www.cbits.northwestern.edu Reaching People Where They’re At: Improving Mental Health Through Technology Stephen Schueller Department of Preventive Medicine and the Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies, Northwestern University November 16, 2016

I want to start with a story I want to start with a story. Two men are walking along a river and they see someone drowning. One man jumps in to save the person but while he is doing so another drowning person comes floating down the river. The other man jumps in to save that person but before either man can get out of the river the flow of drowning people continue. The two men work until near exhaustion at which point one of the men climbs out of the river and begins to run alongside it. Confused, one man calls out to the other “Where are you going, can’t you see these people need help?” to which the other man replies “Of course, that’s why I’m going to find out why all these people are falling in.” This is a metaphor used in community psychology, millions of Americans are “drowning” in mental health disorders each year with depression afflicting nearly 1 in 20 people each year and 1 in 5 throughout their lifetime, and yet, we continue to wait until people ”float down the river” to professionals, often scarred from a long struggle with the disorders. www.cbits.northwestern.edu

Current work force is inadequate, we have no where near as many professionals who would be needed to meet the demand. 88.5% of people in the US are Internet users, 64% of American adults own a smartphone.

Skeuomorphisms A skeuomorph is a derivative object that retains ornamental design cues from structures that were necessary in the original

Skeuomorphisms A skeuomorph is a derivative object that retains ornamental design cues from structures that were necessary in the original

Homelessness and Mental Health Estimates vary from 10-60% across North American research Significant role of substance abuse Significant role of trauma Mental health issues are often a consequence of the determinants of homelessness, the stressors of being homeless, and interferes with efforts to attempt to overcome homelessness

The Stepping Stone Project All participants receive: (1) a Nexus 5 that’s theirs to keep and 6 months of service, (2) 1 month of coping skills based therapy support consisting of 3, 30-minute sessions and the opportunity to call or text the therapist at other ties, (3) mobile smartphone apps including a daily survey and tip app, that feeds information back to the therapist, 2 apps that focus on sleep hygiene and relaxation

Pocket Helper

Stepping Stone Participants 16 participants enrolled Ages 18-20 (M = 19, SD = .76) 13 women, 2 men, 1 transgender (M -> F) 13 African-American, 3 mixed race On average participants had been: Homeless 3 times (SD = 2.10) 68.8% currently homeless between 1 month and 1 year M = 4.91 months, SD = 3.08 50.0% longest length homeless between 1 month and 1 year M = 5.00 months, SD = 2.45

THERAPIST INTERVENE TEXT MESSAGE 🖥

The Potential of Social Networks

Panoply – A Therapeutic Social Network

Panoply – A Therapeutic Social Network

Panoply – A Therapeutic Social Network

58% of users don’t go 1 hour without checking their phones 58% of users don’t go 1 hour without checking their phones. The average person checks their phone 85 times a day.

“I want to commit suicide” “I am depressed” “I am having a heart attack” “My head hurts”

“I was raped”

Acknowledgements Collaborators and Team Members Funding Rob Morris Rosalind Picard Alyson Zalta Niranjan Karnik Claire Dowdle Randy Boley Crissy Glover Adam Miner Funding Help for Children/Hedge Funds Care (HFC) Sparrow: Mobile for All. NIMH K08 MH102336 (PI: Schueller) NIMH K23 MH103394 (PI: Zalta) The Night Ministry for assisting with recruitment Chris Karr for programming and technical support IntelliCare Apps available on the Google Play Store or intellicare.cbits.northwestern.edu