Talk-based therapies, including mental health coaching and psychotherapy, represent ‘core’ mental health interventions, having been proven highly effective for a wide range of needs. However, as currently delivered, there is a significant need and opportunity to make care delivery more efficient.
In the developed world, we have made significant strides in streamlining access to talk-based therapies, but we are now faced with an even greater challenge: scalability, cost and engagement. We estimate that we have a 2x+ demand-to-supply imbalance in the U.S., driven by lack of available resources and the significant cost of mental health coaching and psychotherapy as traditionally delivered. In short, a significant portion of society still cannot effectively access mental health services because they can’t find an available coach or therapist and cannot afford one if they could.
The humanStreams mental health coaching program relies on the combination of technology and human coaching to deliver clinically significant improvement in the mental health of participants with significant reduction in cost and provider time. This is accomplished by leveraging out-of-session time, motivating participants to engage in digitally delivered, guided self-reflection. Our technology platform provides a space and tools for people to reflect and let out their thoughts, in a way analogous to what they would do within a session. By providing a space for participants to perform this essential "reflection<>expression cycle" on their own, without the coach present, we reduce the use of live human time, improving cost and scalability of this essential resource.
Technology: Enabling the reflection<>expression cycle relies on technology designed to be hyper-humanistic, based on research by Erica Savig, PhD from Stanford University, on creatively eliciting deep reflection, blending techniques, cultures and approaches from Design Thinking & Palliative Care. Participants listen to guided prompts from a 250+ collection created by humanStreams with Dr. Barbara A. Karanian, psychologist at Stanford University. In response to the prompts, participants reflect in a creative stream-of-consciousness style akin to texting, with multiple modes of representation (e.g. audio, text, writing, pictures, drawing, videos).
Coaching: With participants engaging in the reflection<>expression cycle outside of the session, we are able to utilize highly effective 10-minute live coaching sessions each week. Sessions focus on other essential components of the psychotherapeutic process – relationship, synthesis, accountability, and direction. Coaches spend another 5-10 minutes per week per participant for chat interactions and logistics.
Engagement: The program offers participants a low scheduled time commitment and flexibility (6 weeks of 10-minute sessions plus 20 minutes of self-guided reflection), that easily fits into their days. It also naturally motivates engagement by addressing participants’ immediate expressed needs, through weekly coach-recommended prompts and participant-led discussions, and by amplifying the coach-participant relationship.
