eMEN Spring Newsletter 2020
In this special edition of the eMEN newsletter we will inform you about the main achievements of the eMEN project during the project phase 2016 - 2020.
eMEN Autumn Newsletter 2019
Welcome to the eMEN Autumn newsletter, updating you
on our progress and achievements in e-mental
health technologies across Europe.
eMEN Summer Newsletter 2019
Welcome to the eMEN Summer newsletter, updating you
on our progress and achievements in e-mental
health technologies across Europe.
What has happened so far?
Piloting new products:
As part of the eMEN project, each partner country is piloting an e-mental health product. This summer’s newsletter highlights some of the innovative approaches developing from these pilots, including how they are addressing barriers to the uptake of e-mental health. Read more about the experiences of the German Moodbuster roadshow.
Influencing policy and practice:
Combined expertise across the eMEN partners has supported our policy work, illustrated below by the German draft law for the “Digital Health Care Act” and the promotion of safer (mental) health information exchange in the Netherlands by using international medical standards.
Knowledge Sharing & Exchange:
We have also been sharing knowledge about policy and research in new ways, through cross-disciplinary events like the Belgian seminar focussing on Return on Investment, the Irish seminar on technology and student mental health and the Cardiff seminar on the increasing access and equity of digital mental health in Cardiff, Wales. Knowledge-sharing events are being hosted by eMEN partners throughout the project, so if you missed out on the events above, there is still time to attend one of our upcoming seminars or conferences. They are all free to attend!
Recent eMEN events
Technology and mental health: a good ROI?
The 4th Belgian seminar was held in Leuven (BE) and focused on “Technology and Health: a good Return on Investment (ROI)?”. During the opening of the seminar, the Federal Minister of Public Health, Maggie De Block emphasized the importance of a good integration of eHealth in the healthcare system. She elaborated on the various e-health initiatives that have been rolled out in recent years and was also very positive about how the eMEN project is contributing to the further upscaling of e-(mental) health. Next, an interesting line-up of speakers shared their experience on the Return on Investment (ROI) of eMental Health products.
The first keynote, Dirk Antonissen (Pulso Europe) spoke frankly about the difficulties to make a revenue with e-mental health products from the perspective of a social profit organisation, providing services and tools in e-mental health.
Charlotte Van den Broucke (Pulso Europe) subsequently presented one of the Pulso tools “Studying Without Worries” (“Studeren zonder blokkeren”), an online program which offers students a wide range of guidance during their studies.
The second keynote, Eric Van der Hulst provided an overview on health tech innovations developed by Imec. He also discussed current healthcare challenges and how technology or mobile health could be of added value for the “mobile generation”.
After these two keynotes some case studies were presented: The Balance tool (a stress self-assessment tool) and how it was used in the Belgian supermarket chain, Delhaize, presented by Eddie De Block. Next, Koen Dewit (Zenjoy) showed us why design matters in branding and designing apps and tools. Pamela Loges (Ideas from Europe) presented the “Generation Z” and their own mental health, and solutions to empower it. Finally, a Belgian publisher (Lannoo) demonstrated how they also invest in interactive products in mental healthcare. In this case, Memory Palace, was presented by Lannoo author Kasper Bormans. Memory palace gives memories a place for people with dementia in a unique way to improve contact with people with dementia.
The program was closed by a short panel discussion. All presenters further discussed ROI and concluded that such a commercial focus is often outside of the comfort zone of mental healthcare (professionals). Nonetheless it is an important aspect of any mental healthcare service and we should certainly be mindful of this in the future.
Technology and Student Mental Health Seminar
On June 18th, Mental Health Reform and the Union of Students of Ireland hosted an international seminar on Technology and Student Mental Health. The event was held at Technological University Dublin, Grangegorman Campus.
The seminar addressed the potential offered by technology-supported applications (eMental Health) in student mental health services and supports. It covered a range of themes, including some existing examples of eMental Health as part of core student mental health services, innovation in third level settings, cross-campus initiatives and eMental Health courses.
The event has attracted a range of national and international expert speakers and over 100 participants. Among the keynote speakers were: Prof. Heleen Riper from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, who presented on: eMental Health, beyond state of the art & the Caring Universities project; Dr Derek Richards from SilverCloud Health and Trinity College Dublin, who talked about Developments in eMental Health for students and Prof. Jacques van Lankveld from Open University, The Netherlands, who presented on eMental Health courses for students.
The seminar also covered some examples of usage of technology in student mental health services in Ireland, including Trinity College Dublin Counselling Service, Dublin City University and Participate Social Anxiety Programme of National University of Ireland, Galway.
The last session focused on presentations from students on how they have developed technology and successfully integrated it into their campaigns. This was followed by a student leader panel, discussing the use of technology in improving students’ mental health.
Read the full article here.
Wales well-placed to incorporate digital technology into mental health care
On July 4th 2019, the Mental Health Foundation, the UK partner in the eMEN project, organised a seminar Digital Mental Health: Increasing Access and Equity in Cardiff, Wales. The seminar was organised in collaboration with the Public Health Wales 1000 Lives Mental Health and Learning Disability team. Carol Shillabeer, CEO Powys teaching Health Board, opened the day. Delegates were informed that Wales is well placed to incorporate digital technology into mental health care and that digital technology can play a key role in mental healthcare.
Expert presentations focussed on recent developments in digital mental health and explored how such evidence-based technologies can offer innovative and increased access to high-quality mental health care, including for groups with a higher risk of developing mental health problems, and those living further away from more traditional service provision. It will also explore issues of the effectiveness and accessibility of digital mental health technologies.
Addressing the issue of quality of mental health apps, Helen Northmore, Programme Manager, Digital Health Ecosystem Wales, reported that NICE has launched an evidence standards framework for digital health technologies and Health Technology Wales and the Digital Health Ecosystem are looking at how it can be used in Wales. Professor Ricardo Araya, Professor of Global Mental Health and academic lead of the Global Mental Health Research Group, King’s College London, spoke about the recent progress and challenges in Global eMental Health. With the rapidly growing ‘industry’ of digital solutions to help reduce the treatment gap in mental health, most of these digital solutions have never been tested or evaluated in a rigorous way.
In the late morning session, Shari McDaid spoke on behalf of Rebecca Cotton, Director of Policy at the Mental Health Network, who recently completed a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship. There Rebecca learned about how digital technology is being used to improve mental health in Australia and the USA. Professor Chris Williams, Emeritus Professor of Psychosocial Psychiatry at the University of Glasgow, spoke about how blended learning approaches offer benefits over online alone. Professor Williams referred to the solution of combining digital, book and class approaches. Dr Paul Best, lecturer in Social Work at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) and BABCP registered Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, spoke about the accessibility and acceptability of online technologies to support mental health and wellbeing within a Northern Irish context.
In the afternoon session, Dr Jacinta Tan, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and medical ethicist, and Professor Alka Ahuja, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and the Lead Consultant for the Tertiary Neurodevelopmental service at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, delivered a workshop which focused on how to collaborate and partner with other agencies on technological mental healthcare innovations. This was followed by a Tabletop discussion where delegates could discuss and propose answers to key questions regarding the integration of digital mental health from three perspectives: service users, practitioners, organisations (e.g., the advantages and disadvantages of using digital mental health tools in assessments? in interventions? Concerns about digital technology in this field?how to establish an evidenced base for digital technology?). The session was closed with a question and answer feedback session between delegates and speakers.
Chair speakers included Dr Antonis Kousoulis, Director of Policy & Research at the Mental Health Foundation, Andrea Gray, Mental Health Development Lead at 1000 Lives Improvement in Public Health Wales and Simon Mudie, Experts by Experience Involvement Consultant representative. During the breaks, SMEs and App developers had the opportunity to showcase their product.
Read the full article here.
Digital innovation: trying to do things in a new way with the use of technology
Interview with Helen Northmore by Marleen Swenne
One of the speakers at the Cardiff seminar, ‘Digital Mental Health: Increasing access and equity’, was Helen Northmore. Helen is Programme Manager, Digital Health Ecosystem Wales and her task is building a network that improves developing digital healthcare. Main goal is to bring all the parties that are involved together: industry, social care, experienced users, IT-people. I wanted to interview her about the theme of the seminar and also because I thought she knew a lot about the e-mental health users’ perspective, but that was not quite correct…
Read the full interview here.
Interesting developments
Acceptance and benefits of internet-based interventions in inpatient settings – experiences of German Moodbuster roadshow
The interest in e-mental health is increasing, not least because of projects such as eMEN. With increased interest comes the possibility to explore new and previously neglected areas for application. Though internet-based interventions have acquired a solid evidence base in a variety of settings, especially when provided with some form of human support, little is known about their application in inpatient contexts. That is why researchers from the eMEN project have conducted a workshop on the acceptance and benefits of internet-based interventions in 10 mental health institutions all across Germany: Schleswig-Holstein, Berlin, Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria. Participants ranged from senior to junior physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, and even to occupational therapists. They received a live introduction to Moodbuster, an internetbased treatment for depression, and had the opportunity to work hands on with the program. Moreover, they completed questionnaires on the usability and acceptance as well as on advantages and disadvantages of internetbased interventions in inpatient settings. Each workshop was concluded by a group discussion. In these discussions, the researchers gathered information on the essential intervention components that staff members require in order to use an internet-based intervention. Finally, barriers to implementation, as well as chances and risks associated with internet-based interventions were discussed. The results of the questionnaires will be analysed in the upcoming months. However, a few trends emerged during the discussions. Generally, most participants were enthusiastic about the use of internet-based interventions, such as Moodbuster, in ambulant settings. They were more reluctant however to provide a full intervention online to their inpatients. Staff feared the reduction of already limited contact hours with their patients. Despite this reservation, certain components, such as a psychoeducation module, were deemed beneficial. An often-mentioned application was bridging the time between face-to-face sessions. Unfortunately, the largest barrier to implementation from a technical perspective was the lack of infrastructure. Almost none of the 10 institutions regarded their WIFI connection or availability of computer workspaces as sufficient for implementing an internet-based intervention. Finally, privacy and data safety remained a concern.
Read the full article here.
The German health care system is moving towards digitalisation
In Mid-May 2019 the German Federal Health Minister presented a draft law for the “Digital Health Care Act (Digitale Versorgung-Gesetz – DVG)”. By German standards, it contains almost spectacular new regulations, as it provides, among other things, for insured persons to be entitled to digital health applications (“diGA”). Digital health applications might soon be prescribed by doctors and might gain access to the primary healthcare market.
At request of the provider, the application would be audited by the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) for compliance with all legal requirements, data protection and data security as well as for positive healthcare effects and then would be included in the directory of reimbursable digital health applications.
To be listed reimbursable, the “diGA” must be a medical device with a low risk class, i.e. risk class I or IIa according to the Medical Devices Regulation. Stand-alone software, which prepares and makes available information to decide on diagnoses or treatments, is in risk class IIa. However, if it can directly or indirectly cause a serious deterioration in health, it falls in a higher class. As a result, many applications would be excluded from the new regulation.
Further development of this draft law will be presented in the next eMEN newsletter.
You can read the online article here.
Promoting safer (mental) health information exchange in the Netherlands by using international medical standards (SNOMED CT and HL7 FHIR)
In the Netherlands different types of healthcare service providers use different information standards and digital systems (sometime even within their own organisation). This makes the exchange of medical data and prevention of mistakes very complex. Healthcare is increasingly occurring in networks. These are networks between patients, care providers, colleagues and organisations conducting research and contributing to the improvement of quality. Also, there is a need for patients to access and retrieve their medical data and participate in their own treatment.
In 2014 The Dutch Ministry of Health proposed plans to take a digital approach to make healthcare even safer, more patient-oriented and more efficient. This means that health organisations can digitally exchange information with patients in a standardized and secure manner. This helps people to take control of their own medical data and to be able to manage and use it securely within their own digital Personal Health Environments. A personal health environment (PHE) is a digital tool which you choose yourself and in which you can keep track of information about your own health and actively work on your health. The PHE allows you to manage and access medical data and also share it with others. This way you keep a grip on your health care data, from treatments to laboratory results, medications and vaccinations. And these data are yours and remain accessible throughout your entire life. In order to achieve this, it is important that, as a first step, all healthcare service providers use the same information (exchange) standards and legal contracts and healthcare information blocks. Healthcare suppliers must be Medmij certified. Medmij is a national trust framework on information exchange between a Personal Health Environment (PHE) and a healthcare institution.
The Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport has started the MedMij program together with the Dutch Patients’ Federation, Nictiz and the Care associations. MedMij is an agreement system aimed at the safe exchange of health information. It is a framework of agreements and standards that is represented on government level in the so-called ‘Information Consultation’ (IB), a partnership without further legal entity. Nictiz, the centre of expertise for eHealth, develops and manages these standards (health information blocks) and provides advice on their implementation.
Currently a large funding program called VIPP, which focuses on IT optimization, is being implemented by the main sector organisation for mental health care in the Netherlands (GGZ Nederland). VIPP makes it possible that patients themselves have access to their digital files and documents and increase the use of e-mental health. Furthermore, the data exchange within the entire care sector is supported, starting with medication safety.
The VIPP program also includes scaling up the use of e-Health by demanding the integration of direct access to e-health systems from the primary health system of professionals. Healthcare service providers need to achieve patient e-health usages percentages of between 10-15% in order to reach the minimum goals to keep the VIPP grant amount allocated to their organisation.
Although the first information blocks are not so exciting this is a very important first step. The mental health sector is already working on new information blocks like the (more dynamic) treatment plan and functionality to enable not only retrieving information but also enable digital cooperate together between patient and professional.
For more information about the VIPP program in the Netherlands please contact Arq Foundation (h.hiemstra@arq.org).
Read the full article here.
Upcoming FREE transnational seminars and conferences
Over the life of the project, eMEN is delivering 24 transnational events across Europe addressing e-mental health evidence-based innovations, quality, access and scale.
29 November 2019: Berlin, Germany
Digital Innovations in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
The aim of the event is to provide an overview of future key technologies in psychiatry and psychotherapy. What is the state of research and how can innovations transfer into health care routines? A highlight will be the presentation of several German innovation fund projects in the field of e-mental health. In addition, the current legal and political framework conditions in Germany are examined and discussed. An insight into the latest developments is provided by a start-up slam in which innovative applications are presented in short presentations. There is also a marketplace for e-mental health companies. The event is free and will take place in the context of the biggest German congress on psychiatry. It brings together developers, researchers, users, politicians and other health care stakeholders to find the best way into the digital future of psychiatry and psychotherapy.
A preliminary program will be published here soon.
You can already register for the event here: online registration.
Share our animation!
Our eMEN animation is available at nweurope.eu/emen. It explains the concept of e-mental health and the many ways it can support mental wellbeing. We encourage you to share this with your networks, embed it in your website and use it in your presentations.
Why not join our transnational network?
eMEN is an e-mental health project running until May 2020, funded through the Interreg North West European Innovation Programme with a value of €5.36 million. The six country partners are led by the Netherlands and include Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the UK, who together combine diverse technological, clinical, research, and policy expertise.
To receive updates on our future activities and connect to e-mental health stakeholders across Europe, we encourage you to register to join our network.
We also welcome invitations to contribute to your event. Further contact information for all the partners is available at www.nweurope.eu/emen.
eMEN Spring Newsletter 2019
Welcome to the eMEN Spring newsletter, updating you on our progress and achievements across Europe in digital mental health technologies.
What has happened so far?
Piloting new products:
As part of the eMEN project, each partner country is piloting an e-mental health product. This spring’s newsletter highlights some of the innovative approaches developing from these pilots, including how they are addressing barriers to the uptake of e-mental health. Read more about the recent developments in eMental health in Ireland and a psychologist’s view of online treatment.
Influencing policy and practice:
Combined expertise across the eMEN partners has supported our policy work, illustrated below by stakeholder interviews and French working group meetings.
Knowledge Sharing & Exchange:
We have also been sharing knowledge about policy and research in new ways, through cross disciplinary events like the London conference on prevention with digital technologies and the Amsterdam seminar on the implementation of e-mental health care.
Knowledge-sharing events are being hosted by eMEN partners throughout the project, so if you missed out on the events above, there is still time to attend one of our upcoming seminars or conferences. They are all free to attend!
Recent eMEN events
Prevention with digital technologies: expanding the possibilities for better mental health
On the 24th January 2019, the Mental Health Foundation, in collaboration with the Cochrane Group for Common Mental Disorders based at the University of York, hosted the conference ‘Prevention with digital technologies: expanding the possibilities for better mental health’ at the Barbican Centre in London. More than 200 delegates came together to learn about and exchange ideas about the evidence behind long-term approaches for a future where digital technologies can help protect against mental health problems and deliver good mental health for all.
The morning speakers focused on Mental Health Prevention with Digital Technologies, including how we can integrate ‘digital’ into practice, and the afternoon session posed the question How far have we come? How far can we go? Finally, there was a panel discussion on the Benefits and Challenges of Digital Technologies for Mental Health, looking at how we can ensure effective co-production, access and equity in the development and use of cost effective digital mental health technologies in the fast-moving field of varied technologies and approaches.
During the day, the Janice Sinson award was presented by Dr Antonis Kousoulis of the Mental Health Foundation to early-career researcher Emily Eisner (PhD Researcher, University of Manchester), who presented a poster of her research project ‘Development and long-term acceptability of ExPRESS’, which is a smartphone app to monitor basic symptoms and early signs of psychosis relapse. Kieran Woodward and Mariana Pinto da Costa were commended for their research projects, on which they also presented posters during the breaks.
The conference was livestreamed via #BeyondTheRoom, a collaboration involving Mark Brown (@MarkOneInFour), Vanessa Garrity (@VanessaLGarrity) and André Tomlin (@Mental_Elf), who increase the reach and impact of mental health conferences and events by live blogging, tweeting, podcasting and streaming what happens in the room to their social media audience of over 100,000 followers #BeyondTheRoom.
Their involvement, using the hashtag #eMENprevention, resulted in: 372 people tweeting on the day; 1,300 tweets; 23.3 million Twitter impressions; 48 views of the live-streamed panel discussion, and 44-79 listeners to four podcasts. If you missed the conference, you might find it interesting to look at the discussion and material shared on Twitter throughout the day.
Visit the eMEN website for the full article.
Let’s make it work! Another dynamic eMEN seminar
On March 28th almost 90 stakeholders in the field of e-mental health came together at the VU University in Amsterdam to discuss e-mental health implementation in the ‘real world’. SMEs, mental health professionals, insurance companies, researchers, students, policy makers and end-users discussed various implementation topics and approaches, which resulted in a very interesting multidisciplinary event that gave a good reflection of the different implementation barriers.
In order to learn more about implementation from regions outside Europe an e-mental health implementation expert, Dr. Lori Wozney, was invited from Canada. Dr. Wozney works for the IWK Health Center in Nova Scotia and is one of the authors of the ‘e-mental health implementation toolkit’ which was issued by the Mental Health Commission of Canada in 2018. The eMEN partners are actively promoting this toolkit as it presents a holistic and practical approach towards implementation; Europe is facing similar implementation challenges as those experienced in Canada and currently no such toolkit is available in Europe (re-inventing the wheel is not the best approach). The toolkit has already received a lot of positive feedback from mental health professionals in Canada.
As first speaker of the day, Dr. Wozney emphasised the importance of action-focused conversations and the conditions for successful implementation. The latter includes: acceptance, value, evidence, resources, engagement and work process (job and task redesign). Failed projects often have to deal with negative beliefs, too much complexity and security issues.
Other speakers were e-mental health Professor Heleen Riper from the VU, who gave a presentation about the future of ‘blended care’ and the positive research results which have been achieved so far. PhD candidate Christiaan Vis (also from the VU) spoke about the importance of implementation research, which is done through various projects such as E-COMPARED, ImplementALL and iCARE. Professor Paul Iske (Maastricht University/ Institute of Brilliant Failures) spoke about the importance of failures and learning from failures, which is generally not given enough attention. Another interesting topic of the day was reimbursement. Jeroen Schols and Bernard Creutzburg from the NZA (Netherlands Health Authority) talked about how the use of e-mental health is reimbursed now and how reimbursement will work in the near future.
During the day, there were three product pitches for e-mental health interventions. In the morning, Emiel Boelman of Pixplicity pitched the EMDapp (for PTSD). Later during the day, Annelies Wisse (IJsfontein) talked about Lunchroom Zondag application (for depression). Monica Wojciechowska (Pearson) was the last one to pitch the BYI-2-NL, which is a screening tool for adolescents.
There was also a student panel which talked about their experiences with the e-mental health training course of the VU University and the importance of developing real and practical treatment skills.
After the student panel, there were two workshop rounds for attendees to choose from: ‘Implementation at treatment centre Antes’ by Karlijne Staketee, ‘Towards a new reimbursement model for mental health care’ by Jeroen Schols and Bernard Creutzburg (NZA), ‘From innovation to implementation with co-creation’ by Annelies Wisse and Wieke Schrakamp (IJsfontein), and ‘A franchise model for mental health care: Mentaal Beter’ by Vera Kemper.
As one of the treatment centers (Mentaal Beter) said at the closing of the event: “e-mental health implementation is also about courage, and we need more of this within the mental health care sector”.
Read the full article here.
Our next eMEN seminars in Dublin and Cardiff are mentioned below.
Interesting developments
Recent developments in eMental health in Ireland
In March this year, the Mental Health Reform eMEN team in Ireland presented an overview of recent developments in the eMEN project and the eMental health field more generally at the Trinity Health and Education International Research Conference in Ireland (Topolska and Cullen, 2019).
Visit the eMEN website to read the full article.
What does a psychologist think about online treatment?
“Since August 2018 I have been working as a psychologist in our online treatment team. For the past 20 years, I have conducted mostly face-to-face sessions, and online treatment was not very common. During this time, we did start to use more email and also WhatsApp, which resulted in more and faster contacts. I had never worked with online modules before, in our case the modules from Minddistrict. In this interview I will summarise my first experiences with online treatment.”
You can read this English translation of an interview with a Dutch psychologist working at GGZei here.
(GGZei is a mental healthcare treatment centre in Eindhoven (December 2018); the original article in Dutch can be found via this web link)
Challenges for e-mental health implementation in NWE countries
Within the last two years, the eMEN project partners have conducted 39 interviews with relevant stakeholders from Belgium, France, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.
The aim of these interviews was to gather insights into the e-mental health developments in eMEN partner countries (e.g. national agendas, jurisdiction) and to identify the main challenges when it comes to implementing e-mental health. The outcomes of these interviews were used as input for the eMEN Transnational Policy document, which is currently being finalised.
The stakeholder interviews confirm that the challenges to e-mental health implementation overlap to a great extent in eMEN partner countries. Thus, a combination of national and European guidelines, visions and objectives may accelerate the implementation of e-mental health.
The eMEN Transnational Policy document aims to enhance e-mental health implementation by addressing the main barriers, identifying and assessing ideas and proposing common areas for action on European and national level.
Visit the website page for an insight into stakeholders’ expectations, concerns and ideas with regard to e-mental health.
2019: The year of e-mental health for France
As mentioned in the eMEN autumn newsletter, in the summer of 2018 the French Minister of Solidarity and Health and the Secretary of State for Disabled Persons presented the government’s roadmap for mental health and psychiatry. This roadmap included among its priorities – for the first time – e-mental health, under the name “Mental Health 3.0”. The Ministerial department responsible for mental health is already working to create a “working group on e-mental health” to implement the objectives identified in the roadmap.
The working group had its first meeting in January 2019 and consists of representatives of national health agencies, research groups and universities, user representatives, carers associations, developers and other stakeholders involved in e-mental health. The WHO Collaborating Centre (WHOCC) for research and training in mental health (EPSM Lille Métropole, French partner of eMEN) was appointed to co-chair the working group. Its objectives are, in the short term, to carry out an inventory of existing French tools and those under development, and also of services in the field of e-mental health. In the medium and long term, the aim is to adapt and implement the policy recommendations of the eMEN project in France and define a “development model” consistent with eMEN recommendations.
This is not the only news for e-mental health in France for 2019! Every year in March a national group of users and carers associations, with the support of the French Minister of Solidarity and Health, organises two weeks dedicated to mental health and more particularly to the organisation of mental health promotion activities. These weeks are an opportunity to build projects and to talk about mental health with the entire population. The 2019 Mental Health Information Weeks were held from March 18 to 31 under the theme “Mental Health in the Digital Age”. Events ranging from movie screenings and art exhibitions to conferences and seminars were organised across the country. The utility and benefits of e-mental health, but also the potential risks were discussed during different events, showing that e-mental health is at the top of the agenda in France.
A flyer giving more detail is available here.
Finally, a first of its kind information brochure on e-mental health aimed at the general public has been published by an independent information and training organisation in mental health and co-written by the WHOCC.
The eMEN project is cited as a reference at an international level. The brochure is available here.
Upcoming FREE transnational seminars and conferences
Over the life of the project, eMEN is delivering 24 transnational events across Europe addressing e-mental health evidence-based innovations, quality, access and scale.
18 June 2019: Dublin, Ireland
'Technology and Student Mental Health'
Date: 18th June 2019
Time: Registration 9:00 AM, Seminar from 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Location: TU Grangegorman (Saint Laurence Hall), Dublin 7
Register here to attend!
This seminar, organised jointly by Mental Health Reform and the Union of Students in Ireland, is part of the eMEN project – funded by Interreg North West Europe and the HSE.
Learn more about the seminar's themes, what to expect, and who should attend by clicking on the link.
4 July 2019: Cardiff, Wales
‘Digital Mental Health: Increasing access and equity’
More details to follow soon.
Share our animation!
Our eMEN animation is available at nweurope.eu/emen. It explains the concept of e-mental health and the many ways it can support mental wellbeing. We encourage you to share this with your networks, embed it in your website and use it in your presentations.
Why not join our transnational network?
eMEN is an e-mental health project running until May 2020, funded through the Interreg North West European Innovation Programme with a value of €5.36 million. The six country partners are led by the Netherlands and include Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the UK, who together combine diverse technological, clinical, research, and policy expertise.
To receive updates on our future activities and connect to e-mental health stakeholders across Europe, we encourage you to register to join our network.
We also welcome invitations to contribute to your event. Further contact information for all the partners is available at www.nweurope.eu/emen.
eMEN Winter Newsletter 2018
Welcome to the eMEN winter newsletter, updating you on our progress and achievements in e-mental health technologies across Europe.
What has happened so far?
Piloting new products:
As part of the eMEN project, each partner country is piloting an e-mental health product. This winter’s newsletter highlights some of the innovative approaches developing from these pilots, including how they are addressing barriers to the uptake of e-mental health. Read more about a virtual reality application called 'Lunchroom Sunday'.
Influencing policy and practice:
Combined expertise across the eMEN partners has supported our policy work, illustrated below by a joint taskforce in Germany, a roundtable in Northern Ireland, the e-Nurture Network launch and e-mental health developments in Ireland.
Knowledge Sharing & Exchange:
We have also been sharing knowledge about policy and research in new ways, through cross-disciplinary events like the November seminars on political, ethical and legal conditions for the use of e-mental health applications hosted in Berlin, Germany, and Rennes, France.
Knowledge-sharing events are being hosted by eMEN partners throughout the project, so if you missed out on the seminar above, there is still time to attend one of our upcoming seminars or conferences. They are all free to attend!
Recent eMEN events
eMEN event ‟E-mental health in Europe: learning from our neighbours”
On 29th November, DGPPN organized the third public event within the framework of the eMEN project in Germany, in cooperation with the German Alliance for Mental Health. The seminar was embedded in the annual DGPPN Congress and as such was certainly a highlight of the programme.
The event focused on different political and legal conditions for the use and implementation of e-mental health applications in the north western European partner countries. The reason for this was also to present the first results of the eMEN working group, which focuses on transnational policy recommendations for e-mental health implementation. 180 participants attended the event.
The audience once again consisted of a good mix of mental health professionals, politicians, people with lived experience and developers. Seven companies presented innovative applications that can be used in various fields of psychosocial care. During breaks, participants had the opportunity to gain hands-on-experience of the programmes and talk to representatives and developers. Another aspect that helped to bridge the gap between theory and practice was a session in which experts shared their experiences with implementation of e-mental health applications in different care contexts.
Visit the eMEN website for the full article
12th eMEN seminar organised at the famous French School of Public Health (EHESP)
A number of high-level stakeholders gathered in Rennes for the 12th eMEN seminar on 11 December. The topic of this seminar was ‘E-mental health: evidence-based and Safe? Ethical, legal and quality issues’, opened by Jean-Luc Roelandt (Director WHOCC-EPSM Lille Metropole), and the Medical Director, Elizabeth Sheppard, and Director, Bernard Garin, of the Guillaume Régnier Hospital of Rennes. It was a very interesting day with state-of-the-art presentations from speakers from France, the Netherlands and the UK.
The seminar was moderated by Karine Lefeuvre (EHESP), Déborah Sebbane (Lille University Hospital, WHOCC-EPSM Lille Metropole) and Oyono Vlijter (eMEN project leader) and closed by the Deputy Mayor of Rennes, Charlotte Marchandise and The Director of EHESP, Laurent Chambaud. They both very much appreciated that the eMEN project partners organised this event at EHESP in Rennes.
Please see the eMEN website for the full article
Our next seminar is in London on 24 January 2019. For more information click here.
Interesting developments
DGPPN´s taskforce on E-Health
In a joint task force the German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics (DGPPN) and the German Psychological Society (DGPs) developed quality criteria for internet-based self-management interventions. The aim of the joint work is to support users and mental health professionals in the selection of recommendable applications. In conclusion, eight criteria have been established, focusing on therapeutic quality requirements, patient and data security, and the effectiveness of the applications.
Several parties, like DGPPN´s council of people with lived experience, relatives and professionals (Trialogisches Forum), statutory health insurances, and developers have been involved in the process. The criteria could serve as the basis for a certification process that ensures the quality of Internet-based (self-management) interventions. This could be an important step on the way into routine care. The paper will be published in the German peer-reviewed journal “Der Nervenarzt”. A pre-published version is already available online: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00115-018-0591-4
Reducing depressive feelings with virtual reality
Can virtual reality help someone with a depression? Arq Psychotrauma Expert Group, VU University Amsterdam and an SME called IJsfontein believe so. In co-creation they have developed a virtual reality application called 'Lunchroom Sunday'. The application is developed within the e-Mental Health Center (eGGZ Centrum), a European Regional Development funded project which is also sponsored by the province of Noord-Holland. The project focuses on setting up an e-mental health center in the Netherlands.
Virtual Reality application Lunchroom Sunday is developed primarily for people with depressive feelings. The VR game is currently being tested and expectations of the developers and care institutes are high. Users are asked to put on a VR headset, after which they become a waiter in a virtual lunchroom. In the lunchroom they have to deal with different social situations. This is a very recognizable situation for most clients. The role of waiter makes it easier to approach different situations and to interact with other people, as this is what waiters do.
One of the scenarios of Lunchroom Sunday is a student who sits behind his laptop, with a cup of coffee. He thinks out loud: "I've been staring to this laptop for two hours without making any progress with my thesis. This is really hopeless!" He sighs deeply. "If I do not get anything on paper today, I will never achieve a decent career!” After this scene the computer responds: "What do you think, if you hear this? Do you agree with the student or can you maybe help him with an alternative thought?” After this question is answered by the patient, the treatment professional asks for more helping, alternative thoughts. If both parties are happy about what’s been said, another scene can be played.
Cognitive behavioral therapy
“Virtual Reality has already been used and proven effective for treating anxiety disorders”, says Annet Kleiboer, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology. She is working at VU University Amsterdam and is involved in the development of Lunchroom Sunday. “The effectiveness of a virtual world for treating depression needs to be researched and proven”.
Next steps
Currently Lunchroom Sunday is being tested and presented to mental healthcare institutes. The intention is to start using the VR application within a pilot in May 2019.
Read the full version of this article on the eMEN website
The Future of Digital Mental Health in Northern Ireland
Roundtable discussions are currently being organised by the Mental Health Foundation as the UK partner in the eMEN project to explore critical issues related to policy development, specifically regarding the challenges, benefits and ethics of developing and implementing digital mental health technologies in the four countries of the UK. The overall aim of these discussions is to use key findings from each of the four countries to inform the eMEN project’s Transnational Policy Solution document, with recommendations specific to the UK context.
It is well recognised that to alleviate the growing pressure on mental health services we need to deliver greater capacity, improve care pathways and reduce demand by delivering earlier interventions, taking preventative measures and tackling the stigma surrounding mental health. Among key stakeholders, it is increasingly acknowledged that the implementation of digitally enabled services, including digital tools and digital applications, might address some of these issues and assist in supporting, treating and preventing mental health problems. As a technique, a roundtable discussion is intended to identify problems and seek solutions in the relationship between, for example, formal decision makers, key stakeholders and other sectors of society for the purpose of consensus-building. It is designed to closely explore an identified issue, which can be used to define problems or questions, explore solutions, and develop actions or strategies that might adequately respond to these.
The first of four roundtables was held on December 6th 2018 in collaboration with Queen’s University Belfast on “The Future of Digital Mental Health in Northern Ireland”. The discussion involved 16 participants from key stakeholder groups, including leading academics, policy makers, lived experience, SMEs, healthcare professionals and service providers and focused on the role that digital technology can play in improving receipt and provision of mental health care in Northern Ireland. Diverse perspectives came into play, as each discussant identified what they consider to be the barriers and facilitators to the use of digital technologies for primary and secondary mental health care as well as more general use of digital tools within communities.
Practical solutions to the specific problems identified during the discussion were proposed. Elements of the discussion will be considered in terms of steering the academic research agenda over the coming five years. The stakeholders present were motivated by the conversation and expressed interest in continuing the collaboration in future roundtable discussions of the same theme.
The Nurture Network: Promoting Mental Health for Young People in a Digital World (e-Nurture)
Gordon Harold (University of Sussex, PI), Sonia Livingstone (London School of Economics, Co-I), Elvira Perez-Vallejoz (University of Nottingham (Co-I), Edmund Sonuga-Barke (Kings College London, Co-I), Tamsin Ford (University of Exeter, Co-I), Chris Hollis (University of Nottingham, Co-I)
The e-Nurture Network launch took place on November 30th 2018 in London, UK. This multidisciplinary research network aims to look at how children and young people are influenced by a digital world, and consider the challenges and opportunities that digital environments present. During the event, principle Investigator, Professor Gordon Harold (University of Sussex) perceptively reframed the age-old nature/nurture debate from the point of view of our contemporary digital era. From a developmental perspective, one could ask whether this is old wine new bottles, but it is much more than that. Children and young people are growing cognitively, emotionally and socially within environments that we know and understand relatively little about. Nowadays, as digital environments increasingly make their presence felt in everyday family and school life, new challenges and opportunities for facilitating positive mental health for children are in our midst: digital environments now constitute a new dimension to the agencies of socialisation that research previously considered primary (parents, siblings, teachers, peers), and comprise a new social space that will equally influence children’s social development and mental health.
The primary objective of the multi-disciplinary e-Nurture network is to explore how such /environments impact mental health and wellbeing. More specifically, the network aims to (1) explore how the digital environment has changed the ways in which children experience and interact with family, school and peer-based influences and what these changes mean for children’s mental health, (2) identify how we can recognise and disentangle digital risks from opportunities when working with families, schools and professional agencies in developing intervention programmes to improve mental health outcomes for children and young people, and (3) identify how we effectively incorporate and disseminate this new knowledge to engage present and future practice models and the design and development of digital platforms and interventions aimed at promoting mental health and reducing negative mental health trajectories for young people.
The e-Nurture Network will engage a collaborative, cross sectoral approach to facilitating impacts by directly engaging academic, charity, industry, policy and front-line beneficiaries (e.g. families, parents, schools, teachers, children and young people).
eMental Health developments in Ireland
There has been significant progression of the eMental health field in Ireland during 2018. Overall, we can see a growing coherence in activity focusing on leveraging eMental health’s potential to address specific challenges in the mental healthcare system, and also on supporting broader improvement in the quality, range and reach of mental health services and supports. This involves an increasing coming-together of ‘top-down’ initiatives (from the Minister of State for Mental Health, Department of Health, HSE and other players) and ‘bottom-up’ activities (including development/deployment of eMental health by third sector mental health providers, as well as clinician-led eMental health innovation).
The HSE’s project Developing Digital Mental Health Supports in Ireland is a key vehicle for progressing eMental health within the mainstream mental health services and supports system. This has been developing a number of eMental health initiatives, including online information & sign-posting, telepsychiatry, telecounselling, and a crisis text service.
eMEN has become an important contributor to developments in Ireland. A core element of this is its support work with two eMental health product development and piloting programmes – eWELL and Pesky gNATs. The communications and awareness activities have also been influential. This includes the launch of a state-of-the-art report in eMental health and its potential contribution in Ireland, as well as a major seminar on eMental health in psychological practice organised by eMEN with the main professional Body (Psychological Society of Ireland).
Upcoming FREE transnational seminars and conferences
Over the life of the project, eMEN is delivering 24 transnational events across Europe addressing e-mental health evidence-based innovations, quality, access and scale.
24th January 2019: London, UK
‘Prevention with digital technologies: expanding the possibilities for better mental health’
In the context of a changing healthcare landscape, this conference will be hosted by the Mental Health Foundation in collaboration with the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination and the Mental Health and Addictions Research Group at the University of York, which will examine the evidence behind long-term approaches for a future where digital technology can protect against problems and deliver good mental health for all.
Expert presentations, a panel discussion, poster presentations and a digital marketplace will focus on all levels of prevention: in primary and secondary healthcare and in relapse prevention.
For more information click here.
28th March 2019: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
‘Let’s make it work! Implementation of e-mental health care’
Over the past 15 years a lot of e-mental health applications have been developed, but the implementation has often been less straightforward. Whereas the urgency for e-mental health is clear, the move towards structural and effective use of e-mental health seems to have reached a deadlock.
Which are the obstacles that stand in the way of a proper use? Is it organisations, lack of infrastructure, or is it fear of failure?
The eMen seminar about implementation aims to inspire attendees to have a fresh look at the possibilities of e-mental health.
Let’s make it work! focuses on workable solutions and useful theories, presented by keynote speakers, developers and students. There are many wonderful opportunities and good practices from which we can learn. The seminar will also cover the new Dutch reimbursement system, which will be launched in the near future, and may be a next step to a more steadfast implementation of e-mental health.
The seminar is especially meant for managers, policy advisors, health care professionals, students, researchers and e-mental health developers.
Date: March 28, 2019
Time: 9:30 am – 4:30 pm
Location: VU University, Amsterdam
Organised by: Arq and VU University
More information: See the event page or download ‘Save The Date’
Share our animation!
Our eMEN animation is available at nweurope.eu/emen. It explains the concept of e-mental health and the many ways it can support mental wellbeing. We encourage you to share this with your networks, embed it in your website and use it in your presentations.
Why not join our transnational network?
eMEN is an e-mental health project running until November 2019, funded through the Interreg North West European Innovation Programme with a value of €5.36million. The six country partners are led by the Netherlands and include Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the UK, who together combine diverse technological, clinical, research, and policy expertise.
To receive updates on our future activities and connect to e-mental health stakeholders across Europe, we encourage you to register to join our network.
We also welcome invitations to contribute to your event. Further contact information for all the partners is available at www.nweurope.eu/emen.
eMEN Autumn Newsletter 2018
Welcome to the eMEN Autumn newsletter, updating you on our progress and achievements across Europe in e-mental health technologies.
What is happening across the eMEN project?
Over the course of the project, each partner is piloting an e-mental health product. The examples in this autumn’s newsletter illustrate some of the innovative approaches emerging from our studies, which aim to address barriers to the uptake of e-mental health. We are also disseminating evidence-based policy and research learning in creative ways, including in early September at a seminar in Geel, Belgium, which focused on e-health trends and development of apps in mental healthcare. If you have missed out on attending eMEN events so far, we have many upcoming seminars and conferences listed at the end of this newsletter, and they are all free to attend.
Combined expertise across the partners has supported our policy work, illustrated below by the French mental health and psychiatry political roadmap – a good example of how we aim to use the product pilots to influence policy and practice in European digital mental health.
What are we learning from product pilots?
Clever ECAs in Dutch Moodbuster-study
Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) are computer-generated characters that simulate human-like behaviors to communicate with users. Can ECAs be used to bridge the gap between guided and unguided online interventions for mental health disorders? What is the effectiveness of ECAs used in internet interventions for the treatment of (light to mild) depression? Do they have a positive effect on rates of client adherence to treatment?
Simon Provoost, PhD student at VU University, decided to investigate the effectiveness of ECAs in online interventions for depression. He started his research with a literature study, and did not find much evidence. However, a second study showed unexpected results, and now it is time for a more sophisticated follow-up. Simon explains:
“ECAs have three necessary components: they need to have embodiment, they must interact with the participant (give simple feedback for example) and they have to act ‘clever’. This means it is not just that simple ‘smiley’ showing up at the end of a lesson, regardless of what you did - it is a smiley that for instance does something different when you take 20 seconds instead of five minutes to answer 10 questions. Our next step will be a study on the effectiveness for adherence of a more clever ECA. More than just ‘thumbs up’ or ‘well done!’, this ECA will respond to what participants have been doing in the intervention. It acts as a kind of functional agent, a virtual coach. For this study, which only will take place in The Netherlands, we are going to use a ‘light’ version of Moodbuster, developed for people with low mood, but not for people with actual depression. The main goal is to teach them certain techniques to attain more positive impulses.”
Wearables for mental health: The Carewear pilots
The Expertise unit Psychology, Technology & Society and Mobilab of Thomas More University of Applied Sciences in Belgium recently completed the piloting of Carewear tools. Carewear is an intervention that combines wearables with an online platform, which will be implemented as a useful addition to depression treatment and employee assistance programmes (EAPs). A first pilot study with professionals in mental healthcare shows that, although some technical challenges require further attention, they are generally positive about its potential for give added value to care as usual.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that stress-related problems and depression are currently the most important challenges in mental healthcare. Technological innovations can provide novel means for ambulatory monitoring and raise awareness of these conditions. Wearables collect continuous and ecologically-valid physiological data that can provide information on both risk factors and the process of recovery in mental disorders. The Carewear project aims to validate an online platform that will allow healthcare professionals to use wearable data in their clinical practice.
Carewear focuses on the measurement of physical activity (including step count), stress situations, subjective state, resting heart rate and heart rate variability. Recently, professionals in our user group piloted the Carewear prototype for some handson experience with the tools, to assess their usability, and to help with debugging the platform. Preliminary qualitative analyses suggest that professionals indeed supported the idea that they could be a useful addition to current treatment protocols. Participants liked the approach of an online application where physiological data and self-report were combined, and the manuals were found to be clear and easy to use.
However, they also encountered some technical challenges. Uploading the data from the wearable was a fairly difficult process since the Empatica E4 – the high-end wearable currently used in this study – does not have an API (Application Programming Interface). There were also some instances where data logging did not occur correctly. Finally, the professionals felt that working with the platform could sometimes be a bit cumbersome, and that the design of the interface could be more attractive. The input of the professionals is invaluable since we can now address some specific problems before starting to use the tools with clients. Additionally, more general remarks will be used to optimise the Carewear tools when we move from a validated prototype to a finished platform.
Contact For more information on this project, feel free to reach out to Nele De Witte (nele.dw@ thomasmore.be). You can also follow our updates on twitter (@care_wear).
e-Mental Health events in 2018
Trends and development of apps in mental healthcare (Geel, Belgium)
On September 6th, after a warm summer, the Belgian eMen partners - Pulso and Thomas More University - welcomed everyone interested in “Trends and technical development of apps in mental healthcare” in Geel. During this half-day seminar, the audience was informed about the latest evolutions and more technical aspects of e-mental health developments.
The seminar was officially opened by the Thomas More University’s Director of Research, Dr. Joan De Boeck, followed by two interesting keynote presentations. The first keynote speaker, Prof. Dr. Kristof van Laerhoven (University of Siegen), presented “Smoking Detection as a Case Study for Monitoring Human Behaviours”, and the second keynote speaker, Artur Rocha (INESC TEC), provided an insight in the development of the Moodbuster application.
The keynote presentations were followed by a more hands-on session. The participants were invited to take part in workshops where existing applications were presented and demonstrated. As this seminar had a focus on the technical part of e-mental health, the workshops had a major focus on these aspects, more specifically:
“How does an app empower youngsters to regulate tension and how does an app increase joy of living in vulnerable people?” by Wil Wintjens (Ivengi);
“Measurement of stress; subjective versus objective data” by Annelies Goris (IMEC);
“Innovative EAP Tools: EAP online, HappyCare & APPA Tool” by Charlotte Van den Broucke & Dirk Antonissen (Pulso); and
“Wearable technology for mental health care: Outcomes and challenges within the carewear project” by Romy Sels & Nele De Witte (Thomas More).
How is e-mental health influencing European mental health policy?
eMEN mentioned in the French mental health and psychiatry political roadmap
This summer, the French Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Agnès Buzyn, together with the Secretary of State for Disabled Persons, Sophie Cluzel, presented the government’s roadmap for mental health and psychiatry (Feuille de route santé mentale et psychiatrie) for the next years. It includes – for the first time in history! – e-mental health and – we are proud to report it!! – the eMEN project.
The government’s new roadmap for mental health and psychiatry is a comprehensive plan to change the way we look at mental health and psychiatry, at mental health problems and at people directly or indirectly affected by such problems. The document also aims to promote empowerment, social inclusion and care access.
Mental health promotion and prevention are mentioned as one of the main axes of the roadmap and, in this framework, e-mental health is mentioned as a tool, a lever for action and a possible solution.
Indeed, the document states that digitalisation and innovation are at the heart of the digital transformation of the French health system. However, it also confirms that the use of e-mental health potential in France is one of the lowest in Europe. The roadmap therefore affirms its engagement with promoting e-mental health development and its support for initiatives such as the Interreg NWE eMEN project, whose efforts and work are highly welcomed.
The future of the Dutch mental health sector
In July 2018 the main Dutch mental health stakeholders (including Mental Health Netherlands and the Ministry of Health) agreed on a joint ambition for mental health. This ambition clearly shows that the Dutch mental health landscape will change quickly in the coming years. There will be a strong focus on integrated care and care in the right place. The latter essentially means: prevent expensive care, provide care closer to home (if possible), provide more ambulant care and replace regular care with other support such as eHealth.
The role of community support teams will increase further, as more care will be brought into the neighbourhood, closer to where people live. More mental health professionals will join these multidisciplinary teams in the coming year. Furthermore, people with lived experiences will become an integral part of the care structure. In addition, stakeholders will cooperate to develop a future-proof education system for mental health care - a system in which prevention (nutrition and lifestyle) and the use of eHealth are structurally embedded, alongside the mental health care standards. On the financial side there will be a focus on multi-annual agreements with insurance companies and lower administrative burdens. Care givers must provide relevant, effective and affordable quality care, and patients must be given clear choices.
In 2019 a new reimbursement experiment will be implemented which supports a new achievement structure in which professionals who contribute most to the reduction of waiting lists will be covered by the insurance company, such as social workers and people with lived experience. The new funding structure will support correct and timely up- or down-grading of care and proper use of care.
In the meantime - before the new reimbursement system is in place - the National Care Authority will be asked how to reduce the incentive for delivering ineffective care and increase incentives for effective care. The new reimbursement system should become effective from January 1st 2020.
The future is coming; get ready!
Source: Onderhandelaarsakkoord Geestelijke Gezondheidszorg (GGZ) 2019 t/m 2022 (3juli 2018) “Toekomstbeeld / ambitie voor de GGZ)
Upcoming FREE transnational seminars and conferences
Over the life of the project, eMEN is delivering 24 transnational events across Europe addressing e-mental health evidence-based innovations, quality, access and scale.
9th October: Dublin, Ireland
eMental Health: The Next Big Thing in Psychological Practice?
Mental Health Reform and the Psychological Society of Ireland are hosting a joint eMEN seminar focusing on the challenges and opportunities presented by technology-supported therapy for the future of mental health care. The seminar will be held on the 9th October 2018 in the Hilton Charlemont Hotel in Dublin and will be launched by the Irish Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Jim Daly, T.D. Other confirmed speakers of the seminar include: Prof. Brian Hughes from NUI Galway, Prof. Youseff Shiban from University of Göttingen, Dr. Alison Darcy, the founder of Woebot and Dr. Marie Murray, University College Dublin.
The seminar will explore a variety of subjects including those that are growing in popularity, such as counselling over the phone or instant chat, and eTherapy mobile applications that show promise in supporting ongoing care and self-management for people with enduring mental health difficulties. Gaming applications used to support therapy and engagement for young people and virtual reality that has an important application in the treatment of phobias and anxiety will also be among the subjects discussed. Finally, the seminar will raise questions on the potential and the future of technology and psychology/psychotherapy: is it utopian or dystopian?
Future dates for your diaries:
29th November: Berlin, Germany
E-mental health in Europe: learning from our neighbours
11th December: Rennes, France
Ethical, juridical and quality dimensions of e-mental health tools and services
24th January: London, UK
Prevention with digital technologies: expanding the possibilities for better mental health
Share our animation!
Our eMEN animation is available at nweurope. eu/emen. It explains the concept of e-mental health and the many ways it can support mental wellbeing. We encourage you to share this with your networks, embed it in your website and use it in your presentations.
Why not join our transnational network?
eMEN is an e-mental health project running until November 2019, funded through the Interreg North West European Innovation Programme with a value of €5.36million. The six country partners are led by the Netherlands and include Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the UK, who together combine diverse technological, clinical, research, and policy expertise.
To receive updates on our future activities and connect to e-mental health stakeholders across Europe, we encourage you to register to join our network.
We also welcome invitations to contribute to your event. Further contact information for all the partners is available at www.nweurope.eu/emen.
eMEN Summer Newsletter 2018
Welcome to the eMEN Summer newsletter, updating you on our progress and achievements across Europe in digital mental health technologies.
What is happening across the eMEN project?
Each partner is piloting an e-mental health product. The examples below illustrate some of the innovative approaches developing from our studies, which aim to address barriers to the uptake of e- mental health. We creatively disseminate evidence-based policy and research learnings from across our network, including through seminars taking place in May (Edinburgh, UK) and June (Düsseldorf, Germany). If you missed eMEN events so far, we have many upcoming seminars and conferences listed at the end of this newsletter. Combined expertise across the project has supported our policy work, with a coordinated approach to using product pilots to create an impact in the sphere of European digital mental health.
Why are product pilots important?
Throughout eMEN, each partner is testing an e-mental health product. The examples below illustrate some of the learnings from development and implementation of digital mental health products.
StopBlues is born!
The eMEN project is happy to announce the launch of the StopBlues website and apps, available for downloaded on the iTunes App and Google play stores. Every year in France 200,000 suicide attempts and 10,500 deaths by suicide are reported, almost three times more deaths than traffic accidents and likely underestimated due to taboos. Suicide prevention remains complex, and StopBlues aims to fill the "primary" prevention gap by giving the general population a free digital tool to manage psychological distress and destigmatise mental health problems.
StopBlues has been developed within the Printemps research project of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), with the support of the French national action plan against suicide and the eMEN project. The app and website aim to break isolation by informing on where to find help and providing solutions such as relaxation or positive psychology exercises. The project aims to study the effectiveness of StopBlues and its promotion strategy in the population, to identify the favourable conditions and the actors to involve for efficient e-health prevention intervention at the local level.
The main objective of the research project is to demonstrate the effectiveness of a mobile Internet intervention in primary suicide prevention including a smartphone application and associated website. A second objective is to study two promotion strategies: by local governments only and by local governments and general practitioners. Although health policies are not their direct responsibility, a considerable number of cities have begun to develop actions in favour of the health of their residents by following the movement launched by the World Health Organization (WHO), the WHO Healthy Cities, to involve municipal authorities in the implementation of health policies. Involvement by general practitioners in community-based approaches to depression and suicide prevention has also been found effective.
HappyCare - an online tool to promote resilience in your employees
Pulso Europe’s mission is to assist and guide organisations in developing and implementing their well-being strategies, policies and programmes. One way of doing so, is by implementing e-mental health tools such as HappyCare, an innovative, online application for self-testing, self-help, coaching and advice about mental resilience.
We can no longer deny it: work-related stress is increasingly more present within organisations. Moreover, it is expected to become the most prevalent cause of absenteeism and occupational disability. In short, if you feel good, you function better and research has shown that some strategies help you feel better about yourself. Pulso Europe developed HappyCare, an online tool to help increase mental resilience. Based on positive psychology, cognitive behavioural therapy, mindfulness and health psychology, these strategies are taught and improved via seven topics (live towards your goals, invest in relationships, think positively, be aware of yourself, live here and now, take control of your life and lead a healthy and active life). The topics contain exercises, testimonials, movies, advice and information on how to increase and retain mental resilience.
When piloting the tool, a significant increase in happiness score was found after 6 weeks of using the application, which lasted after 6 and even 18 months. The effect is slightly more pronounced in women compared to men. Furthermore, HappyCare was evaluated positively and considered useful by the user sample. In conclusion, HappyCare offers the possibility to work on long-term well-being and resilience via an online platform, in a pleasant, evidence-based way!
Recent eMEN events
Place based approaches to e-mental health (Edinburgh, UK)
On 24th May, the Mental Health Foundation with NHS Lothian ran a seminar looking at how e-mental health in different settings can help prevent mental health problems and provide support to people with unmet mental health needs. The day was chaired by Dr Donald MacIntyre, Associate Director of NHS 24.
The keynote speaker Dr Diane Pennington (University of Strathclyde, Glasgow) considered the internet as a virtual place where people can access e-mental healthcare, but which can also perpetuate social exclusion through the ‘digital divide’ where they are unable to access the technology due to cost and lack of knowledge or skills. Five workshops then explored what e-mental health has to offer to young people (schools and colleges), the criminal justice system (prisons), social isolation (rural communities), positive mental health practice (on the go), and interpersonal connections (clinical setting). Nigel Henderson (Penumbra) and Lucy Gunatillake (Mindfulness Everywhere) described the inception and development of their digital innovations, and potential barriers to implementation.
A panel discussion looked at emerging themes and barriers in place-based e-mental health and concluded that the advantage of e-mental health is its ability to extend mental health support to hard to reach groups. With a combination of presentations from those working in Scotland and knowledge and insights from other parts of the UK and other countries, the seminar shared learning and facilitated networking focused on current and new opportunities for e-mental health in Scotland.
E-Mental health implementation: the digital revolution in mental healthcare (Düsseldorf, Germany)
The Düsseldorf seminar on 11th June focused on the general framework necessary for the implementation of digital interventions in Germany. Around 120 participants joined the event hosted by the German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics (DGPPN), the German Alliance on Mental Health (ABSG) and the LVR Institute for healthcare research (LVR-IVF). Renowned national and international speakers presented their knowledge on current research, gave practical insights in e-mental health routines and discussed prerequisites to implementation in Germany.
Prof. Heleen Riper (VU, Amsterdam) introduced e-mental health with an overview of the current state of the art. She said that high-quality digital applications can be effective interventions and contribute to closing gaps in psychosocial care, and therefore questioned why they haven’t yet been implemented in routine care in Germany. Karsten Knöppler (Managing Director, fbeta) identified the short development cycles of digital applications as a major challenge for the implementation of digital interventions into the healthcare system and called for new methods to evaluate these products. Dr. Susanne Klein (Head of Development, TK Care Management) reported positive experiences with a pilot project using internet-based interventions for people with mild to moderate depression. She emphasised that online interventions must meet high quality standards and be seen as an additional tool rather than a cost-effective alternative to routine care.
A best practice-session presented ideas from around Europe including the E-RECOVER portal (Prof. Martin Lambert, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf), Therapy 2.0 (Evelyn Schlenk), PRONIA (Prof. Eva Meisenzahl) and Interapy (Dr. Bart Schrieken). The final panel discussion included the President of the Federal Chamber of Psychotherapists, Dr. Ernst Dietrich Munz, and Dr. Franz Joseph Bartmann, President of the Medical Association Schleswig-Holstein and Chairman of the Telematics Committee of the German Medical Association. The consensus was that online-based interventions are an effective "tool" to enable better access to mental healthcare, and e-mental health applications can increase the range of mental health care services.
How is e-mental health viewed in policy around Europe?
Remote consultations easier in Germany through moderation of media in healthcare
The German professional code for physicians describes rights and duties of practitioners towards patients, colleagues and their professional associations – including the use of media in health care practice. This part of the professional code for physicians has been the focus of discussion especially on state level for some time. The state Baden-Württemberg for example, adapted its professional code on state level already in 2016 to enable research projects using remote consultation without prior personal contact - successfully. To date, several research projects or so-called “Modellprojekte” are in place in Baden-Württemberg.
During the 121st “Ärztetag” of the German Medical Association in May 2018, the German Medical Association decided to moderate the professional code for physicians on national level concerning the use of media. Before this, the professional code stated that communication via media is only allowed if there has been prior direct contact to the patient. This decision, which has been approved by the majority of the German Medical Association members, may have a signaling effect and can be seen as a step forward in facilitating use of digital health in German health care. However, whether the decision will be implemented by all medical associations at state level, remains to be seen.
Report shows digital technology can play an important role in Irish mental healthcare
‘eMental Health: State-of-the-Art & Opportunities for Ireland’ report by Kevin Cullen was launched by the Irish Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Jim Daly, TD on the 16th May in the Science Gallery, Dublin. This eMEN stakeholder engagement event was attended by over 50 participants and stimulated discussion on the significant opportunities presented by eMental Healthcare alongside limitations and possible challenges for these types of interventions.
Director of Mental Health Reform, Shari McDaid, said, “Valuable opportunities exist to exploit eMental Health technologies within the mental healthcare system in Ireland… This report is rooted in Mental Health Reform’s value of empowerment of individuals who use mental health services, we are particularly interested in the possibilities digital technology can open up for people to take the lead in their own recovery.” The report considers eMental Health applications helpful for common mental health conditions, as well as those relevant for more severe and enduring difficulties. It highlights the range of technologies and applications encompassed within eMental Health, including teleconsultation (phone, video, instant chat), online and computer-based programmes (eTherapy), mobile apps, virtual reality, gaming, social media, wearables, and data analytics.
Please see the eMEN website for the full article including select report findings and recommendations, including the need for a dedicated strategy, inclusive stakeholder engagement, practitioner and user guidance and support for research and guidance in developing products.
The long-term outlook for e-mental health policy in Europe and beyond
In May 2018, RISE (Sweden) and The Mental Health Foundation (UK) hosted 19 guests from across the world for an intensive two-day match as a platform for their pioneering work. The aim was to harness the opportunity for knowledge sharing and co-production, towards future collaboration. The two days involved multiple presentations, followed by group workshops on the digital innovation presented. This levered structured feedback from a group that offered a pool of experience, knowledge and expertise. Workshops addressed how each innovation might be reframed and meet unforeseen barriers as well as exploring the potential to scale up the solution. The result of this strategy facilitated tangible, practical and workable solutions for all attendees.
A call for formally standardised definitions of terms such as prevention and e-mental health as prominent. Different actors, including health insurance specialists, clinical psychologists, researchers, entrepreneurs, policy makers, experts by experience, and non-profit organisations offered their perspective. Overall, it was agreed that mental health challenges pose the same demand and urgency globally, and our digital era must be better harnessed to safeguard the protection of mental health over and beyond the prevention of mental illness.
What’s next?
Upcoming FREE transnational seminars and conferences
Over the life of the project, eMEN will deliver 24 transnational events across Europe addressing e-mental health evidence-based innovations, quality, access and scale.
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6th September
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Geel, Belgium
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Wearables.
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9th October
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Ireland
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Tbc.
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November
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Berlin, Germany
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e-Mental Health Policy in Europe: developing policy recommendations.
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6th December
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London, UK
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Public Mental Health: the role of digital technologies in preventing mental health problems.
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11th December
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Rennes, France
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Ethical, juridical and quality dimensions of e-mental health tools and services.
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Share our animation!
The eMEN animation explains the concept of e-mental health and the many ways it can support mental wellbeing and is available at nweurope.eu/emen.
Why not join our transnational network?
eMEN is an e-mental health project running until November 2019, funded through the Interreg North West European Innovation Programme with a value of €5.36million. The six country partners are led by the Netherlands and include Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the UK who together combine diverse technological, clinical, research, and policy expertise.
To sign up for our newsletter and join the long-term network evolving out of eMEN, please fill in the registration form. We welcome invitations to contribute to your event. Further contact information for all the partners is available at www.nweurope.eu/emen.
eMEN Spring Newsletter 2018
Welcome to the eMEN Spring newsletter, updating you on our progress and achievements across Europe in digital mental health technologies.
What has happened so far in 2018?
Each partner is piloting an e-mental health product. The examples below illustrate some of the innovative approaches developing from our studies, which aim to address barriers to the uptake of e- mental health.
We are looking at creative ways of communicating evidence-based policy and research advances, including through our podcast series and animation. The third year of the eMEN project got off to a great start with three transnational events taking place in February (Belgium), March (France) and April (the Netherlands). If you missed these events, we have many upcoming seminars and conferences that are listed at the end of this newsletter.
Combined expertise has supported our policy work, illustrated below through the case study from Ireland. This shows our coordinated approach to using the product pilots to create an impact in the sphere of European digital mental health. To receive updates on our future activities and connect to e-mental health stakeholders across Europe, we encourage you to register to join our network.
What are we learning from e-mental health product pilots?
How can social media communication help test products?
In the second half of 2017, the first phase of the MIRROR pilot was implemented at Victim Support Netherlands, involving over 10,000 end-users. The MIRROR is a self-help test to take after experiencing a distressing event. It asks questions about PTSD symptoms, resilience and functioning to return tailored feedback with personal advice, including towards taking further steps if necessary.
Close cooperation with the SME/eHealth developer was required to implement the tailored modifications for the pilot. In order to publicise the self-help test to the relevant group, Victim Support Netherlands positioned the app prominently on their own website and initiated a Facebook campaign. Initially, the campaign text was 'In case of distressing events'. The result? Women particularly responded, whereas few men took the test.
The new Facebook campaign 'Real men do not cry' targeted men, who are generally very difficult to reach through completing self-help tests. However, adapting the text to 'Real men do not cry' succeeded! In the end, over 10,000 end-users were reached, with 55% of them being male.
Contact: For further information about this campaign, contact Elice Sijbrandij.
Heights in 360° VR video on YouTube
The Expertise Unit Psychology, Technology & Society of Thomas More University of Applied Sciences recently recorded a number of locations of variable height in 360° VR video as a contribution to using virtual spaces to help in the treatment of height phobia. The two Antwerp campuses, Sanderus and National, of Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, were used for scenes. The 13 locations were not chosen randomly, but were selected in the context of an internal pilot study.
Students Hans Vermeulen (internship) and Celine Moeskops (bachelor dissertation) explored how existing exposure therapy for fear of heights could be enrichened by low-threshold 360° VR video scenes. These videos are freely available on the expertise unit's YouTube channel. Each video includes a brief description, a height indication and an (estimated) indication of the level of difficulty. The goal is to expand this channel in the future and to also focus on how these and other, additional videos can be used as meaningful additions to the treatment of phobias. You can view the different scenes in different ways: via PC or smartphone, via Google Cardboard, or via Samsung Gear VR.
Contact: For more information on this project, feel free to contact Tom Van Daele.
Using different approaches to pilot an app
Moodbuster 2.0 is developed for people with mild depressive symptoms to be used by internet or mobile app, as both a stand-alone application or in a blended setting. The main goal is to empower users for better self-management. The Mental Health Foundation is conducting a trial in Manchester for people with subclinical symptoms of depression, to look at whether the app is effective in preventing the onset of depression. In Belgium, the focus is on implementation, including which organisations, professionals and clients are willing to work with Moodbuster and how they use it. The trial will be run by Pulso Europe and the research units of Thomas More University of Applied Sciences: Mobilab and the Expertise Unit Psychology, Technology & Society, working with psychiatric hospitals and clinics. Further details on the pilots will be updated on the eMEN website.
How are we communicating the concept of using Digital Technology for Mental Health?
Share our animation!
Our new eMEN animation is now LIVE at nweurope.eu/emen. The animation explains the concept of e-mental health and how it can help improve our mental wellbeing. We encourage you to share this with your networks, embed it in your website and use it in your presentations.
Podcasts
eMEN is producing a series of podcasts looking at many different aspects of e-mental health. Follow our page on Soundcloud. The most recent podcast, with Professor Chris Gastmans, Head of the Centre for Biomedical Ethics and Law at KU Leuven, addresses patient-caregiver relationships in an ethical evaluation of e-mental health.
eMEN events so far in 2018
Online therapy?! Reflections from Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Ethical Issues
The second Belgian event on February 23rd was hosted by Pulso Europe and Thomas More University of Applied Sciences in Brussels and welcomed over 70 people.
After an introduction by Hilde Vandenhout, MD (Thomas More), three keynote lectures looked at challenges and opportunities when implementing technological applications in mental health care. More particularly, the focus of the seminar was inspired by the fact that not all mental health professionals and clients are aware of the opportunities offered by technological applications. They have questions about the product quality, ethics and deontology, but also about the conceptualisation of different forms of therapy and their online applications.
Please see the eMEN website for a full report on the seminar.
Active Citizenship and empowerment in community mental health - Participative innovations in France and abroad
This French conference on 29-30 March 2018 was part of the 5th international meeting of the WHO-Collaborating Centre of Lille. It was attended by more than 500 mental health service users, carers, researchers and SME (small and medium enterprise) representatives from around the world.
The second day was dedicated to the development of new technologies in mental health, their impact on information-accessibility for users and the potential for their empowerment. After a presentation of the objectives and activities of the eMEN project, the morning plenary session addressed the question: ‘E-mental health - interest for the user and politico-economic stakes: does it match or not?’ A representative from the French national health conference, a mental health service user and a family carer who has developed an e-mental health tool energised the debate. A second plenary session investigated what users and health professionals think about e-mental health, presenting the results of the French study EQUME (Qualitative Study of the Expectations, Needs and Uses of M-Health - eHealth Technology in Mental Health - by All Stakeholders).
Different workshops based on the results of a call for communications included sessions related to e-mental health on the themes of self-help, training and information, expression and exchange, and co-designing for e-mental health.
Please see the eMEN website for a full report on the conference and links to event YouTube videos.
How can e-mental health shape European mental health policy?
By looking at the policy context around Europe to engage policy makers, eMEN will have a long-term impact on the potential of e-mental health across Europe.
Innovation is the only way forward for Ireland’s mental health support system
The recent publication of the Children’s Rights Alliance’s annual report card on Ireland once again highlighted how demand for children’s mental health services is exceeding capacity, with more than 7,000 children waiting for an appointment with a primary care psychologist. As the national coalition advocating for better mental health services in Ireland, Mental Health Reform seeks innovative solutions to this urgent social problem. Digital technology has the potential to be a game-changer in two ways: first, by dramatically increasing the reach of mental health interventions and secondly, by empowering people in the process of their own mental health treatment.
There are a wide range of ways that technology is already being used for mental health support: online or app-based cognitive-behavioural therapy programmes (such as Aware’s Lifeskills Course), self-help apps, telepsychiatry utilising videoconferencing to enable distance consultation, computerised co-decision-making tools that give service users a greater voice in clinical meetings; telecounselling to provide therapy via videochat (MyMind), online platforms for social prescribing to help GPs refer people to community supports (Elementalsoftware.co), and the use of virtual reality and gaming technology as part of therapy such as Pesky gNATs.
Digital technology is also already playing a big role in prevention and stigma-reduction in Ireland through educational sites such as Spunout and A Lust for Life, as well as in peer support through online support groups.
Of course, there are also many concerns about how digital technology, particularly social media platforms, may be negatively impacting on people’s mental health. How can privacy be secured for individuals who avail of digital technology as part of their treatment? How can we ensure that people are protected from harm on social media platforms? A good national policy on eMental Health is vital to ensure that technological developments foster these benefits and empower the individual user, while minimising the risks. That’s why Mental Health Reform is working to make sense of this diverse potential through our participation in the eMEN project. Learning from our peers across North West Europe will strengthen the development of Ireland’s eMental Health policy. Our participation will also help to ensure that developers’ interest in eMental Health is increased and that their efforts fit with the values of Ireland’s national mental health policy. In this way, the eMEN project will help mental Health Reform to support the best use of digital technology to boost mental health in Ireland and across North West Europe.
Read the full version of this article on the eMEN website.
Upcoming FREE transnational seminars and conferences
Over the life of the project, eMEN will deliver 24 transnational events across Europe addressing e-mental health evidence-based innovations, quality, access and scale.
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24th May
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Edinburgh, UK
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Place-based approaches to the use of digital technologies for mental health. Please register online.
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11th June
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Düsseldorf, Germany
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E-mental health implementation: the digital revolution in mental healthcare. The seminar in Germany addresses implementation issues and solutions of e-mental health for the German healthcare market around research and practice, quality and safety and best practice examples. A certification according to the German CME system has been applied for. Please register at www.dgppn.de.
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September
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Belgium
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Wearables.
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October
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Germany
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e-Mental Health Policy in Europe: developing policy recommendations.
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October
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Ireland
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December
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Rennes, France
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Future developments in e-mental health.
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December
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London, UK
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Public Mental Health: the role of digital technologies in preventing mental health problems.
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Why not join our transnational network?
eMEN is an e-mental health project running until November 2019, funded through the Interreg North West European Innovation Programme with a value of €5.36million. The six country partners are led by the Netherlands and include Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the UK who together combine diverse technological, clinical, research, and policy expertise.
To sign up for our newsletter and join the long-term network evolving out of eMEN, please fill in the registration form. We welcome invitations to contribute to your event. Further contact information for all the partners is available at www.nweurope.eu/emen.
eMEN Spring Newsletter 2018 Download.
eMEN Winter Newsletter 2017
Welcome to the winter edition of the newsletter for the eMEN e-mental health project, funded through the Interreg North West European Innovation Programme. eMEN is a six country e-mental health project with a value of €5.36million (approximately £4.5million), which will run until November 2019. This project is being led by the Netherlands with partners in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the UK who combine technological, clinical, research, and policy expertise. Information and contact details for the partners are available on the project website.
What has been happening in 2017?
In 2017 the e-mental health innovation and transnational implementation platform North West Europe (eMEN) has been able to generate a lot of traction in the 6 partners countries, the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland.
One of the main objectives of this unique initiative is to gather and share e-mental health implementation knowledge and information. The eMEN co-operation platform will sustain this knowledge and will actively promote e-mental health in Europe by addressing the many multidisciplinary implementation challenges.
With our two conferences, four seminars, stakeholder meetings and (social) media activities in 2017 we have been able to reach thousands of professionals and citizens in Europe, creating a better understanding of different implementation challenges and cultural differences. eMEN organised the first e-mental health seminar in France on June 13th, following a first seminar also organised in Belfast on April 28th.
We also made an early and successful start with some of our product pilots, which are implemented in order to better learn about the many implementation challenges we are addressing in the eMEN project; such as product quality (clinical effectiveness, costs effective evaluation, privacy, CE compliance, 'look & feel'), product development (co-creation SMEs), awareness and acceptance, organisational priority, digital skills, eHealth policies, training and curricula and 'blended care' protocols.
This multidisciplinary approach contributes to the many positive reactions from different stakeholders. To move the implementation of this technology forward, all mental health stakeholders must work together.
The First eMEN Event in Germany
In October the first eMEN event in Germany took place within the context of the World Congress of Psychiatry in Berlin. About 180 people came together under the theme "Getting in touch with digital interventions for mental health: practical insights for health professionals”.
It aimed for an interdisciplinary exchange of health professionals and application providers. The audience consisted of health-professionals, start-up founders, students, other professionals and the interested public. Most of the visitors were health professionals and the majority were at least familiar with the topic.
The agenda comprised current research outcomes and implementation experience reports, as well as challenges and fields of work in internet interventions. A start-up slam was organised to support app developers. Our evaluation showed that the concept of the event was well received. Two thirds of participants were highly satisfied with the general course of the seminar. Suggestions for improvement relate to the organisation of breaks and the involvement of the audience after the presentation. Most popular were the presentations that showed the use of e-mental health in practice, like VR devices in psychotherapy. The highlight, however, was the start-up slam itself where applications and their handling were introduced. Seven SMEs had the possibility to introduce their product in a 5-minutes short presentation. In total 13 SMEs were provided with a stand so that participants could get in touch and get first insights in the different interventions.
The seminar was an opportunity to gain new insights in the field of e-mental health which was adopted with success. In the evaluation more than 50 % stated that their attitude towards e-mental health products and the likelihood of use improved. However, participants also see a long way to the widespread introduction of e-mental health products in practice. Barriers in the implementation are mainly seen in legal issues, reimbursement issues and data security. These are also fields of interest that remain for the upcoming seminars.
Transnational Policy Solution
One important output of the eMEN project will be the development of a transnational policy solution. The work package “Transnational policy solution for e-mental health implementation” is led by LVR-IVF in Germany and aims to enhance the implementation of quality assured e-mental health products through developing and actively promoting effective and workable policy solutions for the NWE countries.
The development of policy recommendations can be seen as a series of interrelated actions. At the beginning, all relevant national and European policy documents and other literature that is dealing with e-mental health implementation, projects or initiatives will be gathered, and the respective level of e-mental health development in the NWE countries will be analyzed. Subsequently, each participating country selects and interviews national and European experts in technology, policy and legal issues as well as representatives of patient (and their relatives), organizations, health professionals and health care providers.
In the past months, each partner country has therefore performed a literature review on scientific studies (national or regional), policy solutions, public documents, legislations and opinion papers concerning e-mental health. On the European level, relevant EU e-(mental) health policies and initiatives, such as the eHealth Network, the EU Green paper on mobile health, the Joint Action on Mental Health and Well-being and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), have been identified. On the national level, several initiatives and projects on e-mental health have been gathered, whereas policy documents addressing e-mental health are quite rare.
While this state of lacking policy documents, quality standards and regulations makes clear that a lot has yet to be achieved within the field of e-mental health, it remains a challenge to formulate a common ground for e-mental health implementation. Hence, each country is currently performing interviews with relevant stakeholder groups, aiming to set the ground for the development of a successful transnational policy solution. The gathered information will build the basis for the recommendations in the transnational policy solution, which will address challenges, differences and similarities on the national and transnational level, and will be actively promoted through meetings, seminars and conferences.
Are you interested in making a change and contributing to the development of the policy solution? Contact the eMEN project leader Oyono Vlijter via o.vlijter@arq.org or connect to the eMEN team on LinkedIn!
Interviews with experts
Over the course of the year we have recorded a handful of podcast interviews whilst at our events across Europe. They consist of discussions with experts working in the field of e-mental health.
The interviews largely examine current projects and accomplishments, for example; Reach out Australia (targeting the online mental health service for young people and their parents), Selfapy (online courses targeting depression, anxiety and eating disorders), The Wimingo Project (a self-guided program examining Shy Bladder Syndrome) and Bluebird Technologies (A smartphone app aimed at the prevention of psychological crisis’).
Other topics of focus include; digital innovations in health and social care (specifically focusing on participation, co-design and co-production), rehabilitation and cognitive remediation along with the mental health reform helping people understand and control the digital world.
The podcasts are available on our website and can be found at soundcloud.com/emen_eu
Join us
The eMEN partners will further develop the eMEN platform during the project phase. To confirm your interest you can join the eMEN platform by filling in the registration form on our website.
2018 will be an exciting year for eMEN because we will show the implement of our pilots with full speed and we will organise a large number of events to promote e-mental health.
Mental health care must be accessible and affordable for the growing number of European citizens which are dealing with mental health problems. We can achieve this with high quality e-mental health.
See you at our events in 2018!
Upcoming FREE transnational events
Each of the 6 countries will host one conference and three seminars: a total of 24 transnational events during the project. The 2017 events will introduce participants to e-mental health and showcase products. Together they will address all aspects of e-mental health to achieve evidence based innovation, quality, access and scale.
Belgium: 23 February ‘Ethics and Beyond CBT’
France (Lille): 30 March ‘New roles for therapists and the empowerment of service users’
Netherlands: April ‘e-mental health curriculum development and training for professionals’
Edinburgh: May ‘Place based approaches to the use of digital technologies for mental health’
Germany: June ‘e-Mental Health Policy in Europe: results from eMEN policy mapping’
Belgium: September ‘Wearables’
Germany: October ‘e-Mental Health Policy in Europe: developing policy recommendations’
Ireland: November
France (Rennes): December ‘Future developments in e-mental health’
London: December ‘Public Mental Health: the role of digital technologies role in preventing mental health problems’
We welcome invitations to contribute to your event. Partner contact information for the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom is available at
http://www.nweurope.eu/emen.
eMEN Winter Newsletter 2017 download
eMEN Autumn Newsletter 2017
Welcome to the autumn edition of the newsletter for the eMEN e-mental health project, funded through the Interreg North West European Innovation Programme. eMEN is a six country e-mental health project with a value of €5.36million (approximately £4.5million), which will run until November 2019. This project is being led by the Netherlands with partners in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the UK who combine technological, clinical, research, and policy expertise. Information and contact details for the partners are available on the project website.
What is e-mental health?
E-mental health is “the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to support and improve mental health, including the use of online resources, social media and smartphone applications”.
eMEN will be showcasing the full range of digital technologies including: apps, virtual reality, wearable devices, online treatment modules and virtual real-time therapy.
eMEN has produced a series of podcasts discussing aspects of e-mental health with leaders in our partner countries.
Product Development Showcase
In our Summer newsletter we provided an update on the product selection phase of eMEN. We have now prepared an online Product Development Showcase of the selected products of which we think have great potential, even greater benefits and low(er) costs if implemented well. That’s where eMEN helps to progress the successful implementation of e-mental health at scale.
eMEN Cooperation Platform
Over the course of the project eMEN partners will build a sustainable cooperation platform to support the development and implementation of e-mental health in our partner countries, across Europe and globally. This will be an important legacy of our work together between the partners and with you. Members of the cooperation platform will include e-developers, service providers, people with experience mental health problems, clinicians, policy makers and researchers. Over the summer we have created a Cooperation Platform section to the eMEN website. More information is available from the eMEN Project Lead Oyono Vlijter o.vlijter@arq.org; and by connecting to us on LinkedIn.
‘Ready or not: The General Data Protection Regulation’ by Arq
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) takes effect from 25 May 2018 after a two-year transition period and is directly binding in all Member States. The UK has indicated that it will accept the GDPR despite Brexit. This means a huge operational change for European organisations to ensure compliance. They can no longer rely on national laws for their current policies and processing activities. The regulation is meant to unify data protection within the European Union and aims to simplify regulation and give control back to individuals over their personal data. It replaces the current Directive that has been in place since 1995.
What you need to know to be ready
Awareness. Decision makers in organisations need to be aware of this change and identify how it will impact on current processes and services.
Rights of those concerned. The GDPR means more rights for those concerned. In addition to existing rights like public access there are new rights emphasising consent and accountability, which influences accessibility of data.
Overview of processing. Organisations need to have an instant overview of their data in order to be able to respond to the changing data environment at any given time.
Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA). This instrument will be mandatory for data processing with an estimated high privacy risk in order to minimize those risks.
Privacy by design and privacy by default. Privacy by design means that the protection of data is taken into account at the start of the design. Privacy by default means technical and organisational steps have to be taken in order to make sure only data, which is fit purpose are processed.
The approach of Dutch Mental health organisation Emergis
A deliberate and proactive GDPR strategy and programme is recommended. Ad Koppejan
from Emergis, a Dutch mental health institution, gave an interesting presentation at the eMEN seminar in Amsterdam this July on their privacy regulation efforts.
An important conclusion of the Emergis approach is that information safety and privacy policy is not a one person job. It involves everybody, from frontline employee to top management. Their GDPR strategy involved:
• training and hiring skilled people,
• creating a working group on information safety,
• setting up a Dataleaks Platform and undertaking digital reporting to the Platform,
• undertaking a baseline risk analysis, and
• writing organisation policy.
This work has been supported by a communication plan that has driven activities including: workshops of managers, e-learning modules, speaking to employees, and creating posters.
Join us
Over the next three years eMEN will engage innovators, decision makers, clinicians and those with experience of using e-interventions personally. It is only through collaboration that
we will be able to realise the potential of technology to support and improve mental health across Europe.
• Follow eMEN on twitter @eMEN_EU
• Check updates and register for this newsletter at http://www.nweurope.eu/emen
• Connect on LinkedIn: for anyone who is interested in eMEN and / or international e-mental health implementation: https://www. linkedin.com/showcase/11104546/ (eMEN_EU)
• Join our LinkedIn Group: exclusively for people who want to join the eMEN platform: https:// www.linkedin.com/groups/13531032 (eMEN_ EU Platform)
• Come along to one of the conferences and seminars that will take place over the next three years.
Upcoming FREE transnational events
Each of the 6 countries will host one conference and three seminars: a total of 24 transnational events during the project. The 2017 events will introduce participants to e-mental health and showcase products. Together they will address all aspects of e-mental health to achieve evidence based innovation, quality, access and scale.
Dublin ‘Technology for Wellbeing’ #T4WB17
When: 16 November, 9.00 – 17.00
Where: The Hilton, Charlemont Place, Dublin 2
What: Highlights are keynotes by Clare Dillon from Microsoft Ireland, Dr Derek Richards from SilverCloud Health and Liza Davies from ReachOut Australia. Minister of State for Mental Health, Jim Daly, will open the conference. The event is organised in collaboration with ReachOut Ireland.
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/ technology-for-wellbeing-2017-t4wb17tickets-35430892754
In 2018, we are looking forward to a busy year of transnational events that will continue to develop e-mental health within Europe. Here is the current schedule.
Belgium: 23 February ‘Ethics and Beyond CBT’
France (Lille): 30 March ‘New roles for therapists and the empowerment of service users’
Netherlands: April ‘e-mental health curriculum development and training for professionals’
Edinburgh: May ‘Place based approaches to the use of digital technologies for mental health’
Germany: June ‘e-Mental Health Policy in Europe: results from eMEN policy mapping’
Belgium: September ‘Wearables’
Germany: October ‘e-Mental Health Policy in Europe: developing policy recommendations’
Ireland: November
France (Rennes): December ‘Future developments in e-mental health’
London: December ‘Public Mental Health: the role of digital technologies role in preventing mental health problems’
We welcome invitations to contribute to your event. Partner contact information for the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom is available at
http://www.nweurope.eu/emen.
eMEN Autumn Newsletter 2017 download
eMEN Summer Newsletter 2017
Welcome to the summer edition of the newsletter for the eMEN e-mental health project, funded through the Interreg North West European Innovation Programme.
eMEN is a six country e-mental health project with a value of €5.36million (approximately £4.5million), which will run until November 2019. This project is being led by the Netherlands with partners in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the UK who combine technological, clinical, research, and policy expertise. Information and contact details for the partners are available on the project website.
What is e-mental health?
E-mental health is “the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to support and improve mental health, including the use of online resources, social media and smartphone applications”. eMEN will be showcasing the full range of digital technologies including: apps, virtual reality, wearable devices, online treatment modules and virtual real-time therapy.
e-Mental Health in France
Compared to other North Western European countries, France appears to be a latecomer in terms of development and implementation of e-mental health. The willingness among mental health professionals to use e-mental health products and services is currently quite low. An online survey2 showed that only 21% of users reported a past or present consultation with a mental health professional during which they were signposted to a website; and 12% of the same users were advised about an app. With regards to national policy activity, the French Government presented its first national e-health strategy in summer 2016. E-mental health is not featured as a distinct area of work in this document and, more generally, policy makers and legislators have not yet addressed the issue in a coordinated way.
That being said, France has good potential for future uptake of e-mental health. The above-mentioned online survey showed that low penetration rate of smartphone and bad knowledge of IT are no longer a reality; and, therefore, do not represent an obstacle to m-Health development. Moreover, the survey results show that patients seem to trust physicians in the field of digital health. The development of e-mental health is being facilitated by several projects including eMEN.
The first seminar organized by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health of Lille, French partner in the eMEN project, will aim at showing what currently exists in France in terms of noteworthy e-health products and services. It will provide an opportunity for deeper reflection on the potential uses of e-mental health, and the related challenges and ethical issues, as well as on the possible development of the policy framework.
We are delighted to have an opening contribution by the French Ministry of Health and Social Affairs on the national e-health strategy 2020. The seminar will hear from a sociologist of mental health who will analyze the notion of e-mental health (often perceived as “nebulous” in France), and explain how e-mental health can be used in self-help, mental health treatment, research and education of mental health professionals. Another key-note will focus on the risks and ethical dilemmas that may arise from the use of e-mental health apps and services. The seminar will address key considerations of regulations and privacy concerns.
A number of French innovations will be presented:
• a web-based and mobile suicide prevention intervention in the general population conceived by the French National Institute for Medical Research;
• the Parisian hospital of Sainte-Anne’s use of new technologies for cognitive remediation;
• the use of telemedicine in geriatric psychiatry in Rennes (Brittany); and
• the use of web tools for mental health education and destigmatization.
Inspiring international innovation will be highlighted practices from other North Western European countries: a gamification example from Ireland (Pesky gNATS), a British app for the selfmanagement of anxiety (SAM App), and an ICT tool to screen PTSD from the Netherlands (SAM).
The seminar will take place in Paris on 13 June 2017. The detailed programme and information on the registration procedure are available here. Future eMEN events in France will be: “E-Mental Health: empowerment of users and a new role for the therapist” March 2018 - Lille; “Which future projects for e-mental health?” December 2018, Rennes; “How can e-mental health solutions participate in improving mental health services?” September 2019, Paris.
An Update on Product Selection
An important eMEN project deliverable is the development and testing of at least 5 e-mental health products, for depression, anxiety and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Through this activity eMEN will demonstrate how implementation can be done successfully. We will build on existing products because this project is about practical implementation of innovative technology. eMEN recognises that there are already many e-mental health products on the market but these have not led to their widespread uptake.
In first phase of the project (2016) a product selection checklist was developed to select the best products for further development and testing within the eMEN project. This unique checklist takes into account the different multidisciplinary implementation challenges such as: the required skills of professionals and end users, technical scalability, safety, privacy and impact. With regards to impact, eMEN partners have considered how the product would improve the situation of the professional and end user, the product’s fit within mental health systems, accessibility and affordability. This checklist underlines the fact that implementation is the biggest challenge for e-mental health, not the technology itself.
After an extensive mapping process in the partners countries a final selection of a maximum of products was made in February this year. These products were selected from an initial larger list of 18 products from different partner countries eMEN has to to deliver a minimum of 5 products by the end of the project period.
The product development and improvement process has started, and test sites are being identified. For each product we have to find a site and define how we are going to test and with whom. A number of products have been evaluated already in previous trails. At the moment, the eMEN partners are in contact with developers and potential pilots sites in Ireland, the UK, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. At the end of 2017 the eMEN partners will start with the implementation of the pilots.
The eMEN test pilots are innovative because they focus on practical implementation and are based on an integrated approach. This integrated approach does not only focuses on product quality and interoperability with other platforms, but also on strategic cooperation with SMEs/developers (e.g. gaming industry), cost effective methods for assessing clinical effectiveness, improving acceptance by professionals, reimbursement systems and staff training / e-mental health curriculum development.
Please join our eMEN platform LinkedIn Group (details below) to share your knowledge about e-mental health implementation.
We are still looking for innovative, wellthought-out e-mental health programs that supplement and improve the treatment of mental illness for presentation at the startup slam.
Please send a brief description of your e-mental health product (e.g. Apps, online psychotherapy programs, etc.) and a link to the product and the company website to Julia Sander (j.sander@dgppn.de)
Join us
Over the next three years eMEN will engage innovators, decision makers, clinicians and those with experience of using e-interventions personally. It is only through collaboration that we will be able to realise the potential of technology to support and improve mental health across Europe.
• Follow eMEN on twitter @eMEN_EU
• Check updates and register for this newsletter at http://www.nweurope.eu/emen
• Connect on LinkedIn: for anyone who is interested in eMEN and / or international e-mental health implementation: https://www. linkedin.com/showcase/11104546/ (eMEN_EU)
• Join our LinkedIn Group: exclusively for people who want to join the eMEN platform: https:// www.linkedin.com/groups/13531032 (eMEN_ EU Platform)
• Come along to one of the conferences and seminars that will take place over the next three years.
Upcoming transnational events
Each of the 6 countries will host one conference and three seminars: a total of 24 transnational events. The 2017 events will introduce participants to e-mental health and showcase products. Together they will address all aspects of e-mental health to achieve evidence based innovation, quality, access and scale.
Paris: 13 June 2017
‘State of the art in e-mental health in France and Europe’
FIAP Jean Monnet - 30 Rue Cabanis, 75014 Paris
To Register: go to the eMEN website ‘Events’.
Amsterdam: 11 July 2017
‘e-mental health implementation: technical, quality and privacy issues’
Hilton Hotel Amsterdam, Apollolaan 138, 1077 BG
To Register: http://academy.arq.org/eMen
Berlin: 12 October 2017
‘Getting in touch with digital interventions for mental health: practical insights for health professionals’
Dublin: 16 November 2017
Further information on eMEN website and twitter.
We welcome invitations to contribute to your event. Partner contact information for the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom is available at http:// www.nweurope.eu/emen.
eMEN Summer Newsletter 2017
eMEN Spring Newsletter 2017
Welcome
Welcome to the first edition of the newsletter for the eMEN e-mental health project, funded through the Interreg North West European Innovation Programme.
eMEN is a six country e-mental health project with a value of €5.36million (approximately £4.5million), which will run until November 2019. This project is being led by Arq in the Netherlands with partners in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the UK who combine technological, clinical, research, and policy expertise. Information and contact details for the partners are available on the project website: nweurope.eu/emen.
The project will focus on developing an evaluation tool for e-mental health interventions, and use this to test options. The partners will then shape a tailored policy agenda to embed e-mental health in each partner country and convene expert working groups, seminars and conferences on key aspects of e-mental health.
eMEN will undertake a unique combination of activities across research, product development, policy and communications, and create a legacy transnational e-mental health platform. Our ambition is to improve the quality, accessibility and use of e-mental health so that it is a resource for mental health care, peer support and selfmanagement. We believe that digital technology can make a significant contribution in enhancing public understanding of mental health as well as all stages of mental health support: screening, assessment, early intervention, treatment and recovery.
eMEN held its launch conference in Mechelen, Belgium in February 2017 - for more details of the event, please go to our website.
What is e-mental health?
E-mental health is “the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to support and improve mental health, including the use of online resources, social media and smartphone applications”.
There is a growing evidence-base and overall awareness of the scale of mental health challenges across Europe. In response, there is broad recognition that not only do services need to be adequately available to meet growing demand, but countries need to look upstream towards prevention measures and approaches that empower people to self-manage their mental health and support their peers.
High quality and innovative technologies can support this prevention agenda as well as substantially contributing to making sure the right support is available, accessible, appropriate and affordable for all. The ambitions of eMEN are to increase the uptake and quality of e-mental health at the same time as reducing unmet mental health needs across Europe. eMEN will be showcasing the full range of technologies including: apps, virtual reality, wearable devices, online treatment modules and virtual real-time therapy.
The project will support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across North-Western Europe, who are global leaders in the field of e-mental health development, to unlock the massive market potential of e-mental health and support the growing evidence base that demonstrates the merits of early intervention and peer support.
What will eMEN deliver?
The project will coordinate 24 transnational events that will provide learning and engagement opportunities for stakeholders across Europe, including:
• 6-9 high quality e-mental health products, further developed and tested as good practice for prevention, treatment and/or aftercare for depression, anxiety and PTSD / psycho trauma.
• At least 1 new cost effective short duration research method for testing e-interventions.
• 15 SMEs receiving dedicated support and engagement with e-mental health developers across the 6 countries.
• 1 transnational cooperation platform for e-mental health knowledge, innovation, development, testing, implementation and exchange of implementation expertise.
What are the benefits of getting involved in eMEN?
The average use of e-mental health within the partner countries is 8% (the lowest being France at 1% and the highest the Netherlands at 15%). The aim is to increase the average use across member countries to 15% by the end of the project, by at least 25% five years after the project finishes, and by 60% 10 years after the project finishes. In addition to this, the project will look to:
• Improve access to international e-mental health innovation, testing and implementation.
• Enhance knowledge and practical guidance about the implementation of e-mental health services.
• Enterprise opportunities for SMEs and e-developers.
• Create a knowledge exchange and network development with e-mental health leaders.
• Identify opportunities to develop the capability of health and social care workforces.
• Develop a more effective and large scale takeup of e-mental health therapy.
• Shape and promote a sustainable e-mental health policy agenda for governments.
Join us
Over the next three years eMEN will engage innovators, decision makers, clinicians and those with experience of using e-interventions personally. It is only through collaboration that we will be able to realise the potential of technology to support and improve mental health across Europe.
• Follow eMEN on twitter @eMEN_EU
• Check updates and register for this newsletter at http://www.nweurope.eu/emen
• Come along to one of the 24 conferences and seminars that will take place over the next three years.
Upcoming transnational events
Each of the 6 countries will host one conference and three seminars: a total of 24 transnational events. The 2017 events will introduce participants to e-mental health and showcase products. Together they will address all aspects of e-mental health to achieve evidence based innovation, quality, access and scale.
Belfast: 28 April 2017
‘Achieving mental health for all: how do we ensure equitable access to e-mental health?’ Register here
Paris: 13 June 2017
‘State of the art in e-mental health in France and Europe’
Amsterdam: 11 July 2017
“e-mental health implementation: technical, quality and privacy issues”
Berlin: 12 October 2017
“Getting in touch with digital interventions for mental health: practical insights for health professionals”
We welcome invitations to contribute to your event. Partner contact information for the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom is available at http:// www.nweurope.eu/emen.
eMEN Spring Newsletter 2017 download
