HelloBetter

Not just since the corona pandemic and the significantly increasing demand for the treatment of mental illnesses HelloBetter immediate help: The company was founded in 2015 under the name GET.ON Institut für Online Gesundheitstrainings GmbH (geton-institut.de) by internationally recognized experts and, with its numerous evidence-based psychological online courses, applies to the prevention and treatment of mental illnesses. This offers a quick and effective alternative to the existing supply bottleneck in face-to-face therapy.

Fit in stress

HelloBetter offers helpful solutions not only for acute treatment needs such as sleep problems, chronic pain or depression, but also preventive: “Fit in stress” and “Depression prevention” are the names of the online courses offered here. In it, users are taught strategies and knowledge over a period of six to eight weeks that will educate them in the long term and increase resilience and mindfulness. All course content is taught exclusively by trained psychologists and psychotherapists. There are currently eleven online courses, the costs of which are already partially or fully covered by some health insurance companies. BARMER policyholders already receive the full cost coverage for the “Fit in Stress”, Sleep, “Prevent Depression” and “Depression Treatment Programs”.

The contents of all online courses from HelloBetter are based on many years of intensive research. The close interlinking of scientific work and didactic preparation by an interdisciplinary team has positioned HelloBetter as an innovation leader in the field of e‑mental health for years. In over 30 randomized controlled studies, all HelloBetter offers have been checked for their effectiveness or are about to be published. The results show: The online courses from the mental health provider can be just as effective as classic face-to-face therapy.

Digital mental health pioneers

Started in 2011 as an EU research project under the name GET.ON (online health training), Prof. Dr. David Daniel Ebert, Dr. Hanne Horvath and Dr. Elena Heberexamines the question of how digital solutions can help people alleviate mental illness. Since the beginning of the project there have been above-average positive results and thus the clear motivation to continue. A company was developed from the university project that enables people around the world to deal with their mental health in a self-determined manner.

This vision has remained to this day and is being pushed forward by the currently 70-strong team with offices in Hamburg and Berlin.

HelloFuture

In order to make the HelloBetter offer accessible to even more people as easily as possible, some of the provider’s courses are already in the process of being included in the DiGA directory so that doctors and therapists will soon be able to issue them by prescription.

At the very beginning of the pandemic, it was clear to the experts at HelloBetter that, in addition to the acute threat from Corona, an epidemic in the area of mental illnesses such as stress, anxiety disorders or depression could also be expected. That is why the company has developed a comprehensive digital initiative with various low-threshold offers: “Strong through the crisis” was launched together with Allianz. Anyone can use the free offer consisting of a hotline, an online community moderated by psychologists, and a media library that provides information on strategies for dealing with psychological complaints — in German and English.

The demand from companies has also risen sharply: They have recognized the importance of helping their teams to strengthen their mental health and are now investing more in the topic of occupational health management. Over 100 corporate customers, including several DAX companies, but also medium-sized companies such as Visit Berlin, Rebuy and hidden champions such as Schaeffler, offer courses from HelloBetter to their 1.5 million employees. Overall, the costs for the company’s solutions are now being covered by a cost unit for over 15 million people in Germany, so that they receive free support.