PsiAN -- Pushing Back on "Therapy" Apps
  • Thank you for joining PsiAN and thousands of mental health advocates across the globe in pushing back against "therapy" apps that corporatize and oversimplify serious mental health concerns. 
  • Please use the email template (below) to write to businesses that accept advertising from "therapy" apps such as BetterHelp, Talkspace, Woebot, etc. Our goal is to have businesses reconsider this advertising.
  • It is important for us to know who you've written to in order to better target our advocacy, so please fill out our brief survey at the end. We won't share your name with anyone and it helps us understand how successful our outreach efforts have been.
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INSTRUCTIONS:

Feel free to copy and paste - and also customize - the sample email template below.  
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SAMPLE EMAIL TEMPLATE:

Please introduce yourself in any way you see fit (e.g. "I am a psychotherapist with 5 years of experience from Chicago, IL"). 

I am a dedicated [listener / reader] of your [podcast, show, magazine, newspaper] and I was troubled by ads for [BetterHelp, Talkspace, therapy app, website, etc.].

Psychotherapy advocacy groups, e.g., PsiAN -- Psychotherapy Action Network, warn of a number of drawbacks to app-based, corporatized mental health care:

• Privacy concerns — some apps share, and even sell, users' personal data
• Poor working conditions and pay for the participating therapists
• Simplistic focus on concrete symptoms only, not underlying causes or fundamental issues
• False promises of “quick and easy” therapy

This advertising is especially problematic right now, given that emotional stress and suicide are on the rise. People need reliable info and quality mental healthcare more than ever. In contrast, many mental health apps are funded by venture capitalists, attempting to “Uber-ize” a professional clinical treatment. This kind of healthcare “disruption" can turn an individualized, caring, therapeutic relationship into a commodity — a clinical assembly-line. 

For detailed concerns about such advertising, see PsiAN's position paper on therapy apps/technology.

Please rethink your endorsement of this industry.  Thank you for your consideration.

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WHERE TO SEND YOUR EMAILS:
Here are some quick links to companies where we have seen "therapy" apps advertising:

National Public Radio / National Public Media: https://www.nationalpublicmedia.com/contact/
Find your local NPR Station: https://www.npr.org/stations/
Devon Landis at National Public Media: dlandis@nationalpublicmedia.com
(Devon is in charge of corporate sponsorships at NPR.)

The New York Times: adinquiries@nytimes.com
The New Yorker: thenewyorkerinfo@condenast.com
Forbes: readers@forbes.com


Optional  -- Tracking our advocacy
Please help us track the good work you've done! Let us know which companies you contacted -- this will help us see the impact we're having. 

We won't share this info -- it's just to help us understand what efforts have been made, and how we can be more successful.
To which company/advertiser did you send your letter? (select all that apply)
Are you a subscriber, contributing member or donor to the above organization?
Clear selection
If you are a subscriber or contributing member, at what level/tier?
Did you send your letter to any other organizations? (please list below)
Where else have you seen these apps advertised?
THANK YOU! You've just made advocacy happen in support of therapies that create lasting change!

Please feel free to reach out to us with comments, questions or suggestions. Our email is hello@psian.org
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