Thalia Psychotherapy is a mental health practice in Nairobi, Kenya. Thalia has been around for 2 years and consists of Clinical Psychologist Ruth Mwaura and another practitioner. Ruth has been using HappyNeuron Pro since 2019.

At Thalia, Ruth sees patients that are participating in a cognitive health program. Other patients she sees are in treatment using psychotherapeutic methods. She also sees patients that have traumatic brain injury.

Mental health is a taboo topic in Africa for many cultures, with many people not seeking help even when drastically needed.

Ruth is one of the many therapists trying to address this issue, one patient at a time.

Ruth has done cognitive rehabilitation therapy before using printed materials. She first accessed HappyNeuron Pro’s free worksheets, which she and many other psychologists enjoy. What was underwhelming for Ruth like many other therapists was the overabundance of printed materials. Many patients and therapists get bored of using paper and pencil tools for therapy, which makes using digital mediums more enjoyable and engaging for both.

HappyNeuron Pro was able to fill a void for Ruth by providing fun and engaging content that was therapeutic and guided her patient’s recovery.

“Once the client comes for a session, we go through how the week was and any difficulties they have experienced. I take them through the day’s exercise by psycho educating them about which part of the brain the day’s exercise is targeting. We will then start the session, which lasts an hour. After that, I get feedback from them about the day’s exercise, then I set the homework and send it to them.” – Ruth Mwaura.

Educating patients on what they are doing and why is part of many cognitive health programs, as it helps bring to light the importance of what is being done for the patient so that they can understand why they are performing specific exercises.

She then assigns homework after the one-on-one cognitive therapy session, where her patient’s can practice skills they are learning in therapy and refocus on cognitive deficits that they continue to experience.

While HappyNeuron Pro provides many exercises, Ruth and her patient’s enjoy Elephant Memory, which targets verbal memory. She finds that this exercise has been particularly helpful for assisting patients with memory problems.

Like many other therapists, HappyNeuron Pro has helped Ruth by helping with goal establishment for her and her patients. The results feature of HappyNeuron Pro allows the therapist to check in on how their patient’s are performing exercises, as well as not performing them. That way, the therapist can see if a patient is having difficulty with an exercise or avoiding one that they may feel is too hard for them at that time. The therapist can then take this information and tailor their therapy session to address these concerns.

Practice growth is important to many private practitioners like Ruth. Recruiting patients in need of services can be difficult, especially in areas where seeking mental health treatment is culturally taboo. Ruth gets many patients from neurologists, who see patients suffering from brain injury, stroke, aging disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases.