019, I attended my first HackMentalHealth (https://www.hackmentalhealth.care) Hack-A-Thon in New Haven, CT, USA at Yale University. Here a community of more than 200 digital mental health interesteds (yes, my word) including consumers, technologists, entrepreneurs, clinicians, researcher, advocates, caregivers assembled to work on solutions focused largely on suicide, substance abuse and data. This is […]
6 Insights on Change, Process & Adoption from The Behavioral Healthcare Congress, 2018
In October 2018, I enjoyed the privilege of chairing the technology track of the Behavioral Health Congress, in Arlington, VA. This was an especially eye-opening Congress for me, focused on provider organizations where the technology and its applications were familiar but the context and operational considerations, quite different. Several insights I derived from my time […]
Digital Stress Management Survey (DSMS) Findings: Barriers to DMH Adoption
I developed the Digital Stress Management Survey to gain insight into how people are using digital technologies in the mental health contexts of education, care, support and treatment. So far, I have gotten a bit over 100 responses, mostly from individuals describing themselves as “mental health proactives”. I am continually growing this sample and appreciate […]
My Favorite Insights from the HTF/UCSF experiMental Conference
On November 3, 2018, I had the great pleasure of attending the experiMental Conference, put on by Pronoy Saha’s Healthcare Technology Forum at UCSF Mission Bay. As expected it was a great gathering of digital mental health entrepreneurs, researchers, practitioners, investors, and interesteds. I am always so inspired and motivated by what I perceive to be a growing cohort […]
My Favorite Quotes from Digital Therapeutics East Conference 2018 (#DTxDM)
It was great to attend the Digital Therapeutics East Conference 2018 which occurred mid-September, in Boston, MA. It was a good meeting which attracted DTx entrepreneurs, healthcare payors, providers, advocates, investors and manufacturers, as well as academics and researchers, to discuss the current state, future potential and needs related to this space which is developing […]
AddictionTech: What are Consumers Using?…What Solutions are Available?
This past Friday, October 12th, I had the great pleasure of accompanying my good colleague, Fard Johnmar of Enspektos and Jen Horonjeff of Savvy Cooperative, in a webinar, “Why Digital Addiction Solutions and Voice-Enabled Technologies Matter to Patients and Industry”. In this webinar, Fard took time to give an update on the latest “digital addiction […]
RecycleHealth: Wearables Recycling Positively Impact Access and User Insights
Last week while visiting Boston for the Digital Therapeutics Alliance Meeting, I got the opportunity to visit my good colleague, Lisa Gualtieri, PhD, ScM, assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine. It was a great reunion talking about the Digital Mental Health Project, and her non-profit, RecycleHealth. Lisa does really cool research exploring […]
My Take #5 on #DIMH2018: Digital Mental Health Territory: A Strategic Overview
One of the great privileges of 2018, for me, was not only attending but speaking at #DIMH2018. It was a great opportunity to present my overview of the digital mental health territory. For those interested, I’ve included a 2 minute excerpt of the talk in video below, …and if you like that you can dig deeper with […]
My Take #4 on #DIMH2018: How the Integration of Digital & Theatre Aids Screening and Battles Stigma
While at this conference, hands down the most unexpectedly innovative application of digital mental health was in the “Digital Interactive Theatre” by James Wilson and colleagues, who put on a production called “Behind These Closed Doors”. In their session, they executed a form of improv, “pick-a-path” theatre where audience members, using a mobile app, MEETOO, are able to alter the storyline […]