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Stress Autism Mate

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Key Details

Organisation Name

GGz Centraal

Location

Almere

Website

Social

eMHIC Member Status

Community Member

At a Glance

Description

Stress Autism Mate (SAM) is a scientifically validated app, developed in co-creation, that helps autistic people to manage their daily stress levels.

Implementation Status

Scaling implementation

SAM is currently available free of charge in 35 countries and eleven languages. While the app is self-guided, we are increasingly embedding it as a routine standard service across healthcare systems.

Target Population

Autistic individuals

Autistic individuals (12+) with low to moderate support needs (IQ > 80)

Impact & Outcomes

2018-2026
+50%
coping self-efficacy after 3 weeks
-30%
Stress reduction after 3 weeks
+50%
coping self-efficacy after 3 weeks
-30%
Stress reduction after 3 weeks
“For me, the strength of SAM lies in empowering patients to recognize and understand their own patterns. In doing so, it fully aligns with our vision of promoting resilience.”

Iris Bogers – Zorgverzekeraars Nederland

“I never understood how everyone just always seems to know when they are stressed. For me, it is much harder to recognize. Thanks to the SAM app, I can now understand more about my own stress patterns.”

User

“The Junior version of the app can help autistic young people gain greater insight into when their stress levels begin to rise and how they can cope with this. It is a valuable tool for gaining more control over their own stress regulation.”

Machteld Jansen – clinical psychologist, Karakter

“SAM Junior helps you discover what causes stress when you are autistic. In this way, you can learn what works for you and make choices that bring more calm and a greater sense of control. A step toward more freedom and well-being!”

Suzanne Rouwhorst – Founder of Jouw Autisme Methodiek

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Initiative Overview

The Current Gap

Autistic adults typically experience higher stress levels than their non-autistic counterparts. Yet, mental health care is often inadequate. Mobile health apps offer a promising alternative. These apps are often predictable and well structured, can be used on demand in real time, and require minimal human interaction— features that typically align well with autistic people’ needs.
SAM prompts users to complete multiple daily questionnaires about their activities and stress-related feelings over the past four hours. The results show how different activities and times of day influence their stress levels. The app also offers various ways to reduce stress: from immediate tips and psychoeducation to inspiring quotes, exercises, personal stories, and podcasts.

Our Solution

The Stress Autism Mate (SAM) was created by GGz Centraal, a Dutch specialist mental health care provider, in co-creation with autistic clients to support them in managing daily stress. All content is managed by professionals with lived experience and developed based on feedback from research and a user panel. The app is fully non-profit, complies with the strictest Dutch local privacy standards, and does not share data with third parties.

Key Features

6

Action

Offers various in-app coping exercises, including breathing and mindfulness activities, nature images and sounds, and animal videos.

5

Journal

Allows users to make notes, such as reflections on their stress, at any given time.

4

Insight Pages

Provide a visual overview of users’ stress scores for the current as well as previous days and weeks.

3

Today Page

Allows users to access the questionnaire when available, view their most recent stress score, and receive one immediate stress tip.

2

Stress Reduction Tips

Personalised activities that help reduce stress, such as ‘go take a walk’ or ‘listen to music that helps you relax’.

1

Stress Questionnaire

The app’s main feature, prompted two to four times per day at four-hour intervals. Helps gain insight into stress levels.

Collaboration in Action

Main Collaborators

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Jouw Autisme Methodiek
Technische Universiteit Eindhoven
National eHealth Living Lab
LVR-Klinikum Dusseldorf
MEE Samen
Maastricht Universiteit
Vrije Universiteit

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Key Learnings

One of the main challenges was developing a tool that is genuinely accessible, supportive, and non-overstimulating for autistic individuals with diverse needs and preferences. Balancing personalisation with simplicity was particularly challenging, as too many features can increase stress rather than reduce it. Another challenge was sustaining long-term engagement, since many mental health apps experience high dropout rates.
Co-creation should not be treated as a final step, but as a continuous process throughout development, evaluation, and implementation. Working closely with autistic individuals helped us identify needs and barriers that would otherwise have been overlooked. We also learned that simplicity and autonomy are crucial: digital tools should support users without becoming overwhelming or overly controlling. Finally, scientific validation and implementation should go hand in hand. Conducting both qualitative and quantitative research helped us improve the app while also building trust among users, clinicians, and healthcare organizations.
International collaboration helped us make SAM more accessible, inclusive, and relevant across different cultural and healthcare contexts. By working with researchers, clinicians, autistic individuals, and partner organizations from multiple countries, we were able to identify culture-specific needs and improve culturally sensitive translations.

Looking Ahead

Our future plans focus on further international scaling and embedding SAM within healthcare and community settings, while maintaining the app’s accessibility and non-profit character. We are also exploring the use of the app in other populations, such as individuals with ADHD and borderline personality disorder. Initial pilot studies have shown promising results.
We welcome collaborations with anyone in improving well-being in autistic people through co-creation. We are particularly interested in international implementation partnerships, research collaborations, and opportunities to evaluate SAM in different populations and settings. Organizations interested in translating, implementing, or studying SAM are also encouraged to contact us.
We aim to make accessible, evidence-informed, and neurodiversity-affirming stress support available to autistic individuals worldwide.
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Key Contact

Yvette Roke
Project lead and psychiarist
GGz Centraal

Email

[email protected]

Website

Social

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Key Contact

Alvin van Asselt
Postdoctoral researcher and expert by experience
GGz Centraal

Email

[email protected]

Website

Social

Media

SAM Video 1
SAM Video 2

Resources

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