Helse Bergen is at the forefront of offering digital treatment within mental health care for children and young people

The Minister of Health praises the UngMeistring project, and urges nationwide attention to Helse Bergen’s digital mental health solutions.

Published 4/14/2026

The Norwegian Minister of Health and Care Services Jan Christian Vestre — The Norwegian Minister of Health Jan Christian Vestre.

The Minister of Health and Care Services, Jan Christian Vestre, attended UngMeistring’s final conference in Bergen on March 5. Since 2022, Forhelse’s UngMeistring project has been developing digital, research-based treatment tools for children’s and young people’s mental health. The apps that have now been developed are:

Sidekick – for anxiety disorders
eBalanse – for eating disorders
Ada – for ADHD
Big 5 – for depression (a low-threshold service)

“Feedback from patients shows that these digital knowledge tools are effective. We must therefore ensure that the treatments are made available across the entire country. The need is great, and we are already late,” says Vestre.

Kristin Bruvik, projectleader at UngMeistring — Project manager Kristin Bruvik summarized the results from the UngMeistring project, which is now in its final phase.

We must use the experiences from patients and therapists

At the conference, we received a review of the treatment apps that have now been developed in the project, as well as important user experiences from both patients and therapists in the health care system.

Lisa Norman Styve from the Youth Council of Helse Bergen, spoke about her own experience with health care for eating disorders. She said that the digital tool eBalanse had several advantages compared to traditional treatment, especially in terms of flexibility and self-management. Styve emphasized the patient's opportunity to gain ownership of their own treatment, as well as the offer of early help.

Lisa Norman Styve, the Youth Council at Helse Bergen — Lisa Norman Styve from the Youth Council of Helse Bergen.

Tine Nordgreen is leading a debate at the UngMeistring conference

The Ung Meistring partners from both the health sector and the private sector participated in a debate about the visions for the future of digital health services.
Important points discussed at the meeting were:

plans for implementation in all phases
leadership anchoring
long-term plans
early involvement
therapist training
joint regulation and guidelines for municipalities
specific tools for children and young people
both an offer and a choice for all
information much reach both therapists and users

The tools from UngMeistring have been developed in collaboration with the private developers Youwell, Attensi and SkillupVR.

Phd fellow Guri Holgersen — Doctoral student Guri Holgersen presented the project eBalanse, the digital tool for young people with eating disorders.

A woman holding flowers — Doctoral student Maren Storetveit presented the project ADA, the digital tool for young people with ADHD.

The Sidekick app is a tool for young people with anxiety disorders, developed by psychology specialists at the University of Stavanger. Here, doctoral student Pia Hauge explains how Sidekick works.

Further plans for the digital tools in mental health

The project managers at UngMeistring, Tine Nordgreen. and Kristin Hogstad Bruvik informed that the results from the project will now cross the implementation gap from project to operation, and hope that the programs will be available both as treatment and self-help, in municipalities, hospitals and from Helsenorges ung.no. Read more about the research topics in UngMeistring.