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Over the past few decades, there's been an increase in free, publicly available virtual mental health resources, including online programs and smartphone apps. This includes asynchronous virtual mental health (AVMH) resources, that is, online supports that do not involve direct contact with a mental health care provider in real time. AVMH resources play a critical role in helping people access mental health supports while following public health recommendations for physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Researchers conducted a study to find out to what extent people living in Canada used AVMH resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read this EENet Research Snapshot to get a brief, clear language summary of this research articles.

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I'm sad to see that so few people are accessing these resources! Though to be fair, most of the AVMH I know about are through my work in the mental health and addictions field. I'm not sure if the public at large are as aware about services like Wellness Together Canada and others that they have free access to.

We need to do a better job of promoting these services, since they have the potential to help a lot of people, especially those where less intensive services are sufficient.

Unfortunately, as the authors note, "many apps advertised online or through app stores are not grounded in evidence or validated through research." So the challenge with promoting virtual resources is not only making the public aware of them, but also educating the public about what to look for when choosing between resources, and what it means for a resource to be high quality.

A number of initiatives are emerging to help patients and service providers navigate through all the options. One example is this project that rated apps and web-based tools created to support people with their substance use, including the degree to which they incorporate principles of gender- and trauma-informed care. Here is a checklist for service providers produced from this research: how to tell if a digital health resource is gender-informed and trauma-informed (printable black and white version here). 

@Registered Member posted:

I'm sad to see that so few people are accessing these resources! Though to be fair, most of the AVMH I know about are through my work in the mental health and addictions field. I'm not sure if the public at large are as aware about services like Wellness Together Canada and others that they have free access to.

We need to do a better job of promoting these services, since they have the potential to help a lot of people, especially those where less intensive services are sufficient.

Thanks for linking https://wellnesstogether.ca/en-CA/about @Registered Member

The site suggests, you can access a person, live to talk with, seems like a guide/navigator type.  I do think the tech/app approach needs a person to help people dip their toes in, but I will read the research report.

It would be interesting to see the actual intervention approach/profile of what wellness together does, ie" the typical approach, as might help on the trust/confidence level encouraging use.

Often online sites require registration, and that can be a barrier/concern for some people. After hearing from the public, Wellness Together Canada (WTC) opened up some of their content from the main page, without the need for registration. I know they mention WTC in their article, but at the time of the survey, the resource was only a few weeks old. I believe it was launched mid-April 2020. I would be curious to see if the same survey administered during the 2nd or 3rd waves of COVID would present different results.

Last edited by Registered Member

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