There are many thousands of mental health apps available – the question is where to start and how to select them?
When considering apps to improve my own health and wellbeing or to assist clients in my practice, I want to know whether the app is likely to be safe, effective and engaging to use. Privacy and data security are also important. Relatively few apps provide good information about what information they collect and what they do with the information. Some have no privacy policy and some have privacy policies that are inaccessible or incomplete.
Apps come and go very quickly and many are of questionable quality, When I am looking for an app, I first pick out some apps that seem credible and worth investing further time in examining. Finding a mental health app that works.
Online portals can be good places to start, especially at the initial screening stage. Portals are directory sites that set quality criteria and only list apps that meet those criteria. Different portals use different criteria and these are usually explained on the “about” page of the site.
Some portals are designed for the general public to use such as:
There are also two app portals based in the USA that may be of particular interest to clinicians:
Use these sites to put together an initial list of potential apps that interest you, then have some fun putting them through their paces!
Julia Reynolds MPsych(Clin), MAPS, is Clinical Psychologist and e-hub Clinical Services Manager, Centre for Mental Health Research, ANU.
Become a member and get unlimited access to 100s of hours of premium education.
Learn moreChronic lower back pain is a leading cause of disability, often persisting without a clear pathology. Diagnosis is clinical, focusing on pain characteristics, psychological factors, and red flags. Update your knowledge on CLBP while earning EA and RP CPD with this FastTrack clinical fact sheet and MCQ
We explore the case of Edward, a patient with acute kidney injury (AKI), focusing on renal protection strategies. It explores fluid management, blood pressure control, nephrotoxic drug adjustments, and electrolyte monitoring. Treatment considerations include vasoactive medications, dialysis options like CRRT, and medication dosing to support renal recovery and prevent complications.
Asthma is a long-term inflammatory condition of the airways, marked by episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and coughing, with airflow restriction that varies over time. This FastTrack-CPD provides a clinical summary on the management of asthma with a quiz to apply your learning and receive CPD (RP and EA categories).