What tracking my own days in college showed me
In college I started tracking my own days: how I slept, whether I exercised, who I saw, and how happy I felt. I wanted to learn more about myself, and I wanted to know what actually made a difference rather than what I assumed did.
A few months of answers showed patterns I would never have noticed one day at a time. Seeing them helped me to better understand myself and what truly made me happy. It also made me wonder why the people whose job is helping others through hard situations so rarely get to see that kind of picture.
Most clients see their therapist for an hour or less, once a week or less often. The rest of the week happens in between, and what makes it into the session is whatever the client remembers by the time it starts.
Mendly is a short daily check-in, usually a couple of minutes, made of questions the therapist picks for that client. The answers build a record of the week, and once there are enough check-ins, Mendly shows which of the things being tracked tend to line up with how the client felt. It does not diagnose, and it does not replace anyone's judgement. It gives the therapist and the client something real to look at together.
I'm Nathan Gilbert. My background is in data science and AI engineering, with experience at a Fortune 100 company. I build Mendly myself, which means when a therapist emails with a problem or an idea, I'm the one who reads it and the one who fixes it. And I'd love to hear feedback to help improve the app!
It is free for up to two clients, so you can try it with a real client before deciding anything. If something is missing or wrong, tell me at support@mendly.me.
The hardest part of tracking anything is remembering to do it. A browser tab is a thing you have to go and find; a phone is already in your hand. That gap is one of the most common reasons a check-in gets missed, and it is what the Mendly app is for.
It is the same short check-in on the questions their therapist configured, and the answers land in the same dashboard. The part I care most about is the reminder: it never names what someone tracks, never shows a score, and never puts a mood on a lock screen. It says it is time to check in, and nothing else. Anything more than that turns a private thing into something a person next to you can read.
It is on the App Store and Google Play now, and the web check-in keeps working alongside it.
No credit card. Set up a client's daily check-in in a few minutes and see what their week looks like before your next session.