Beyond Reimagination: Improving your client outcomes by understanding what big tech is doing right (and wrong) with mental health apps The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy

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 moderntherapistcommunity.com/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://moderntherapistcommunity.com/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