People first, technology second

I’ve had the recent privilege of attending the eMental Health International Collaborative (eMHIC) Congress in Toronto, Canada for the second year in a row alongside some fellow Kiwis. Our very own Professor Anil Thapliyal is the Executive Director of eMHIC and is the glue holding global leaders, organisations, and governments together as we digitally tackle the mental health crisis. This year I presented about the opportunities digital solutions could offer and the importance of communicating to the public about digital tools.

The Congress is deliberately interactive, collaborative and problem solving. Essentially, all the best from around the world turn up to share, listen and most importantly - learn from one another! There is no patch protection, intellectual property rules or ‘our idea is the best and the only’ mindset. Instead, the attendees collectively acknowledge the elephant in the room, how we can utilise it in the most impactful and least harmful way, and all agree that none of us can be the elephant trainer in silo. 

 And the elephant of course, is AI. 

 According to a recent KPMG study, New Zealander’s are more skeptical of AI than many other nations. We are not alone in our skepticism, though. 

As was divulged at the Congress, many other countries are grappling with, ‘what should we do?’ ‘How should we regulate it?’ ‘Where should ‘it’ begin and end?’

 What does this look like in practice? We know we need the technical expertise to develop and deploy technologies – but those same technologies will be irrelevant, and maybe even completely useless if they are not co-designed with the lived experience community. You could compare it to an architect designing an incredibly exquisite and elaborate property that is impossible for any builder to build. 

• Globally, between 2011 and 2021 the prevalence of mental health conditions increased faster than the rate of the population.
• 1.2 million people show suicidal indicators in ChatGPT, every week. 
• Of all the hundreds of thousands of health apps on the app store, only 20% are safe.
• Making phone calls is the 11th most common activity people do on their cell phones

We can however lead with the ‘people first, technology second’ guiding principal shared across the world.  To do this effectively, we need to engage people in the process of building technology, start to finish, no matter their age or ability. 

 As a sector, we must be cognisant of where the people are, what they want and how they want it. Sometimes, that may be the opposite of what we are used to… but isn’t that the whole point of changing a failed mental health system?

 One of my favourite presentations was from a young woman who spoke about engaging young people without tokenising them. She put it so simply that it created laughter and lightness in the room. Suddenly, we all breathed a sigh of relief as we were reminded that we really should just make it simple, stupid!

 She shared the most straightforward examples of how to do it well, like ask them questions, give them updates about how their contributions are being used, pay them, actually use their advice and don’t just ask for it! She simplified the whole process and made it seem so logical and achievable. For example, she said don’t engage with a bunch of young people with ADHD by bringing them in for a 3-hour long conference-style workshop and not give them an adequate break.

 She said too often lived experience engagement can look like a box ticking exercise, rather than deliberate and thoughtful way to gather useful intel, the secret sauce information. 

 In 2022, ORCHA shared their research into consumer trends and found:

• 83 percent of people surveyed who have used a health app found it actively helped improve their health and wellbeing.
• 55 percent had an app recommended by a health professional.
• Those aged 18 to 44 would choose digital health to support a mental health condition over and above prescription medication, like an antidepressant. 

These statistics should give us confidence that technology can be used in a positive way. But, with more people turning to unregulated, and in many cases unsafe AI powered tools, we are all in the room with the elephant and should take that with shared responsibility.

We can’t shy away from what is reality. Instead, we could do more to understand it together and remember you’re not doing it alone. eMHIC is growing and you can follow along to stay up to date with global experts!

Before deciding it’s too overwhelming or too difficult to harness or even develop digital solutions, remember to keep it simple, stupid.

 Put people first by talking to them, understand in detail what they want and need, value their input, rinse and repeat! Put the technology second by building or amending it for those needs.

Technology is there to serve people, not the other way around.