This is an interview with Dr Erik Kuhn, co-chair of the Stanford Mental Health Technology and Innovation Hub, clinical psychologist and intervention developer at the US Department of Veterans Affairs National Centre for PTSD.  Eric and his team have created a suite of mental health apps, including PTSD Coach.

Our conversation centres on PTSD Coach and includes a range of related topics including uptake of digital interventions, the strong evidence base for this sort of self-help tool, and how it relates to use of other interventions and access to formal treatment.

We also discuss some of the ongoing issues around Covid-19 and Eric mentions a related 'secret' project...

COVID Coach has since been granted White House approval and is now available on the app store here (available on Android soon)

Caveat: This interview was initially intended just for students on a HELP University undergraduate psychology course (PSY347: The Science of Mental Health and Wellbeing), but we thought it might be of wider interest.   We hope this contextualises the focus (and assumption of familiarity with the target study, which can be found here) and excuses the production quality.

You can learn more about Eric's work here: https://www.ptsd.va.gov/about/divisions/dissemination/kuhn_e.asp

And find links to the suite of (free) VA MH Apps here:https://www.ptsd.va.gov/appvid/mobile/index.asp

Weblink for Stanford Mental Health Technology and Innovation Hub is here https://www.stanfordmhtech.com/about

The music on this podcast comes from a mental health awareness track by one of our HELP University first year students and can be heard in full here.  Thanks Eugene.