Over the summer months, the Brain+ team has accelerated the development of the next version of its CST-Therapist Companion. CST-Therapist Companion is a digital support product intended to help trained dementia therapists optimize and scale the delivery of Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) to people with dementia.

CST is a non-pharmacological, evidence-based form of therapy to treat the cognitive and behavioral symptoms associated with dementia. The treatment involves 14 or more therapist led group sessions of themed activities, which are typically run, or `dosed', twice weekly. In Denmark, the analogue form of CST has a relatively high penetration with usage in more than 40 out of 98 municipalities.

Brain+ started the introduction of its Danish version of CST-Therapist Companion v1.0 in November 2022. This initial minimum viable product version helps the therapists save valuable preparation time by offering digitally prepared material in the form of images and supporting discussion points, divided into sessions to support the delivery of CST. The v1.0 product has so far been met with keen interest, sold into two Danish municipalities, and dialogue is ongoing with several others, including the largest municipality of Copenhagen.

"This just needs to be used everywhere - It's worth its weight in gold and is a huge help for both volunteers, relatives and professionals!" Pia Østergaard, Silkeborg Municipality"

Building on the strong interest and early traction with the v1.0., the concept behind the next version of CST-Therapist Companion v2.0. has been met with excitement. The v2.0. will contain more advanced features and will give therapists more flexibility in tailoring the therapy, as well as the option to adapt the therapy more specifically to a CST therapy group of 4-8 people, depending on the group's composition in terms of gender, age, interests, as well as average level of cognitive abilities.

During the past months, both existing customer and other municipalities have engaged with us in focus groups and work sessions to provide user input to and feedback on the design and content intended for CST-Therapist Companion v2.0.  

Brain+ has defined the concept and is advancing the development of Therapist Companion v2.0. based on a mix of user input and deep insight into the clinical evidence and literature supporting the use of CST to enhance cognition, coupled with very close working relations with world leading CST experts.

Pending the completion of the technical development of CST-Therapist Companion v2.0, Brain+ is planning for feasibility testing in post-diagnostic dementia care to be initiated in Q4 2023 in Denmark in collaboration with the leading Danish CST expert, Professor Rikke Gregersen, scientific leader of dementia research at VIA University College, Denmark.

With CST-Therapist Companion v2.0, Brain+ also working towards establishing evidence for claims to obtain a medical device Class I EC certification in H1 2024. Obtaining regulatory certification can open for the initial market introduction of the product in Denmark, Germany, and the UK in 2024.   

Contact Information

CEO and Co-founder: Kim Baden-Kristensen, + 45 31393317 (SMS), kim@brain-plus.com
 

Brain+ mission: Bringing effective digitally-delivered dementia therapies to those in need, serving a million people with dementia, care-givers and clinicians by 2030.