Mental healthcare comes with large societal costs and expenses are rising: increasing the societal burden. In many countries the costs have doubled over the last 10 years. Mental issues are associated with high levels of suffering and low quality of life. Effective treatments for psychological disorders are available, but not always accessible. Moreover, psychiatric complaints are still experienced as stigmatizing, meaning that not all that require help, seek help. A solution to these major challenges is supporting mental healthcare with digital treatment tools: e-health. The advancements in e-health present an opportunity to provide high-quality care at low costs. Combined with traditional, face-to-face treatment, this so-called ‘blended care’ is providing the best of two worlds. Therapeutic face-to-face interventions will still be necessary, but more time-efficient as the therapist can build on results from the e-health platform.
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TelePsy was founded in the Netherlands in 2010 in collaboration with various GPs and mental health professionals. Initially, TelePsy focused on supporting GPs by developing an Internet application for the diagnostics and evaluation of mental health problems. In 2011, TelePsy’s platform was awarded ’Best Test Application’ by the Dutch Association of Psychiatrists for its user-friendliness, functionality and cost-efficacy.
Today, the TelePsy extensive platform is broadly applied by thousands of healthcare professionals. Every year, an additional 200.000 service users receive help through the platform. TelePsy continues to collaborate closely with (scientific) experts to constantly meet the needs of healthcare providers as well as the latest practical and scientific knowledge. TelePsy is located in Maastricht, the Netherlands, and has her second venture in Berlin. Since TelePsy opened their latest venture in Manchester last July, they collaborate with, inter alia, Manchester Metropolitan University for further research and development of the e-health components for the English platform.
In all, with its expertise in e-health with thousands of practices, TelePsy offers the platform the mental healthcare requires to evolve to the ‘blended’ state society wants and needs it to be. For more information visit telepsy.co.uk
By Dr. Sophie van Rijnbach