It's hard to imagine a world where tech isn't a key part of
"The pandemic also coincided with a growing global mental health crisis largely driven by a shortage of quality mental health providers," says Jenna Glover, chief clinical officer at Headspace, a mental health platform. "For mental healthcare specifically, the growth of virtual care has provided a level of access and affordability that wasn't previously available and I don't see that changing as we move forward."
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Fifty-five percent of mental health appointments are still being conducted remotely in 2024, according to research from the Annals of Internal Medicine. The continued use of digital options is, in part, due to the fact that 53% of employees not only want their health plan to offer access to digital programs and online mental health resources, according to a recent study conducted by Regina Corso Consulting, but 72% of large companies have also recently added telehealth options or virtual behavioral healthcare networks for their employees, according to a survey from financial services company Mercer.
In addition, there's a significant shortage in mental health providers. In fact, 49% of the U.S. population lives in an area with a mental health worker shortage. Many providers are experiencing high levels of burnout themselves, which can make the process of finding an in-person therapist difficult.
"Subclinical levels of support like app-based coaching or digitally-based content can help members manage stress as it arises at the moment and prevent it from becoming acute," Glover says. "The ability to keep individuals supported in between visits or when a therapist isn't available is essential to reserving capacity for those who truly need it."
Unlike the more traditional EAPs employers tend to have, which are limited in their mental health coverage, Headspace offers employees a number of different options such as therapy, psychiatry, coaching and self-care content. And for the most part, it's working.
A recent study published in JAMA Network Open by researchers at the University of Michigan found that when adult patients used digital mental health apps, such as Headspace, while waiting for mental healthcare, they saw a significant decline in depression and anxiety symptoms, as well as suicidality.
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This doesn't mean, however, that mental health apps and telehealth platforms don't have their drawbacks, according to Audrey Schoen, a licensed therapist with years of experience working for different mental health apps.
"I was an early adopter for [some of these apps]," she says. "I jumped on them as soon as I got licensed to see what online therapy was about and in the early days it wasn't such a bad deal. I was getting paid $19 an hour and then these new companies came around and offered $30 an hour as a 1099 contractor, it was better than what I was already making at the time."
It wasn't until she'd worked on the platforms for longer that she realized that many don't prioritize their therapists. Some apps have strict guidelines on how therapists run their practice — including how long their sessions are and how they interact with clients — that felt too stifling for contract work. She also noticed that while the compensation model made sense in the beginning, some platforms didn't have many opportunities for practitioners to grow their wages over time. In some of the more serious cases, personal information protection became an issue as third-party providers suffered data leaks.
Some platforms didn't necessarily prioritize the experience of the clients, either, Schoen says. Schoen suddenly found herself juggling a higher-than-normal volume of patients without the time and resources to give them the experience they deserved.
"The research supports that when therapists are stretched thin and burning out, their client outcomes are poorer and have poor outcomes for clients," Schoen says. "It's not reasonable to remember 40 or 50 people's life stories and to work with them at 30-minute increments every week. It's just not realistic."
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That is not to say that these platforms don't have the potential to do great work, according to Schoen. Broadening the pathways to mental health resources is fundamental to improving access. She'd just like to see companies invest in solutions that deliver on the product that is promised for healthcare workers and users alike. She urges employers to vet the platforms they add to their benefit offerings to ensure that it's a solution that works for everyone.
Technology has made quite a large impact on different workplace functions, including healthcare, and while it's not going to slow down soon it's important to keep the overall goal in mind as society moves forwards: the health and wellbeing of employees.
"Ultimately, supporting employees early and often with the right resources can help them build mental resilience and prevent larger issues in the future," Glover says. "These resources are most helpful when they are easily accessible and engaging and digital solutions offer a unique ability to deliver in both these areas resulting in a high-value return for employees and employers."
