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In today's increasingly digital world, it seems impossible to imagine that we were once without access to the internet, that we couldn't shop, communicate and work online at the touch of a button or the swipe of a screen. In the healthcare industry, this sea change is causing people to sit up and take notice: e-health and e-mental health are becoming increasingly important across the world. However, this is not purely a healthcare-professional lead movement. As of April 2012, more than 13,600 health and fitness apps were available for the iPhone alone; mobile health and digital health have entered the consumer mainstream. The problem remains that while it's clear that the internet and digital tech can provide speed, ease of access and consumer choice, they can't always guarantee safety or quality. In fact many apps and online health sites are either unregulated or under-regulated[1] .
In this Wild West digital arena, one service called Big White Wall (BWW) is using digital technologies and the power of social networking to achieve a real difference to the mental health of its members. It's been around since 2007, and in that time the proliferation of under-regulated social networks and untested health apps and web sites has meant that the case has become ever stronger for BWW's brand of safe, anonymous online support.
bigwhitewall.com is a digital mental health and wellbeing service that has been designated a high impact innovation by the National Health Service. It places people at the centre of their own care and delivers personalised pathways to recovery through a range of safe therapeutic services from the comfort of patients' own homes.
BWW's services include the following:
- Digital assessment: an online tool to assess common mental health problems and co-morbid physical conditions.
- SupportNetwork: a community of peers which enables safe, anonymous support through talking therapies and creative self-expression.
- GuidedSupport: a range of self-managed and facilitated programmes for individuals and groups. Programmes include anxiety, depression, sleep, smoking and alcohol use.
- LiveTherapy: a range of real time therapies by instant text, audio or video from a panel of approved BWW therapists offering CBT, IPT, person-centered counseling and integrative counseling. Alternatively local services can provide tele-health services using their own clinicians through this platform.
BWW...