How it started
Everyday Insight was started by Josh N. Kelly, M.S., a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology who has spent the last couple of years working as a therapist during his clinical training.
The idea came from a graduate school assignment. Josh’s class was asked to keep an activity record, and when he looked for a good way to do it, the options were thin. Many apps with therapeutic tools sat behind a paywall, and it was often hard to tell what an app actually included before paying for it. That seemed like the wrong way to treat resources meant to help people feel better.
Once he began seeing clients, the problem looked even bigger. A therapy session takes up about one of the 168 hours in a week, and most of the work happens in the other 167. Yet when he asked clients whether they had done what they planned between sessions, he kept hearing the same answers. They forgot. They lost the paper. By the time they sat down to write, the details were hard to remember. People carry their phones everywhere, so it made sense to put the exercises there, where they can’t get lost, can send a reminder, and are ready the moment something happens.
So Josh started building. Alongside the activity record, he added other exercises, like the values card sort, which he and his clients have found especially helpful. None of the versions already out there satisfied him. He has used these tools with his own clients, on a phone between sessions or on paper in the room, and he wanted more people to have them.
His goal is to make psychological information and tools easier to reach and easier to use. Therapists can bring them into a session or assign them between sessions, and anyone can use them on their own. They are free, and they will stay free. Because what people write in these exercises is often personal, it stays with them. Josh never sees it. He doesn’t want your data, just for you to live your best possible life.