Digital Mental Health Interventions (DMHIs) (Youth/Young Adults) are defined by the CEBC as interventions that use digital technologies for mental health support, prevention, and treatment. DMHIs provide behavioral and psychological strategies through technological features, including websites, mobile applications (i.e., apps), games, wearable devices, online platforms, and virtual and augmented reality. Some DMHIs allow users to self-manage symptoms, while others use some form of human support either to increase engagement or to provide additional intervention. DMHIs can be preventive resources that support those with less acute needs and potentially reduce the need for more intensive mental health services, as well as providing support while users are waiting for access to these services. DMHIs can also be used as therapy extenders while receiving these services, as well as after treatment to maintain and reinforce gains. There has been an increase in mental health needs among children, adolescents, and young adults over the past decade, with the COVID pandemic resulting in a rapid growth in need, particularly in anxiety and depression. Many youth with mental health concerns do not access care, due to barriers such as stigma, cost of services, lack of parental support or understanding, lack of insurance coverage, and lack of treatment providers. In many communities, the need for mental health support exceeds the available supply of treatment providers and requires considering opportunities to expand capacity for meeting these needs. DMHIs provide one such opportunity. They are especially appealing to adolescents and young adults, who are more comfortable with technology and its use for communication than older populations, and often have devices that can be used to access DMHIs. They may be especially useful for reaching underserved communities, such as young people of color and those in the LGBTQ+ community, who are already accessing online therapy services at higher rates than their peers. However, concerns about privacy, confidentiality, and consent for services by minors need to be addressed. Thousands of DMHIs are publicly available, and many are free, but few have any research evidence that they are effective.
Downloadable Topic Area Summary
Digital Mental Health Interventions (DMHIs) (Youth/Young Adults) are defined by the CEBC as interventions that use digital technologies for mental health support, prevention, and treatment. DMHIs provide behavioral and psychological strategies through technological features, including websites, mobile applications (i.e., apps), games, wearable devices, online platforms, and virtual and augmented reality. Some DMHIs allow users to self-manage symptoms, while others use some form of human support either to increase engagement or to provide additional intervention. DMHIs can be preventive resources that support those with less acute needs and potentially reduce the need for more intensive mental health services, as well as providing support while users are waiting for access to these services. DMHIs can also be used as therapy extenders while receiving these services, as well as after treatment to maintain and reinforce gains. There has been an increase in mental health needs among children, adolescents, and young adults over the past decade, with the COVID pandemic resulting in a rapid growth in need, particularly in anxiety and depression. Many youth with mental health concerns do not access care, due to barriers such as stigma, cost of services, lack of parental support or understanding, lack of insurance coverage, and lack of treatment providers. In many communities, the need for mental health support exceeds the available supply of treatment providers and requires considering opportunities to expand capacity for meeting these needs. DMHIs provide one such opportunity. They are especially appealing to adolescents and young adults, who are more comfortable with technology and its use for communication than older populations, and often have devices that can be used to access DMHIs. They may be especially useful for reaching underserved communities, such as young people of color and those in the LGBTQ+ community, who are already accessing online therapy services at higher rates than their peers. However, concerns about privacy, confidentiality, and consent for services by minors need to be addressed. Thousands of DMHIs are publicly available, and many are free, but few have any research evidence that they are effective.
Downloadable Topic Area Summary
The Digital Mental Health Interventions (Youth/Young Adult) topic area was added in 2025. Stephen Schueller, PhD, was the topic expert and was involved in identifying and rating any of the programs with an original load date in 2025 (as found on the bottom of the program's page on the CEBC) or others loaded earlier and added to this topic area when it launched.
The Digital Mental Health Interventions (Youth/Young Adult) topic area was added in 2025. Stephen Schueller, PhD, was the topic expert and was involved in identifying and rating any of the programs with an original load date in 2025 (as found on the bottom of the program's page on the CEBC) or others loaded earlier and added to this topic area when it launched.
moodgym provides training in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) to prevent and manage symptoms of depression and anxiety. It was designed for, and in collaboration with, young people aged 16-25 years, and is delivered in five sequential modules which include quizzes, interactive exercises, and workbooks
Calm is a mental health app designed to help a person manage stress, sleep better, and live a happier, healthier life. Their tools are designed to help a person build life-changing habits to support their mental health. Calm has a library of meditation and wellness content. If a person is having trouble falling asleep, the 500+ Sleep Stories®, soundscapes, and guided sleep meditations can help lull them to sleep. If a person is spiraling in negative thoughts and needs immediate relief, Calm’s 60-second Breathe Bubble is designed to ground a person in the moment and help their body return to a state of relaxation. If a person is overwhelmed at college and needs a breather, Calm’s stress and burnout specialists can guide them through exercises designed to help calm one’s mind.
Headspace is an app accessed on a mobile device that is designed to be a lifelong guide to better mental health. Through meditation and mindfulness tools, sleep resources, mental health coaching, and more, Headspace is designed to help a person create life-changing habits to support their mental health. Headspace does not have a provider manual/training, as it is a self-directed app that does not require a separate provider. Headspace for Teens and Headspace for Business are also available but have not been reviewed by the CEBC.
Spark Direct is a smartphone app that is designed to reduce low mood and enhance emotional well-being in practical, real-world scenarios. The app was co-created with adolescents. Spark Direct guides adolescents through cognitive-behavioral techniques which aim to help them better understand their relationship with mood and behavior through tailored and interactive exercises. Spark Direct users can track their mood, and if language indicates potential self-harm, users are shown crisis resources and emergency guidance. Spark Direct is a five-week program, guided by Limbot, a robot character tailored to the user:
SuperBetter is designed to improve mental health, resilience, self-efficacy and the success of clients & students. SuperBetter is an easy-to-teach mindset intervention. The SuperBetter Mindset is a mental framework that uses the psychology of game play in all of life. SuperBetter can be implemented using a curriculum, a tech-enabled solution for classrooms/groups, or a mobile/web app. Educators, parents, therapists & social workers can help their students, children, and clients learn the SuperBetter methodology and then use the methodology as a coaching framework to empower mental health, resilience, self-efficacy, social-emotional skills, and success.
TalkLife: Mental Health Support Groups Online is a mental health app that is designed to offer a way to get instant support through communities that are there when a person needs it and for as long as they need it.
Apart of Me is a game-based digital companion tool designed to guide young people through their grief journey. It combines therapeutic tools, interactive gaming, peer support, and guided exercises to help users process loss. Thus, the program fosters emotional expression, builds resilience, and prevents isolation. Additionally, caregivers receive support resources to help them assist grieving youth effectively. By including elements of co-design, young users are encouraged to engage in the creative development of the platform, making it a youth-led initiative aimed at building emotional resilience and preventing isolation.
BrightLife Kids — a CalHOPE program by Brightline — supports the behavioral health of every family living in California with kids ages 0–12 at no cost. No insurance or referrals are required to access this resource.
BrightLife Kids offers:
BrightLife Kids coaches have diverse backgrounds as well as training and experience with LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and gender-diverse populations. They help families focus on skill-building for everyday challenges by tackling anxiety, stress, sleep, disorganization, and more.
Feel free contact the program for more information (see bottom of the page).
Calm Harm is a mobile application designed to support young people in managing the urge to self-harm. It provides users with techniques to manage and reduce these urges through a range of interactive tasks. The app is built around the principles of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), offering users methods to distract, comfort, express feelings, release tension, and breathe. Calm Harm aims to be a private, safe, and accessible tool that young people can turn to when they experience distress, encouraging them to manage their impulses constructively. It allows users to track their progress and explore various coping strategies, fostering self-awareness and resilience. Calm Harm is a versatile tool that offers immediate feedback for young people seeking to manage self-harm urges independently.
Calm Health, Calm's enterprise offering, is a mental healthcare tool sponsored by employers to support their employees with a broader solution across their entire mental health journey. Calm Health is a cloud based mobile and web application and is available for groups of 100 and above within the United States. This mental health tool is designed to bridge the gap between mental and physical health. Calm Health’s services are available to individuals 16 years or older.
Calm Health is an application-based mental health care tool designed to engage users with a variety of programs. Users engage in the Patient Health Questionnaire and General Anxiety Disorder. (PHQ-9 and GAD-7) anxiety and depressing screening and through those results will receive recommendations based on their results, goals, and conditions. Clinical programs are written by licensed psychologists and specific to life and life stage, chronic conditions, and industry. As a HIPAA compliant, HITRUST certified solution, Calm Health is able to offer advanced analytics and individualized reporting.
Screening and Treatment for Anxiety and Depression (STAND) for All is a free, self-guided, online digital program offered with remote coaching support. Participants are empowered to select what skills and strategies they want to learn to address. Strategies that participants may explore include wellness, low mood, worry, poor sleep, panic, and discomfort with others. STAND for All is appropriate for individuals seeking to build resiliency, reduce anxiety, or address mild to moderate depression. Participants may request coaching support to review specific lessons. This program relies on the digital content (STAND Content Library) that serves as the backbone for comprehensive STAND implementations (known as STAND system of care).
Soluna is part of a CalHOPE initiative to provide virtual behavioral health solutions. It is a free and confidential app and website available to Californians ages 13-25. The app is available in English and Spanish. It contains the following services as stated on their website:
The Tellmi digital mental health service (IOS/Android/web) provides early help for children and young people aged 11+ with all levels of need. Young people in commissioned areas have 365-day access to anonymous, age-banded peer support, which is 100% pre-moderated (reviewed by humans before being posted). Between 8.30am and 11pm, qualified counselors intervene preemptively and respond privately to any high-risk posts. Young people can also access 1-2-1 text-based Solution Focused Therapy as well as a Directory of over 700 resources, tools, and services. In addition to the digital service, Tellmi also delivers outreach activities such as peer support workshops in local schools and engagement campaigns which are co-created with young people
The UCLA Mindful App is a free app intended entirely as an educational tool designed to help relieve stress, teach mindfulness concepts, and promote resiliency and well-being-- including emotional regulation and the cultivation of positive emotions. It is available on the App Store or Google Play.
Woebot for Adolescents is a smartphone app intended for adolescents aged 13 to 17 years old. It is available either as a mental health general wellness or a support tool. Woebot for Adolescents is intended to be used alongside clinical care; it does not replace the care of a medical provider or a patients' medication. Woebot for Adolescents has not been evaluated, cleared, or approved by FDA.
Woebot is a fully automated mental health ally teens can chat with through an app called Woebot for Adolescents, on a smartphone or tablet, anytime day or night. Woebot for Adolescents invites teens to monitor and manage their mood using tools such as mood tracking, progress reflection, gratitude journaling, and mindfulness practice. Woebot for Adolescents is intended to help them manage mood and anxiety symptoms and can be used as a mental health support tool to supplement treatments, therapies, or self-care practices.
Wysa is an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven mental health support program designed to provide anonymous, 24/7 access to mental health care through conversational AI that guides users through exercises, including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques. The program is structured to help individuals manage symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other common mental health challenges.
Wysa is designed to create a supportive and nonjudgmental environment, offering personalized tools such as thought reframing, relaxation exercises, and goal setting to promote emotional well-being. The desired outcome after the usage of the app is the reduction of symptomatology linked to these common mental health concerns, and the improvement of well-being and resilience.
YouROK, Helping Foster Youth Successfully Transition to Adulthood is designed to empower foster youth by teaching emotional resilience. At its core is K’Bro, a mobile app developed with youth and for youth. It offers a secure, supportive space where they can openly share challenges. Through engaging, gamified activities, K’Bro cultivates Emotional Awareness, Self-Determination, Self-Advocacy, and Self-Esteem, equipping young people with the tools they need for better coping and emotional self-management. Beyond individual growth, K’Bro fosters a community where users can uplift each other with anonymous peer support.
K’Bro’s algorithms analyze in-app activity to identify early signs of distress, enabling early interventions that can prevent crises. Supporting this proactive approach, the YouROK Enterprise Dashboard and Parent Portal provide social workers and caregivers with actionable insights to reach at-risk youth sooner, preventing more severe, costly conditions and ensuring those who need higher-level care receive it promptly.
moodgym provides training in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) to prevent and manage symptoms of depression and anxiety. It was designed for, and in collaboration with, young people aged 16-25 years, and is delivered in five sequential modules which include quizzes, interactive exercises, and workbooks
Calm is a mental health app designed to help a person manage stress, sleep better, and live a happier, healthier life. Their tools are designed to help a person build life-changing habits to support their mental health. Calm has a library of meditation and wellness content. If a person is having trouble falling asleep, the 500+ Sleep Stories®, soundscapes, and guided sleep meditations can help lull them to sleep. If a person is spiraling in negative thoughts and needs immediate relief, Calm’s 60-second Breathe Bubble is designed to ground a person in the moment and help their body return to a state of relaxation. If a person is overwhelmed at college and needs a breather, Calm’s stress and burnout specialists can guide them through exercises designed to help calm one’s mind.
Headspace is an app accessed on a mobile device that is designed to be a lifelong guide to better mental health. Through meditation and mindfulness tools, sleep resources, mental health coaching, and more, Headspace is designed to help a person create life-changing habits to support their mental health. Headspace does not have a provider manual/training, as it is a self-directed app that does not require a separate provider. Headspace for Teens and Headspace for Business are also available but have not been reviewed by the CEBC.
Spark Direct is a smartphone app that is designed to reduce low mood and enhance emotional well-being in practical, real-world scenarios. The app was co-created with adolescents. Spark Direct guides adolescents through cognitive-behavioral techniques which aim to help them better understand their relationship with mood and behavior through tailored and interactive exercises. Spark Direct users can track their mood, and if language indicates potential self-harm, users are shown crisis resources and emergency guidance. Spark Direct is a five-week program, guided by Limbot, a robot character tailored to the user:
SuperBetter is designed to improve mental health, resilience, self-efficacy and the success of clients & students. SuperBetter is an easy-to-teach mindset intervention. The SuperBetter Mindset is a mental framework that uses the psychology of game play in all of life. SuperBetter can be implemented using a curriculum, a tech-enabled solution for classrooms/groups, or a mobile/web app. Educators, parents, therapists & social workers can help their students, children, and clients learn the SuperBetter methodology and then use the methodology as a coaching framework to empower mental health, resilience, self-efficacy, social-emotional skills, and success.
TalkLife: Mental Health Support Groups Online is a mental health app that is designed to offer a way to get instant support through communities that are there when a person needs it and for as long as they need it.
Apart of Me is a game-based digital companion tool designed to guide young people through their grief journey. It combines therapeutic tools, interactive gaming, peer support, and guided exercises to help users process loss. Thus, the program fosters emotional expression, builds resilience, and prevents isolation. Additionally, caregivers receive support resources to help them assist grieving youth effectively. By including elements of co-design, young users are encouraged to engage in the creative development of the platform, making it a youth-led initiative aimed at building emotional resilience and preventing isolation.
BrightLife Kids — a CalHOPE program by Brightline — supports the behavioral health of every family living in California with kids ages 0–12 at no cost. No insurance or referrals are required to access this resource.
BrightLife Kids offers:
BrightLife Kids coaches have diverse backgrounds as well as training and experience with LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and gender-diverse populations. They help families focus on skill-building for everyday challenges by tackling anxiety, stress, sleep, disorganization, and more.
Feel free contact the program for more information (see bottom of the page).
Calm Harm is a mobile application designed to support young people in managing the urge to self-harm. It provides users with techniques to manage and reduce these urges through a range of interactive tasks. The app is built around the principles of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), offering users methods to distract, comfort, express feelings, release tension, and breathe. Calm Harm aims to be a private, safe, and accessible tool that young people can turn to when they experience distress, encouraging them to manage their impulses constructively. It allows users to track their progress and explore various coping strategies, fostering self-awareness and resilience. Calm Harm is a versatile tool that offers immediate feedback for young people seeking to manage self-harm urges independently.
Calm Health, Calm's enterprise offering, is a mental healthcare tool sponsored by employers to support their employees with a broader solution across their entire mental health journey. Calm Health is a cloud based mobile and web application and is available for groups of 100 and above within the United States. This mental health tool is designed to bridge the gap between mental and physical health. Calm Health’s services are available to individuals 16 years or older.
Calm Health is an application-based mental health care tool designed to engage users with a variety of programs. Users engage in the Patient Health Questionnaire and General Anxiety Disorder. (PHQ-9 and GAD-7) anxiety and depressing screening and through those results will receive recommendations based on their results, goals, and conditions. Clinical programs are written by licensed psychologists and specific to life and life stage, chronic conditions, and industry. As a HIPAA compliant, HITRUST certified solution, Calm Health is able to offer advanced analytics and individualized reporting.
Screening and Treatment for Anxiety and Depression (STAND) for All is a free, self-guided, online digital program offered with remote coaching support. Participants are empowered to select what skills and strategies they want to learn to address. Strategies that participants may explore include wellness, low mood, worry, poor sleep, panic, and discomfort with others. STAND for All is appropriate for individuals seeking to build resiliency, reduce anxiety, or address mild to moderate depression. Participants may request coaching support to review specific lessons. This program relies on the digital content (STAND Content Library) that serves as the backbone for comprehensive STAND implementations (known as STAND system of care).
Soluna is part of a CalHOPE initiative to provide virtual behavioral health solutions. It is a free and confidential app and website available to Californians ages 13-25. The app is available in English and Spanish. It contains the following services as stated on their website:
The Tellmi digital mental health service (IOS/Android/web) provides early help for children and young people aged 11+ with all levels of need. Young people in commissioned areas have 365-day access to anonymous, age-banded peer support, which is 100% pre-moderated (reviewed by humans before being posted). Between 8.30am and 11pm, qualified counselors intervene preemptively and respond privately to any high-risk posts. Young people can also access 1-2-1 text-based Solution Focused Therapy as well as a Directory of over 700 resources, tools, and services. In addition to the digital service, Tellmi also delivers outreach activities such as peer support workshops in local schools and engagement campaigns which are co-created with young people
The UCLA Mindful App is a free app intended entirely as an educational tool designed to help relieve stress, teach mindfulness concepts, and promote resiliency and well-being-- including emotional regulation and the cultivation of positive emotions. It is available on the App Store or Google Play.
Woebot for Adolescents is a smartphone app intended for adolescents aged 13 to 17 years old. It is available either as a mental health general wellness or a support tool. Woebot for Adolescents is intended to be used alongside clinical care; it does not replace the care of a medical provider or a patients' medication. Woebot for Adolescents has not been evaluated, cleared, or approved by FDA.
Woebot is a fully automated mental health ally teens can chat with through an app called Woebot for Adolescents, on a smartphone or tablet, anytime day or night. Woebot for Adolescents invites teens to monitor and manage their mood using tools such as mood tracking, progress reflection, gratitude journaling, and mindfulness practice. Woebot for Adolescents is intended to help them manage mood and anxiety symptoms and can be used as a mental health support tool to supplement treatments, therapies, or self-care practices.
Wysa is an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven mental health support program designed to provide anonymous, 24/7 access to mental health care through conversational AI that guides users through exercises, including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques. The program is structured to help individuals manage symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other common mental health challenges.
Wysa is designed to create a supportive and nonjudgmental environment, offering personalized tools such as thought reframing, relaxation exercises, and goal setting to promote emotional well-being. The desired outcome after the usage of the app is the reduction of symptomatology linked to these common mental health concerns, and the improvement of well-being and resilience.
YouROK, Helping Foster Youth Successfully Transition to Adulthood is designed to empower foster youth by teaching emotional resilience. At its core is K’Bro, a mobile app developed with youth and for youth. It offers a secure, supportive space where they can openly share challenges. Through engaging, gamified activities, K’Bro cultivates Emotional Awareness, Self-Determination, Self-Advocacy, and Self-Esteem, equipping young people with the tools they need for better coping and emotional self-management. Beyond individual growth, K’Bro fosters a community where users can uplift each other with anonymous peer support.
K’Bro’s algorithms analyze in-app activity to identify early signs of distress, enabling early interventions that can prevent crises. Supporting this proactive approach, the YouROK Enterprise Dashboard and Parent Portal provide social workers and caregivers with actionable insights to reach at-risk youth sooner, preventing more severe, costly conditions and ensuring those who need higher-level care receive it promptly.
