This post was updated 6/4/18

One of the clinicians here just directed me to an interesting online mental health resource.

It is called Wisemind.

Wisemind is a website that hosts videos of specialist psychologists talking a range of topics from relationships through to the treatment of trauma.

At the time of writing this, the website has 8 psychologists talking on the topics of: trauma, conflict in relationships, divorcing parents and kids, emotional regulation, wisdom of the body, anxiety, depression and PTSD relief. You can either browse videos by series, or enter a search term in the search bar on the home page. Because videos are individually tagged, you might find helpful videos across all of the series.

Although it does not attest to the quality of the videos per se, I can vouch for the fact that the psychologists themselves are well-known and knowledgeable within their individual fields. These psychologists commonly train other psychologists in their respective areas.

I tested the service by watching a video from Carolyn Bright called “What are your goals?” and a video from Bessel Van Der Kolk called “The Body and the Breath“.

The videos are quite high resolution (some minor streaming problems), and consist of just the psychologist talking directly to the screen. Subtitles are set on by default and I found having them helped me understanding the content better.

There are no slides or handouts for the sessions, so the content is contained entirely in the video.

The videos use subtle changes in focus on the face (e.g. face only versus face and shoulders) to provide some variation, but the videos are just a talking head.

At first I thought this would be boring or uninteresting, but in the case of both videos I watched, the starkness of it was actually quite engaging. My guess is Wisemind focus on getting good speakers, rather than fancy video effects to make you feel like you are being spoken to directly. For example, I found the breathing exercise led by Bessel to be genuinely relaxing. I was also highly amused by his comments about the thoughts that come into our heads when trying to relax.

You can get a free trial, which allows you to consume as many videos in a 24 hour period as you want.

After then it is either $15USD a month, or $99USD for a year subscription. This is a much simpler payment system than they originally had, which was based on a “session pass” that got quite confusing.

I can’t really speak to whether this constitutes good value or not, but with the free trial, you can definitely “try before you buy”. You’ll soon know after a few videos, whether you are finding the content valuable.

It would be remiss of me not to remind you that content like this is not a replacement for face-t0-face therapy (and the site acknowledges this in their FAQ). However I am a proponent of individuals learning more about their mental health by consuming high quality online resources. It may be that exploring these videos encourages you to take the step to more in-depth therapeutic involvement.

If you try the site out, let me know. I’d be keen to hear your feedback.

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