MENTALICA
Mentalica therapist's thoughts
It is a mental health community where people can share about their experiences. TalkLife offers when you register the opportunity to hide certain topics such as violence, or sexual content. However, triggering content is immediately available, and the users don't have access to support.
Key features (free)
Social network where you can post, comment, and share about your experiences
Mentalica user experience
Once you register, you are immediately exposed to all kinds of content. It certainly feels a bit sketchy reading through the groups & messages and could be overwhelming. Groups called 'Dating and Marriage' exist which people apparently use for dating besides sharing mental health concerns (which I can only assume was the primary intent).
Premium features
Custom design
Credibility
Score
Medium
Company behind the solution
Founded in:
TalkLife Limited
2011
Where the solution operates:
global
The team behind the app
Founders - Andrew Montesi, Jacob White, Jamie Druitt - are marketing and business professionals, but they work together with universities and now have mental health professionals on their team. Around 50-75 employees.
Price (UK)
free; TalkLife hero from $2.99
Safety and Privacy
Score
Weak
What happens if a mental health crisis is reported?
yes
Is the mental health crisis support or referral working?
[...]
Are there controversies reported about the solution?
There is strong concern within online forums abut inappropriate content, weak censoring and people with ulterior motives on the platform. There is another side of user reviews that claim that autocensoring removed their appropriate posts while clearly inappropriate content roams free on the platform.
Privacy policy's evaluation
App asks to track you on iphone. There is a registration requirement with identifiable details / social media connection. The privacy policy states that users might be contacted for internal marketing, but says nothing about sharing your data for external marketing purposes. They do share your anonymised data with researchers.
Language
English
Effectiveness
Quality of evidence
[...]
What does the existing evidence indicate?
no