1.
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

2. 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.

3. 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.

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

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

9. 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

10. 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

11. Pocket Helper

12. Stepping Stone Participants
16 participants enrolled
Ages (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

13. THERAPIST
INTERVENE
TEXT MESSAGE 🖥

14. The Potential of Social Networks

15. Panoply – A Therapeutic Social Network

16. Panoply – A Therapeutic Social Network

17. Panoply – A Therapeutic Social Network

19. 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.

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

22. “I was raped”

25. 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 MH (PI: Schueller)
NIMH K23 MH (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