I am a clinical psychologist who has designed an iOS and android app for phone and tablet devices which allows for ready and responsive access to psychological care for users. It is also an application that is of benefit for other health providers who can have their patients/clients use the application as a monitoring tool for the introduction of medications, commencement of psychological interventions, and improving the mental health literacy of the user.
With the changes to Medicare in Australia and the push for psychological services to be delivered online or electronically, it is important that there are suitable technologies to support this.
The MyPsyDiary application is a health and well being solution that provides for improved mental health of its users. It uses a specific algorithm that I have designed so that the technology responds to the user's preferences and prompts the user to access empirically supported psychological strategies to help manage various emotional experiences.
Given the content of the MyPsyDiary application, it has been designed with security as a primary focus, where access to the application's content is via personalised password entry only. There is also no remote server or storage outside of the specific device so it is very suitable and safe for adolescent users as there is no data sharing facilities.
The MyPsyDiary records and responds to the user's thoughts and emotions, and allows them to customise the content of the application to their personal needs and preferences. It also contains many well-supported psychological strategies to help them manage their emotional experiences. Features include secure diary with password access, mood monitor, sleep and lifestyle choice tracking, relaxation training (including MP3 recordings), goal setting, and positive thinking coach.
There is also a unique function included within the app where the user stores a list of trusted contacts (such as lifeline crisis phone counselling service or mental health professional) and the app will prompt the user to contact these supports if they rate that their mood or emotional experience is depressed or anxious, and therefore assist with managing periods of risk more effectively.
There is no in-app purchases or downloaded advertising, and the fee for initial download is minimal for this type of professional product. It is also very inexpensive for access to such proven psychological strategies and information.