{"id":27418,"date":"2019-07-25T17:15:14","date_gmt":"2019-07-25T16:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/?p=27418"},"modified":"2019-07-26T12:07:28","modified_gmt":"2019-07-26T11:07:28","slug":"key-takeaways-role-of-tech-for-good-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/key-takeaways-role-of-tech-for-good-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Key takeaways from \u2018The role of Tech for Good in addressing mental health\u2019 panel"},"content":{"rendered":"

To mark the official launch of our research into digital mental health services for young people, we hosted an expert panel discussion on Thursday 20th June at One Moorgate Place in London.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our MD Registry Solutions & Public Benefit, Eleanor Bradley, welcomed panellists and attendees to the session. With a mission to invest real time, money and energy into helping to tackle the mental health crisis, Eleanor announced Nominet\u2019s plan to launch its first funding programme supporting charities developing digital mental health services later this year.<\/p>\n

Eleanor handed the mic to Gareth Germer, COO of Samaritans, who highlighted that technology means that access to essential support is no longer defined by a person\u2019s geographical location. The Samaritans team are on a digital journey like many other charities and wouldn\u2019t have gotten that far if it wasn\u2019t for Tech for Good funding, which allowed them to explore the potential of digital to help with key areas and stubborn issues that haven\u2019t been possible to crack so far.<\/p>\n

This year, Samaritans will be introducing a self-help tool to support young people early on in their mental health journey. The aim of the tool is to offer a new channel of support to those, in particular, young people, who are unable or find it difficult to use the helpline and prefer to access online self-help materials.<\/p>\n

The development of the self-help tool is part of a wider digital transformation strategy that the Samaritans are working hard to bring to life. For those who are in immediate emotional distress, the Samaritans are currently piloting a real-time written word service to support people in a way that works for them.<\/p>\n

Our second keynote speaker, Angela Kail, Director of Research and Consulting at NPC took to the stage next. As the world around children becomes increasingly digital, young people also expect mental health services to be available digitally too. \u00a0Digital services can offer solutions to specific mental health conditions that otherwise wouldn\u2019t be so easily available to young people.<\/p>\n

Angela noted that charities haven\u2019t always been able to respond to the different ways people are seeking access to their services, but digital provides this opportunity.<\/p>\n

However, \u201cthere are huge challenges for charities \u2013 cost, lack of infrastructure, lack of knowledge, the substantial inroads made by the private sector in digital mental health space\u201d, said Angela.<\/p>\n

The issue for charities, service designers, private sector, mental health funders, digital funders is to provide a sector that is more coherent than it currently is.<\/p>\n

Next up, the panellists. The line-up included:<\/h4>\n