Beyond Therapy: The Role of Digital Resources in Mental Health Support

Rates of depression and anxiety are rising. Research shows that nearly 25% of adults in the U.S. experience a mental health condition at any given time. However, only about one in five of them receive care. This leaves millions of people struggling with their mental health without the support they need. Barriers like long wait times, provider shortages—especially in rural areas—and the stigma surrounding mental health care make it difficult for many to access mental health support.

Digital mental health platforms, such as apps and websites, offer a promising solution to this problem by delivering care on a larger scale. These platforms are similar to using a fitness or meditation app to learn skills and track progress, but for mental health. They offer various levels of support, from one-on-one teletherapy and telecoaching to self-guided resources. Self-guided resources are tools that users can engage with on their own, such as meditations, podcasts, and educational lessons, which complement traditional therapy sessions. Self-guided resources play a critical role in mental health care by offering preventive support, reinforcing skills between sessions, and helping people maintain progress over time. Research has shown that these tools can be highly effective—but many people don’t use them as much as they could. Understanding what drives engagement with these resources is essential to maximizing their impact.

As demand for mental health services continues to outpace provider availability, digital platforms that combine self-guided tools with live, provider-led care will become even more essential.

With this in mind, our recent study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research analyzed engagement patterns with a mental health app. The app, Modern Health, is a platform offered to employees as a part of their benefits package from their employer. The app offers a needs-based approach, meaning users are recommended mental health care at different levels based on their needs and preferences. It includes evidence-based self-guided resources, as well as coaching and therapy via Zoom.

We analyzed data from 950 employees with access to Modern Health to understand what drives engagement. We found that just over half of users engaged with any of the platform’s services. Those with higher education levels tended to engage more, especially with the app’s self-guided resources. Perhaps most importantly, we saw that users who participated in coaching or therapy sessions engaged more often with self-guided resources—about 80% more engagement than those who didn’t use live support. Users with higher levels of depression or anxiety had even more self-guided resource use.

These findings suggest that mental health providers play an essential role in encouraging engagement with self-guided resources. Therapists and coaches may be recommending these tools to their clients as a way to supplement care, reinforce skills learned in sessions, or provide support between appointments. Homework assignments between sessions are key components of evidence-based therapies like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Self-guided resources may be an innovative and engaging evolution of these assignments. Engagement is critical in achieving mental health benefits. Therefore, all mental health providers—whether they practice in digital or traditional settings—should be familiar with high-quality self-guided resources and appropriately recommend them to their clients.

As demand for mental health services continues to outpace provider availability, digital platforms that combine self-guided tools with live, provider-led care will become even more essential. Our findings highlight the value of a multi-modal approach: offering a range of evidence-based interventions and using technology with human support to increase engagement. By understanding and optimizing how people interact with these platforms, access to effective, personalized mental health care at a large scale is increased. This can help address the increasing mental health needs in the U.S.