Denmark Completes 10-Year Plan for Psychiatry – Strengthening Mental Health for the Future

Denmark Completes 10-Year Plan for Psychiatry – Strengthening Mental Health for the Future

Apr 15, 2025

Copenhagen, Denmark 

The Danish Government has presented the final part of its comprehensive 10-year plan for psychiatry, a long-term initiative designed to secure better mental health services across the country. The new proposal builds on several years of investments and reforms and represents a turning point in how psychiatric care is organised and delivered in Denmark.

The plan’s ambition is clear: to ensure that all individuals living with mental health challenges can access timely, effective, and high-quality treatment, while also receiving support that enables them to thrive in everyday life.

Key elements of the plan include:

  • Earlier intervention and prevention: Strengthening outreach and ensuring that signs of mental illness are detected and addressed sooner.

  • More treatment capacity: Expanding resources in both child & adolescent psychiatry and adult psychiatry to meet rising demand.

  • Cross-sector collaboration: Closer integration between psychiatry, primary care, social services, and education, ensuring patients receive coordinated support across systems.

  • Focus on recovery and everyday life: Shifting attention from acute treatment alone to also supporting long-term recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration into school, work, and community.

  • Better access and reduced inequality: Targeting efforts to ensure equal access to psychiatric services regardless of geography, social background, or economic status.

The plan underlines that psychiatry is not only a medical challenge but a societal one. Mental health must be supported not just in hospitals and clinics, but also in schools, workplaces, families, and communities.

How Monsenso Contributes

At Monsenso, we strongly welcome the government’s continued prioritisation of psychiatry. The principles set out in the 10-year plan align closely with our mission to empower individuals, clinicians, and healthcare systems through digital innovation.

Our digital health platform is already supporting psychiatric care across Denmark and internationally, and can help realise several of the government’s ambitions:

  • Early detection and intervention
    By capturing real-time patient-reported outcomes and digital biomarkers, the Monsenso solution helps clinicians identify changes in symptoms at an earlier stage. This enables timely support and prevents conditions from escalating.

  • Strengthening cross-sector collaboration
    The platform facilitates secure data sharing and communication between patients, relatives, and care teams across healthcare sectors. This ensures that information follows the patient, promoting coordinated treatment pathways.

  • Supporting recovery in everyday life
    Our mobile app empowers individuals to actively engage in their own treatment, track progress, and access coping strategies directly from home. This helps extend care beyond the clinic, improving continuity and supporting long-term recovery.

  • Promoting equality and accessibility
    Digital tools can help reduce geographic and social disparities by making care more accessible, particularly for those in remote areas or with limited ability to attend frequent in-person consultations.

    Building the Psychiatry of the Future

    The Danish Government’s 10-year plan for psychiatry represents a historic opportunity to strengthen mental health services for generations to come. Achieving these goals will require both systemic reforms and innovative technologies that can bridge the gap between patients’ daily lives and the healthcare system.

    Monsenso is proud to contribute to this transformation. For example, through PhaseV, a national innovation programme supported by Innovation Fund Denmark, Monsenso provides the digital backbone for decentralised, real-world clinical studies, including within psychiatry. By enabling patients to share daily health data from home and giving clinicians access to these insights in real time, the project demonstrates how digital tools can strengthen early intervention, improve patient engagement, and extend care beyond traditional settings.

    Beyond Denmark, Monsenso also contributes at the European level through projects such as Personae (developing blended care models for mental health) and MentBest (creating digital tools to prevent common mental disorders). Together, these initiatives highlight how digital innovation can support more patient-centred, proactive, and sustainable mental health systems — both nationally and internationally.

    To learn more or explore a pilot or integration, book a demo or get in touch via our website.

     

    Solution
    Monsenso joins TSA, the industry body for Technology Enabled Care (TEC)

    Monsenso joins TSA, the industry body for Technology Enabled Care (TEC)

    Jun 15, 2021

    Monsenso A/S, a leading provider of digital health solutions for mental health, joins TSA, the trade association for Technology Enabled Care (TEC), representing the largest sector-specific network in Europe and bringing together a growing number of organisations from local government, healthcare and the private sector.

    TSA promotes and supports the technology-enabled care sector to health and social care commissioners, service users, their families and carers, including organising the annual International Technology Enabled Care Conference and promoting quality across the sector through its internationally recognised Integrated Code of Practice.

    “We are delighted to become a member of TSA” Thomas Lethenborg, CEO of Monsenso, commented. “Working across NHS and social care, TSA will be a strong partner in our expansion in Europe and the UK.”

    www.tsa-voice.org.uk / @TSAvoice

    A smartphone app that can help psychiatrists diagnose mental illness

    A smartphone app that can help psychiatrists diagnose mental illness

    Jul 27, 2020

    “A smartphone app that can help psychiatrists diagnose mental illness” –  Peter Hagelund, a Monsenso user, speaks about his experience using the Monsenso mobile health solution to support his treatment, and how it has helped  him improve the communication with his psychiatrist.

    Prior to using the Monsenso smartphone app, Peter and his psychiatrist followed the typical therapeutic setting, they would schedule an appointment every two-three weeks, and they would have a conversation to discuss Peter’s previous weeks.  Peter would usually say that he had been doing fine for each appointment, but sometimes he forgot important details that he wanted to discuss.

    “It can be pretty tricky to remember, two weeks later [between appointments] how you actually felt that day. With the app it’s really easy to go back and see if your mood has been pretty stable over the last two months, or if you had had some ups and downs over a period,” says Peter Hagelund.

    Now, instead of relying on Peter’s memory during the appointment, his psychiatrist can access his data and see how he has been doing, as it happened. He can view how much he has been sleeping, how much he exercises, how much he drinks, how much anxiety he has, and other relevant aspects to his treatment and his disorder.

    “My psychiatrist now says things like You say you’ve been doing fine, but I can actually see that you’ve had a few ups and downs. I think the app helps him get a real view of how I have been doing,” says Peter Hagelund.

    In his Danish documentary series “Jeg savner min sygdom” (which translates to “I miss my illness”), Peter Hagelund talks about his experience of getting the wrong diagnosis and how finally after six years he got the right diagnosis and treatment. 

    In 2014, he was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 2.

    During his whole life, he knew there was something different about him. He always struggled with depression and anxiety, and what eventually turned out to be hypomania. When he was 22, he had his first big episode of depression and began taking antidepressants. However, it took six more years before he was officially diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 2.

    He says that one of the trickiest things about having this diagnosis is that he does not experience the typical manic episode where a person feels over-energetic and nearly psychotic. Instead, he feels hypomanic, which means that he is socially well functioning. He is not psychotic. He just feels really well; the problem with this, was that he didn’t feel the need to inform his psychiatrist the fact that he was feeling too well. 

    His psychiatrist found out that he had Bipolar Disorder was because he couldn’t come out of his depression. At first, he was diagnosed with depression and ADD. But these diagnoses didn’t seem to fit because he still had strong mood swings and a lot of anxiety. When he was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 2, it actually made sense to him. Suddenly, he could see why he had felt the way he had most of his life.

    “I really believe that the Monsenso smartphone app could have helped my psychiatrist give me the right diagnosis at an earlier stage because the app helps me to keep track of my mood and to become more aware of how I feel. With the app, I have to pause and take a moment to think about how I’ve actually been doing before entering my answers. Keeping track of all this information has helped my treatment. My psychiatrist and I can plan better on how to avoid my future depressive or hypomanic episodes because we can clearly identify when I am having mood swings”. says Peter Hagelund.  

    In August 2018, his documentary about living with Bipolar Disorder aired on national Danish television and the response was overwhelming. Many people contacted him, to thank him for talking about his illness. He made the documentary so other people who have this illness, do not feel ashamed of it.

    “My hope is that in the future people are diagnosed at an earlier stage than I was and I truly believe the Monsenso app is one of the things that can help. I really hope that other psychiatrists and their patients will start using the app,” he added.

    Click here to read this story in Danish.

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    I Truly Believe Monsenso Can Help Others with Bipolar Disorder Type 2

    I Truly Believe Monsenso Can Help Others with Bipolar Disorder Type 2

    Sep 11, 2018

    Peter Hagelund’s has a documentary series in Danish called “Jeg savner min sygdom” which translates to “I miss my illness” the series is about living with Bipolar Disorder Type 2. Click on this link to watch the documentary.

    In 2014, I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 2.

    During my whole life, I had known that something was different about me. I always struggled with depression and anxiety, and what eventually turned out to be hypomania. When I was 22, I had my first big depression episode and had to start taking antidepressants. However, it would take me six more years before I was officially diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 2.

    The tricky thing about having this diagnosis is that you do not experience the typical manic episode where you are over-energetic and nearly psychotic. Instead, you’re hypomanic, which means that you’re socially well functioning. You’re not psychotic. You actually feel really good. So the problem is, that you don’t go to your psychiatrist and say that you feel too well. At least I didn’t.

    The reason why my psychiatrist found out I had Bipolar Disorder was because I couldn’t get out of my depression. At first, my psychiatrist diagnosed me with depression and ADD. But these diagnoses didn’t seem to fit because I still had strong mood swings and a lot of anxiety. When I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 2, it actually made sense. Suddenly, I could see why I had felt the way I had most of my life.

    I really believe that the Monsenso smartphone app could have helped my psychiatrist give me the right diagnosis at an earlier stage because the app helps me to keep track of my mood and to become more aware of how I feel. With the app, I have to pause and take a moment to think about how I’ve actually been doing before entering my answers. Keeping track of all this information has helped my treatment. My psychiatrist and I can plan better on how to avoid my future depressive or hypomanic episodes because we can clearly identify when I am having mood swings.  

    In August 2018, my documentary about living with Bipolar Disorder aired on national Danish television and the response was overwhelming. Many people have contacted me, to thank me for talking about my illness. I had made the documentary so other people who have this illness, are not ashamed of it and I think I succeeded.

    My hope is that in the future people are diagnosed at an earlier stage than I was and I truly believe the Monsenso app is one of the things that can help. I really hope that other psychiatrists and their patients will start using the app.

    Click here to read this story in Danish.