The new technology will help people who may be frustrated during the waiting period for human help

Someone accessing Wysa on their phone — credit Whittington Health

A Haringey mental health service has launched new digital platform for people with depression and anxiety – with help from artificial intelligence (AI).

Haringey Talking Therapies, part of Whittington Health NHS Trust, has introduced Wysa, an AI-driven mental health platform, to help “streamline the self-referral process and provide immediate support for individuals experiencing depression and anxiety while they wait for their first appointment”.

Now live on the Whittington Health website, Wysa first appears to website visitors as a “friendly chat bot”, helping them to self-refer to the Haringey Talking Therapies service.

Once referred, users are then encouraged to download the free Wysa app, which offers interactive, AI-guided mental health support on their preferred device while they await their first appointment with the Haringey Talking Therapies team.

Unlike generic AI apps like ChatGPT, Wysa is said to be “purpose-built to not just engage with users but to offer structured practical guidance and advice to help users manage mental health symptoms”.

Haringey Talking Therapies Service is a free NHS, psychological therapy service offering support for a range of common mental health difficulties such as depression and anxiety, OCD, PTSD and more.

While the team has emphasised that Wysa is not a replacement for human therapists, it “helps to fill a crucial gap in the service by providing users with practical tools and coping strategies during the often-challenging waiting period when they would otherwise have limited support”.

The app also includes built-in crisis detection, directing at-risk individuals to crisis services and following up to encourage them to seek help.

Since 2022, Wysa has been rolled out across 31 NHS talking therapy services and has facilitated over 117,000 self-referrals. The app has supported over 36,000 people while they wait for an appointment, or between their appointments.

Dr Evi Aresti, Whittington Health consultant counselling psychologist, said: “By guiding individuals through the self-referral process, we are hoping that Wysa will reduce administrative resource on clinicians, and save valuable clinical time during initial assessments. This will hopefully allow us to focus more time on direct patient care.”

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