Company
Trusted digital support – designed with care and delivered with integrity.
We work with organisations across health, education, community services, and industry to help them reach the people they want to support and ease the strain on their teams – with trusted mobile self-care apps.
Our purpose is to reduce confusion and uncertainty around health.
We do this by helping organisations put clear information, guidance, and signposts into people’s hands, so people can make better-informed decisions, and services can focus care where it’s needed most.
Who we are
Expert Self Care was founded in 2012 by Dr Knut Schroeder, a UK GP with over 30 years’ experience in the NHS and higher education.
What began as a single student health app has grown into a portfolio of award-winning mobile apps used in the UK and internationally, supporting organisations and people across a wide range of health and wellbeing needs.
How we're different
We’re a small, specialist core team by design. Our strengths lie in how we work:
- clinically led
- grounded in public service values
- focused on doing fewer things, exceptionally well
Behind every app is a wider ecosystem of clinicians, partner organisations, lived-experience contributors, reviewers, and delivery teams – often involving 10+ partner organisations and dozens of contributors on a single project.
How we support you
We help you support people earlier, before confusion turns into crisis, and manage rising demand with limited capacity.
Think of our apps as a trusted digital front door, a pocket guide, and a calm, reliable place people can return to whenever they need support.
They help you:
- Reach people earlier – with clear, practical guidance they can trust
- Reduce avoidable demand – by supporting safer self-care and better decisions
- Ease pressure on teams – with consistent, shareable resources
- Strengthen trust – through calm, evidence-informed digital support
- Become more sustainable – by reducing printing costs, emissions from logistics, and patient travel
Our apps complement your existing services – they don’t replace care, and they don’t try to do everything.
Who we support
We work with NHS teams, universities, charities, local authorities, national bodies, and employers to support priority groups, including:
- Students and young people navigating mental health challenges alongside study and life pressures
- People who self-harm or feel suicidal, who need calm, non-judgemental guidance and clear next steps
- Those living with eating disorders, often managing long-term, complex needs
- Young carers and their families, balancing responsibility far beyond their years
- Irish farmers, facing isolation, financial pressure, and demanding working lives
- Offshore helicopter maintenance teams, working in high-pressure, safety-critical environments
How we're funded
We’re an independent, privately owned company – founded and grown with integrity.
Our work is supported through:
- subscriptions for local editions of our apps
- commissioned branded apps
- grants from trusted public and not-for-profit bodies
- carefully chosen ethical partnerships
Our commitment is simple: All our apps remain free to download and use – with no ads, no paywalls, and no personal data collection.
This means our decisions are guided by public-service values – not advertising, data sales, or shareholder pressure.
Recognition
Our work has been recognised for quality, safety, and real-world impact, including:
- British Medical Association Patient Information Award for Wellbeing (2019) – Wellbeing (distrACT)
- Nursing Times Award (2021) - Continence Care (CONfidence)
- Medilink South West 'Advances in Digital Healthcare' award (2026) – (HeliOffshore)
Let's talk
If you’re open to exploring safer, more effective ways to support people – and want a partner who values trust, clarity, and care as much as you do – we'd be happy to start a conversation.