Denmark’s public health service has launched “Bedre Trivsel,” a free online mental wellbeing service on sundhed.dk, built as a quality-assured alternative to AI chatbots.
DR reports that the new service is aimed at adults who begin to experience psychological distress. Tor Juul Groth, digital project manager at Center for Digital Psykiatri, says the goal is to make it easier for adults to seek and receive high-quality help from the public health service.
Skagens Avis reported that the service went live on sundhed.dk on October 22, 2026. Per the same report, it can be used without a referral and targets adults with distress or a mild psychological burden.
What the platform actually offers
Bedre Trivsel is a subpage of sundhed.dk that is freely available and free of charge. Users work through simple online programs made up of small, concrete exercises, with a video host guiding them through each step. According to DR, a health professional appears in the videos to lead the exercises.
The initial content covers stress, sleep problems, worries and sadness, as reported by Skagens Avis. The same outlet notes the service is preventive and does not replace treatment. DR adds that it can direct users onward to a doctor or to psychiatric services if they need more help.
Center for Digital Psykiatri developed and quality-assured the content, while sundhed.dk built the technical platform, per Skagens Avis. The stated ambition is for 20,000 people to begin an online program during 2027.
Why the health service wants to compete with chatbots
A report from Center for Digital Psykiatri points to Danes increasingly using chatbots to find information about mental health. Groth, who helped prepare the report, says people sit every evening between 9 pm and 11 pm googling and chatting with artificial intelligence about their own distress. He says it is clear that chatbots struggle to give correct answers in this specific area.
Figures from Den Nationale Sundhedsprofil, prepared by Sundhedsstyrelsen and Statens Institut for Folkesundhed, show the number of people experiencing stress in everyday life has risen since 2010. Christian Gaden Jensen, director of Fonden Mental Sundhed, notes that not everyone who experiences stress actually has stress. He says surveys show people search online for stress, burnout, poor sleep and concentration problems, looking for concrete actions.
Palle Mark Christensen, a general practitioner in Otterup, says sundhed.dk is an important reference point for the Danish health service and functions as a kind of quality stamp for GPs. Part of the idea is that general practitioners can refer patients to the service. He also points out that it is written in language ordinary residents can understand.
What the new sundhed.dk service means for internationals in Denmark
Sundhed.dk is the official public portal for the Danish health service, where residents with a CPR number can see their own health records, prescriptions and GP details. Bedre Trivsel sits on that portal as an open subpage, and both DR and Skagens Avis describe it as free and available without a referral. That places it inside the public system rather than among private apps, which matters when navigating healthcare in Denmark for the first time.
For foreign residents, the practical route is the same as for Danish citizens. Your GP, called your egen læge, can point you to the programs, as Christensen describes. The reporting from DR and Skagens Avis does not state whether the content will be offered in languages other than Danish, and both note that the service is preventive and does not replace treatment.
