The mental health crisis that exists throughout the planet is one of enormous proportions. It is hard to wrap our heads around just how many people are suffering due to the fact that we have done so little to try to help them. Part of the problem is literally a lack of access to the services required. However, now that technology has progressed so fast. It’s much easier to deal with your mental health on a smartphone. You don’t even need to see anyone to get checked out!
Therapy
Therapy is incredibly expensive. To make matters worse, it often involves taking time off of work to attend the sessions. How is a person supposed to pay for their therapy if they constantly have to take time off work to attend the sessions in the first place? That is what TalkSpace wanted to try to change.
Talk Space
TalkSpace is a New York based company that offers its customers therapy directly to their cell phones. The way that this works is on a subscription service. In other words, someone who signs up for TalkSpace can receive their own licensed therapist who will work on their needs through text whenever they need them. The customer decides how often they believe they will need to chat with that therapist and chooses their subscription plan accordingly.
At the moment there are approximately one-thousand licensed professionals that are taking on clients from the TalkSpace program. The company says that it has approximately 500,000 clients who are engaging with their product already. That testifies to the interest and success of the company up to this point.
A partnership with Magellan Health has helped to make the offerings that TalkSpace has all the greater. They are bringing in even more therapists and can continue to ramp up how many clients they are able to help as well.
Research Studies
Recent studies show that as much as ten percent of the South Korean population might be at risk for depression. While that was a study conducted on South Korean youth, most experts believe that similar numbers exist in the United States.
With that many people facing the potential lifelong battle with a disease that is still not well enough understood, we all have to be careful about how we handle or don’t handle our own therapy needs. Avoiding the subject does us no good. Instead, we must engage with new means and methods for bringing therapy to as many people as possible. This might mean that we look to unorthodox means like a therapist who can text message us. Whatever works to get help to those who need it is worth consideration.
How would you feel about seeking help for your mental health on a smartphone?
Collaborative Post
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