Mental health app Flow joins ORCHA App Library. Inclusion now enables NHS trusts and healthcare professionals to recommend Flow app to patients with depression

Last month, we wrote about Flow Neuroscience after the Sweden-based medical device startup shared a study that COVID-19 could reshape mental health treatment. Flow was founded by clinical psychologist Daniel Mansson and neuroscientist Erik Rehn, and consists of prominent researchers in the field of psychiatry, clinical psychology, brain stimulation, neuroscience and machine learning.

Founded in 2016, Flow has also developed the first, and only, medically approved home brain stimulation treatment for depression. The headset and accompanying therapy app empowers and motivates individuals to take control, self-manage and reduce the risk of depression with effective, non-pharmacological, digital alternatives.

Today, Flow announces that its mental health app Flow has now joined the ORCHA App Library. ORCHA is the world’s leading health app evaluation and distribution organisation. It helps governments, and health and social care organisations, to choose and deliver health apps that will safely make the biggest impact in terms of improving outcomes.

As we endure this coronavirus pandemic, the addition of mental health app Flow to the ORCHA App Library means that NHS trusts and healthcare professionals, for the first time, be able to directly recommend the mental health app Flow to patients, as it has become the highest scoring free depression treatment app in the ORCHA App Library, the world’s leading health app evaluation organisation, which supports the national NHS Digital program.

Mental health startup Flow has become the highest scoring free depression treatment app in the ORCHA App Library. The inclusion means that many NHS trusts and healthcare professionals, who have their own bespoke App Library using the ORCHA platform, can now include Flow in their library and directly recommend it to their patients to reduce symptoms of depression – particularly during the current coronavirus pandemic.

Downloaded 10,000+ times, Flow uses evidence-based psychology and neuroscience research to help patients understand, treat and prevent depression. The app uses evidence-based psychology and neuroscience research to help patients understand, treat and prevent depression.

Flow achieved a 72% rating at ORCHA, the world’s leading health app evaluation and distribution organisation, which supports the national NHS Digital program. The ORCHA Review of Flow can be viewed here (for iOS), and here (for Android).

Liz Ashall-Payne, Founding CEO, ORCHA, said: “Trust is the biggest barrier when it comes to health app use and uptake, so reviewing and knowing which are the best is critical. NHS organisations in 50% of NHS regions offer libraries on the ORCHA platform. Their health and care professionals can now refer patients directly to Flow. All apps listed, including Flow, have been evaluated across more than 260 parameters, including Clinical Assurance, Data Privacy and User Experience.”

Co-founder and CEO Daniel Mansson says that he started Flow together with his co-founder Erik Rehn because of the mental health crisis. “As a clinical psychologist, I saw how mental health services were overwhelmed by soaring demand, which left patients facing long delays to access care. Psychologists cannot serve everyone, but apps can, so we decided to create one that complements the standard care model for depression and offers healthcare professionals a scalable treatment that is effective, certified and free.”

After downloading Flow, patients are guided by a virtual therapist who offers personalized behavioral therapy, mood tracking and curated videos across areas proven to reduce symptoms of depression, including nutrition, exercise and sleep. During the current coronavirus pandemic, healthcare professionals can use Flow to give patients a good understanding of what they can do to improve their mental health. The Flow app is free on iOS and Android, and has been downloaded over 10,000 times.

The Flow app works alongside the Flow headset, a drug-free, at-home brain stimulation headset treatment for depression – the first, and only, of its type to be medically approved in the EU and UK. The type of brain stimulation used in the Flow headset has been shown in various clinical studies, including New England Journal of Medicine and the British Journal of Psychiatry, to have a similar impact to antidepressants, but with fewer and less-severe side effects.