Off the couch and out of the hospital, mobile applications for acceptance and commitment therapy

Abstract

This paper describes the research and concept development process involved in designing a mobile app for depressed youth learning to practice mindfulness based psychotherapy entitled Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) program at Trillium Healthcare Centre in Toronto. Our process involved identifying aspects of preexisting mobile applications for mindfulness that may be discouraging for youth with depression and devising strategies to overcome these negative messages within the ACT Application. We propose to present a working prototype of mobile application at the Mobile HCI conference.