What is the role of peers and people with lived experience of serious mental illness around digital mental health tools?

Peers and people with lived experience of serious mental illness have a driving role in the development of the new digital mental health space. Already today people with lived experiences have created apps, led mental health technology companies, offer peer support via telemental health, and much more. As the field expands, so will the roles and needs. A 2019 article by leaders in the peer support community noted three principles for roles that this community should expand to fill:

1. People with lived experience of recovery should participate as equal partners—not just in usability studies.
2. A framework that allows service users to assess the effectiveness of digital mental health interventions is needed.
3. People with lived experience of recovery should be represented on expert groups that set digital mental health standards

REFERENCE

Fortuna KL, Walker R, Fisher DB, Mois G, Allan S, Deegan PE. Enhancing Standards and Principles in Digital Mental Health With Recovery-Focused Guidelines for Mobile, Online, and Remote Monitoring Technologies. Psychiatric Services, 7(12):1080-1081., December 2019.