Hey you
There is a lot of research and media interest around digitalization and AI technologies being used in therapy but a deafening silence from two of the key constituencies. The people using digital therapies and the people delivering them.
If you are a therapist or someone using digital tools, particularly those of you working for online therapy platforms such as BetterHelp or Health Assured, please consider helping us understand the digital architecture and the impact on therapeutic practice by contacting us for some non-commercial and fully confidential research projects currently underway.
UberTherapy
As part of my research on therapy as an academic and as Surviving Work I am writing a book UberTherapy: The new business of mental health for publication by Bristol University Press in 2024. If you are or have worked for an online therapy platform I would like to interview you to help me understand the architecture of digital therapy platforms. What and how you work, how you relate to the company and what your experiences are.
If you have used digital therapy – whether its apps or chatbots or online therapy platforms I would also be grateful to hear about your experience.
Interviews will be entirely confidential, held directly with me by phone or online. Nothing you say will be attributed or passed on to other people. Your name and contact details will not be kept on any data base or passed on to others. Your experience will be used simply to help me paint an accurate picture in my book.
If you can help please email me Elizabeth Cotton on info@survivingwork.org which is an email account accessed solely by me.
The Digital Therapy Survey
The Digital Therapy Survey was set up to understand experiences of using teletherapy, online therapy platforms and digital mental health tools from the perspectives of therapists and consumers or users of these technologies. This survey aims to capture the experience of using digital tools including three categories of ‘digital therapies’ - tele/video therapy, mental health and wellbeing apps and use of online therapy platforms. We are seeking responses both from the UK and USA so that we can understand different perspectives on the use of digital therapeutic tools.
We are a group of researchers and practitioners in the UK and USA.
The team is made up of:
· Dr Elizabeth Cotton, Cardiff Metropolitan University and Surviving Work,
· Dr Pauline Whelan, University of Manchester,
· Dr Knut Laaser, Stirling University,
· Dr Linda Michaels, Psychotherapy Action Network PsiAN (USA)
· Maria Albertsen Director of Counsellors Together UK (UK)
· Dr Livia Garofalo, Data & Society (USA)
The survey will be open until the end of October and we ask you to take 15 minutes to tell us your experience of digital therapy.
To take the survey please click onto https://rb.gy/g9nxg
Our website is here www.thedigitaltherapyproject.org
You can contact the team on thedigitaltherapyproject@gmail.com
Twitter @DigitalTherapyS
For both research projects your anonymity will be guaranteed. Your data and any information you provide will not be passed onto any third parties or used for commercial gain. The main thing is that your experiences of digital therapy which are massively under-reported get to see the light of day to join the debate about the future of therapy.
File on Four Research
A young woman from the BBC named Ella has asked me to reach out to people from the UK who have had experience with virtual therapy. Such as Better Help, Health Assured and any models that are similar. The request is directed to therapists and clients who have had a difficult experience due to the use of these models. She works at BBC Radio 4’s File on 4, which is a current -affairs investigative series. The audio documentaries are known for their record of delivering trust-worthy journalism. Ella has assured me that all conversations are not for reporting at this stage and will be kept strictly confidential between her and her editor. Her email is ella.rule@bbc.co.uk and that is the best way to contact her. Ella has said she is happy to answer any questions during or before arranging a conversation.
NHS Talking Therapies Petition
Many of you have been involved in campaigning for a review of NHS Talking Therapies/IAPT for years and there’s now some political traction in relation to this - see this article from Politics Home. So there’s a new petition organised by Keep Our NHS Public calling for:
A thorough independent review and audit of the NHS Talking Therapies.
A diversity of talking therapies, including relational therapies, to be made available.
A genuine response to community need.
Please consider signing and circulating in your networks here