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This company’s trying to break the stigma of mental health treatment

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For one SilverCloud user, having access to the Boston, Massachusetts-based company’s technology — a suite of 30-plus behavioral health programs and tools — meant having the strength to side-step the despair of panic attacks while feeling empowered and in control of their mental health.

“The whole course, even just sitting down and doing it puts you in a frame of mind of taking charge,” the user wrote in a feedback form. “I would have taken a Xanax for [panic attacks] while now even if I have a mini one I just know I wouldn’t need one I just feel a stronger person. And know it’s going to pass.”

But impact of this caliber doesn’t come overnight. SilverCloud’s tech platform — which is used by 220,000 users around the world — is the result of 16 years of clinical research, first sparked from a collaboration between Trinity College Dublin and a local hospital’s psychiatric unit.

“Cognitive behavior is the most effective tool that practitioners have for treating disorders like depression and anxiety, at all ends of the spectrum,” says Kathryn Schooling, SilverCloud’s Content Marketing Manager.

Building off more than a decade of clinical trials, the company developed a software platform with an eye towards easing access to mental health resources while helping clinicians improve their efficacy. Now a robust library stocked with specific programs for different contexts and situations, patients use a mix of quizzing, journaling and meditation techniques to overcome depression, manage anxiety and vanquish phobias.

Currently in use by close to 60 percent of practitioners in the United Kingdom’s National Health Service, the company fully entered the U.S. market in 2016. Since its first foray into the market, it has earned the trust of partners like Optum Health and Yale University.

The company’s presence in the U.S. signals a significant opportunity for impact amid a complex landscape. Statistics reveal the American health system is grappling with both a shrinking number of mental health clinicians — nearly a quarter million deficit by 2025, per the Health Resources and Services Administration — and rising numbers in people experiencing mental health and substance abuse problems. Another element further complicates the scenario: the social stigmas associated with mental health treatment.

“More than 40 percent of American adults won’t receive treatment because they either can’t reach a mental health professional or they are embarrassed to do so,” Schooling said. “The whole point of the platform is to help clinicians broaden access for people, and we’ve found over 50 percent of people see significant clinical improvement.”

The tools, Schooling said, are not meant to discount the efficacy of traditional therapy methods. Rather, the platform is designed to be used either as a self-directed treatment option or with the guidance of a behavioral health clinician. That capability is the result of a decade and a half of research.

“When we say this is an evidence-based program, that means we’ve literally spent 16+ years putting forth versions of the program, having people who struggle with mental health issues provide feedback and use that to guide the content and interaction,” Schooling said.

For another user of SilverCloud’s platform, the true impact of the content and tools available on the system can be measured by its staying power.

“What you do on the course, it doesn’t end with you,” the user said. “You pass it on so it becomes part of your language; I can kinda stop my feelings in their tracks a bit.”

Photo: KatarzynaBialasiewicz, Getty Images

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