Introduction
As a mentor, you might be working with a youth who’s facing difficulties and challenges such as depression, anxiety, trauma-related stress, behavioral problems at school, or other issues. Such issues are common MentorPRO recommends mental health, wellness, and other apps that can help. The problem is that, without an accountability partner, we all struggle to remain involved. That’s where you can help.
What is Supportive Accountability?
In this course we’ll focus on working with mentees who are engaged with widely available behavioral and mental health applications (or apps) delivered via mobile device or computer. These kinds of app-delivered interventions are increasingly being used to help youth manage their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Many of these apps have been found to be effective for reducing mental health symptoms, especially if used regularly and combined with practice.
However, engaging youth in mental health services has always been a challenge, and app-delivered interventions are no exception. One promising solution is pairing the youth with a coach who can provide supportive accountability.
Supportive accountability is a model where a mentee independently works their way through one of the widely-available behavioral or mental health applications, and their coach or mentor helps them get the most out of the application by checking in on progress. As the name suggests, the mentor provides support for the mentee if a question or problem comes up with using the application, and holds the mentee accountable for completing the program. You’ll be that person to make sure the mentee is using the application correctly and getting the most out of it.
Research has shown that supportive accountability coaches can significantly improve youth long-term gains from the apps. This is a key role you can play for your mentee, even without formal background in treating mental health.
Why is Supportive Accountability Important?
Supportive accountability addresses common difficulties or “failure points” that are often encountered in app-based interventions. When young people are provided with supportive accountability and opportunities to practice, app-delivered interventions can produce outcomes that rival those of face-to-face interventions, often at no cost and in ways that are often more geographically, financially, and socially acceptable (Linardon, 2019; Mohr, 2018). The main idea is to combine encouragement and empathy with clear expectations and active follow-up on progress through the app.
We believe all mentors can be successful supportive accountability coaches! In this training, we hope to provide you with tools and best practices so you can effectively support youth who are engaged in an app-delivered mental health intervention for anxiety, depression, or other mental health challenges.
1 Mohr, D., Cuijpers, P., & Lehman, K. (2011). Supportive accountability: a model for providing human support to enhance adherence to eHealth interventions. Journal of medical Internet research, 13(1), e30.
