Londoners experiencing sleep difficulties, anxiety, low mood and stress are now being directed towards self-care support as the Good Thinking digital wellbeing service enters its latest testing phase.
Two million Londoners will experience mental ill health this year however 75% of Londoners with depression and anxiety do not receive any treatment at all. The London Health Board identified the need for a London-wide digital service in 2015 which was reiterated in Lord Darzi’s Better Health for London report.
The Good Thinking service, formally known as the London Digital Mental Wellbeing Service, aims to improve the mental wellbeing of Londoners and reduce pressure on local services.
A quality-assured prevention and early-intervention digital wellbeing service, Good Thinking uses digital marketing to direct Londoners who self-identify as having issues around sleep, anxiety, low mood and stress towards personalised digital support. This support could include clinically and behaviourally endorsed digital apps and other beneficial resources.
Commissioned by all 32 London NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups and a majority of London Borough Councils, the development of the service has been overseen by the Mental Health Transformation Board with delivery facilitated by Healthy London Partnership, NHS England and Public Health England, and supported by the Mayor of London.
Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy, Director of Public Health, Haringey and Chair of the Good Thinking Steering Group said: “We initially identified people with sleep difficulties and anxiety by using digital engagement techniques to direct them towards personalised interventions. We will continue to progress through a cycle of testing to cover sleep, anxiety, low mood and stress into 2018.”
Benefits of the Good Thinking service:
- available to Londoners 24/7
- actively finds and guides those in need to clinically-and behaviourally-endorsed digital apps and other beneficial resources, therefore offering unlimited access to evidence-based self-managed cognitive behavioural therapy
- offers a wellbeing self-assessment to support the personalisation of self-care offerings
- has e-safety, safeguarding and clinical risk management at the core of the service, but in a non-intrusive way – with a focus on behavioural change and self-management
- has the potential to improve the mental wellbeing of all Londoners and reduce pressure on local services, saving London and health and care services money.
The Good Thinking service is performing well and to expectations. A test, measure and learn approach is being taken that will continue throughout the development and running of the service. This means data and analyses are paramount to understanding how Good Thinking is used and how best to improve it. This approach allows the service to be flexible and responsive to interactions with users, making it truly ‘user-led’.
More information about Good Thinking can be found on the mental health section of our website.
If you would like to receive the Good Thinking monthly update, or have any questions about the service please email info@good-thinking.uk
In: News
Tagged: Good Thinking, London, mental health, Thrive, wellbeing