New horizons in psychotherapy through blended care
As our world becomes increasingly digitalised, the healthcare sector is evolving too, with the focus firmly set on how to best meet the personal needs of each individual. Because we want to play our part in this development, we support innovative approaches like blended care that combine analogue and digital solutions.
Combining traditional and digital therapy
The shortage of psychotherapy slots and the emergence of new digital opportunities have led to an ever increasing use of innovative methods. Blended care in mental health refers to an integrative treatment approach that combines traditional therapy sessions with digital health tools. The method utilises online resources such as apps, websites and virtual therapy sessions as well as face-to-face meetings with psychotherapists and psychologists to provide effective and timely mental health care.
Innovation in counselling and therapy for people in mental distress is not only an important technological development, but a necessity to break through the barriers that prevent people from seeking and finding help.
Accessible psychotherapy thanks to blended care
The advantage of blended care lies in its flexibility and accessibility. For example, patients can access therapeutic content from digital platforms around the clock, which enables them to get support at any time and from any location. At the same time, direct contact with a therapist provides the depth and personal attention that are essential for many treatments.
Blended psychotherapy in practice – an example
The transition from inpatient to outpatient treatment means uncertainty and longer waiting times for Mr Segmüller, a burnout patient and CSS client. To bridge this waiting period, he makes use of CSS's personal psychological coaching and combines this with online therapy activities. This combination helps him to make a successful transition back to his daily life and familiar surroundings.
Using innovation to drive progress in healthcare
For CSS, innovation is important for accessible and effective healthcare. This is why we use our Future of Health Grant funding programme to focus on start-ups in the mental healthcare sector such as YLAH, which are developing new digital solutions. We want our support to drive progress in the development of new forms of therapy so that such solutions can be made more accessible to patients.
YLAH: blended care start-up for better mental health
YLAH provides a digital platform that combines traditional psychotherapy with new, digital possibilities. By enabling the use of digital tools, the start-up improves the effectiveness of treatments. Its holistic approach aims to boost patients’ mental well-being on a long-term basis.
Blended care opens up new ways to improve mental well-being. The hurdles of traditional forms of therapy are removed and we can respond even better to a patient’s individual circumstances.
The YLAH solution
How it works
From the clearly structured website, therapists can select suitable activities for their patients, which complement their personal treatment plan and can be discussed again during the consultations. Patients also benefit from the accompanying mobile app, which allows them to smoothly integrate therapy elements into their everyday lives and actively work on their own mental health and recovery themselves – especially between therapy sessions.
Blended Therapy at a glance
YLAH and CSS: partnership to improve therapy services
As part of a pilot project, YLAH is working with CSS Health Coaches to develop a blended treatment journey for CSS clients. The pilot aims to test and expand the digital solutions provided by YLAH for the personal online consultations of the CSS Health Coaches, with the intention of integrating them into the future coaching process.
The collaboration with CSS gives us the opportunity to offer customised yet widely accessible mental health services that really make a difference in people's lives.
Effectiveness of blended psychotherapy
For around 20 years, digitalisation in psychotherapy has been on the increase, especially with the emergence of blended psychotherapy. The combination of traditional and online interventions was further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies have proven the effectiveness of blended psychotherapy.
The future of psychotherapy
Blended care represents a future in which mental healthcare is personalised, online, flexible and accessible. In an increasingly digitalised world, such approaches are important in providing effective methods of meeting the challenges in mental healthcare.
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