Africa innovates Magazine -AI4DEV - Flipbook - Page 62
AFRICA INNOVATES
O N KG O P OT S E N A N I K E K H U M A LO ( S o u t h A f r i c a )
MINDING MENTAL HE
T H E P O C K E T C O U C H C OV I D - 1 9 M E N TA L H E A LT H C A R E FO R U M
An online platform responding to the mental challenges that Covid-19 is presenting.
PocketCounch enables psychologists to conduct virtual consultations,
to help make mental healthcare accessible, yet affordable.
W H AT H A S B E E N T H E
I M PA C T S O FA R ?
Since we launched our COVID19 mental
health support forum, around 40 mental
health practitioners have registered for
verification on our platform, and we have
seen a 106% increase in user visits to the
forum. From the engagements on social
media, we can see that there is a definite
need for a platform like this during this
difficult time.
W H AT I N S P I R E D YO U
TO C R E AT E P O C K E T
COUCH?
The Pocket Couch was born out of my
own personal experience with burnout,
anxiety and depression. Having experienced it myself and sadly, lost some
friends to suicide along the way, I had
an undeniable urge to figure out how to
solve what was clearly a global phenomenon. - or at least, be a part of the solution.
With the advent of the COVID19
pandemic, our collective mental health
is increasingly at risk. I felt it necessary
to launch a free community-based
forum where users can sign up and get
help from verified mental healthcare
practitioners. It is a shared space where
anyone can seek mental health help. And
should they choose to do so, users can
also anonymously share their experiences
amongst themselves.
62 SHOWCASING AFRICAN INNOVATION
W H AT A R E T H E
C H A L L E N G E S YO U
H AV E FA C E D S O FA R
IN IMPLEMENTING
D E P LOY I N G YO U R
S E RV I C E A N D W H AT
H E L P W O U L D YO U
N E E D TO S C A L E U P
A N D I M P R OV E YO U R
OFFERING?
Legislative restrictions. Up until the
COVID19 pandemic struck, the Health
Professionals Council of South Africa
(HPCSA) historically did not have clear
guidelines around telemedicine in
general,. As such it proved difficult to
operate from a position of sound and
clear principles. COVID19 however has
prompted South African health care
regulators, medical funders and the like,
to be more adaptable to online therapy
given the limitations on movement across
the country. We are hoping that this will
be the start of a new normal for online
therapy services across the country and
other related health tech businesses.
We also face the challenge of access
to capital and we are looking for means
to expand our team to include a diverse
set of skill sets but particularly across the
software engineering and psychology
space.
TELL US ABOUT
YO U R S E L F A N D YO U R
H O P E S FO R T H E
F U T U R E O F YO U R
I N N OVAT I O N ?
I am passionate about social justice and
leveraging technology and innovation
to advance related causes. Of particular
importance to me is democratizing access
to mental health care especially across
the African continent.
Ultimately we envision creating an
entire ecosystem of mental health care
resources, from therapy through to access
to psychiatrists.
We would also like to make therapy
accessible in as many South African
languages as possible. We would also like
to partner with mobile and internet providers to zero-rate, some of our platform’s
core features, to limit data costs which
may be excluding vulnerable people from
accessing our service.
