Frequently Asked Questions

Soveria is a clinical tracking tool for mental health professionals who need measurement, not guesswork. Psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, counsellors - anyone working with clients where progress must be tracked, not assumed. You send validated assessments via email. Clients complete them. You see the data, spot patterns, adjust interventions accordingly. Built for clinicians who understand that subjective reports and objective change do not always align. If you measure outcomes, Soveria is for you.

Navigate to the Clients section. Click "Add New Client". Enter their name, email, and any relevant clinical notes. Save. The system generates a unique client profile where all assessment data will be stored. To send their first assessment: select the client, choose the assessment type, and click "Send". They receive an email with a secure link.

Currently: PHQ-9 (depression screening) and GAD-7 (anxiety screening). Both are validated, widely used in clinical settings, and designed for longitudinal tracking. PHQ-9 measures depressive symptom severity across nine criteria. Scores range from 0 to 27. GAD-7 measures generalised anxiety severity across seven criteria. Scores range from 0 to 21. Additional assessments will be added based on clinical demand.

Depends on treatment phase and symptom volatility. Standard protocol: Weekly during active intervention. Fortnightly during stabilisation. Monthly during maintenance. High-risk cases: More frequent. If suicidal ideation is present or symptoms are rapidly fluctuating, consider twice weekly. Low-intensity cases: Less frequent. Monthly may suffice for clients in stable remission. The goal: enough data to detect meaningful change without creating assessment fatigue.

PHQ-9 measures depression severity using nine DSM criteria: anhedonia, low mood, sleep disturbance, fatigue, appetite changes, guilt/worthlessness, concentration difficulty, psychomotor agitation/retardation, and suicidal ideation. Scores: 0-4 minimal, 5-9 mild, 10-14 moderate, 15-19 moderately severe, 20-27 severe. GAD-7 measures anxiety severity using seven core symptoms: excessive worry, difficulty controlling worry, restlessness, fatigue, concentration problems, irritability, muscle tension, and sleep disturbance. Scores: 0-4 minimal, 5-9 mild, 10-14 moderate, 15-21 severe. Both are screening tools, not diagnostic instruments. They quantify symptom burden and track change over time.

A change of 5 points or more on PHQ-9 is clinically significant. A change of 4 points or more on GAD-7 is clinically significant. These thresholds indicate real symptom shift, not measurement noise. Improving trajectory: Sustained decreases over multiple assessments. This indicates intervention is working. Plateauing: Scores stabilise but remain elevated. Time to adjust strategy. Worsening trajectory: Sustained increases. Immediate clinical review required. Consider safety planning. Look for patterns, not isolated data points. One bad week does not mean treatment failure. Three consecutive increases mean something needs to change.

Not currently. PHQ-9 and GAD-7 are standardised instruments. Altering wording or item selection invalidates the scoring algorithm and makes longitudinal comparison unreliable. If a client's presentation does not fit these screeners, document that in clinical notes. Soveria is a tracking tool, not a replacement for comprehensive clinical assessment. Future updates will include additional validated instruments for other presenting concerns.

Because memory rewrites itself, and perception shifts with mood. You think you know how you felt last Tuesday. You do not. Your brain edits the past to match the present. If today is unbearable, last week retroactively becomes unbearable too. If today is manageable, the past month softens into "not that bad". Depression and anxiety are not static moods. They are fluctuating regulatory patterns. A PHQ-9 score of 18 last month, 14 this week, 16 next - that is a trend. It tells your therapist whether the system is stabilising or still misfiring. The myth: therapy is just talking. The reality: therapy is systematic intervention guided by data. Your clinician uses these numbers to know whether you are actually improving or just learning to articulate suffering more eloquently.

Your therapist can observe plenty. Body language, tone shifts, the pauses between words. But clinical intuition without data is navigation by stars when GPS exists. Depression and anxiety are internal regulatory failures, not visible states. You can sit in session, describe your week coherently, and sound entirely functional whilst your PHQ-9 sits at 22. You can also catastrophise minor setbacks whilst your GAD-7 is dropping steadily. Subjective reports and objective measures rarely align perfectly. The myth: real connection means no paperwork. The reality: measurement is precision care. Your therapist is not guessing. They are tracking. That is the difference between wandering towards "better" and walking a mapped route towards measurable change.

Then they do not fit. Note that. Tell your therapist. PHQ-9 and GAD-7 measure common symptom clusters, not the totality of your experience. If your depression manifests as chronic irritability rather than sadness, or your anxiety lives in your body rather than your thoughts, the screeners will not capture that fully. This is not a flaw. It is design. These assessments are narrow on purpose. They track specific regulatory failures, not your entire internal landscape. Your therapist sees the scores and talks to you. The combination is what matters. The numbers show whether the engine is warming up. The conversation shows what is blocking ignition. If something critical is missing from the assessments, your therapist will know. That is what clinical judgement is for.

All data is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256). Your assessment responses are stored on secure servers with restricted access. No data leaves our infrastructure without explicit clinical necessity. We do not sell data. We do not train AI models on your responses. We do not share aggregated insights with third parties. We do not use your information for marketing purposes. Your therapist controls access. If they delete your profile, all associated data is permanently removed within 30 days.

Only your therapist. Your therapist sees: your scores, your response history, trend visualisations, and any clinical notes they have added. No one else. Soveria staff do not access individual client data except in cases of critical technical support (rare) or legal obligation (law enforcement subpoena, which we resist unless legally compelled). Your data is not visible to other clients, other therapists, or third-party services.

Yes. HIPAA compliance (for US-based clinicians): Soveria operates as a Business Associate. We sign BAAs with covered entities. Data handling meets HIPAA Security Rule and Privacy Rule standards. GDPR compliance (for EU-based clinicians and clients): We are the data processor. Your therapist is the data controller. You have the right to access, correct, or delete your data at any time. Requests go through your therapist. We do not transfer data outside our secure infrastructure without encryption and contractual safeguards.

Your previous therapy did not fail because you were irreparably broken. It failed because talking without measurement is guessing. You spent months - years, perhaps - describing the problem without mapping the solution. That is not about weakness. That is how most therapy still operates. Soveria gives your therapist a diagnostic instrument. Not to replace conversation, but to make it count. Depression at 22 today, 18 next week - that is actionable intelligence. "I feel a bit better" is not. The difference: your therapist now knows whether you are actually improving or just becoming more articulate about your symptoms. Therapy without data is hoping the engine fixes itself. Therapy with data is checking diagnostics, adjusting fuel mix, confirming the repair worked. If you have been in therapy for years without meaningful change, it was not you. It was the method.

A friend listens. A therapist with Soveria measures, tracks, adjusts. Friendship is support. Therapy is systematic intervention. Your friend cannot tell you whether your depression is moderating or you have just improved at masking it. They cannot detect the 3-point drop in GAD-7 that signals your anxiety regulation is beginning to stabilise. They cannot map correlations between life events and symptom spikes. Friends are irreplaceable. But they are not calibrated instruments. Your therapist is. The goal is not to replace human connection. The goal is to stop pretending empathy alone rewires a malfunctioning threat-detection system. You need both. Your friend provides the former. Your therapist provides the latter.