🖋️ A letter from the founder…

From Personal Struggle to Digital Solution: Offload’s Story

Eleven years ago, I found myself standing on the platform at Old Street tube station with a crumpled piece of paper pressed against the wall. Recently diagnosed with some OCD symptoms, I was diligently tracking an exposure therapy task - recording anxiety levels every ten minutes as part of my treatment.

Before each therapy session, I'd hand over this now dirty piece of paper to my therapist, we’d spend the first 10 mins deciphering my scribbled notes. Despite trying various methods, phone notes apps and existing mental health applications, none made it easy to track and share results with my therapist.

The thought kept nagging at me: there must be a better way.

My brilliant therapist and the CBT exposure exercises were transformative, ultimately freeing me from almost all my symptoms. I'll forever be grateful to my therapist and these evidence-based techniques. But as a product designer in the health sector, I couldn't help but see an opportunity to dramatically improve how therapy exercises are administered, tracked, and shared.

The Offload Solution

Years later, this experience inspired me to create Offload, built on three core principles:

Digital-First Experience: All exercises are completed digitally, eliminating the need for printed worksheets that get lost, damaged, or forgotten.

Engaging, Approachable Design: The interface is intentionally fun and welcoming, not clinical and intimidating - making therapy tools more accessible for everyone.

Connected Care Platform: Therapists can curate personalized "care plans" with specific tools for each client and gain real-time insights into their progress and results.

Built with Therapists, for Therapists

Throughout development, we've consulted with over 40 therapists, from NHS counselling psychologists to private practitioners, uncovering numerous challenges they face in administering therapy tools. Many struggle with printing reams of paper exercises, dealing with low client completion rates, and lacking visibility into their clients' progress between sessions.

Along this journey, I was fortunate to meet Vicente Partida, a London-based counsellor and HQ Therapy member who has not only been advising on the project but has also become a valuable sounding board for my ideas. His insights from the therapist perspective have proven invaluable in refining Offload's approach and features.

Offload addresses these pain points directly, streamlining the administrative burden while enhancing the therapeutic experience for both providers and clients.

What's Next for Offload

What you see today is just the beginning. Our development pipeline includes standardized assessments, instructional videos, and interactive courses, all designed to make evidence-based mental health tools more accessible and effective.

Try Offload Today

If you're a therapist interested in digital therapy tools that could reduce your workload and potentially speed up your clients' progress, I invite you to explore Offload. You can add a client and try the platform completely free.

We're building this platform with therapist input every step of the way, and your feedback is invaluable in making these therapy tools better for everyone.

Let's work together to make mental health resources more accessible, engaging, and effective.

Warm regards, Edwin