Digital mental health interventions are increasingly being presented as a solution as they are convenient, accessible and in many cases, free to use.
Services available include mindfulness and meditation apps, screening apps – which aim to determine your mood via an online questionnaire and treatment apps offering online therapy. Online tutorials or courses to help people manage their mental wellbeing are also widely available.
However, the uptake of these tools is low among young people. The University of Edinburgh study is the first to evaluate what motivates them to engage with these resources.
Stem4
Stem4 is the UKs leading digital mental health charity for children and young people. They offer a suite of 5 evidence-based mental health apps that support various mental health conditions as well as digitally delivered mental health literacy programmes in schools.
- Calm Harm is an app to help teenagers manage or resist the urge to self-harm.
- Clear Fear is an app to help children and young people manage symptoms of anxiety.
- Move Mood is an app to help teenagers manage low mood and depression.
- Combined Minds is an appto help families and friends provide mental health support.
- Worth Warrior is an app to help young people manage low self-worth, poor body image and related eating disorders.
It is widely-known that rates of children and young peoples mental health issues are consistently increasing in the United Kingdom, and anxiety is the most commonly experienced issue. Traditional support services such as counselling provided by the NHS, while immensely valuable, are unfortunately unable to meet this exceptional and increasing demand, leaving hundreds of thousands of young people a year in the UK without the support that they need and deserve.
Easily-accessible technologies that provide safe and effective mental health support to children and young people at scale are therefore essential to be able to meet this growing demand.
Mind App Library
Apps can be a great way to manage your mental health in your own time, especially while waiting for other support. But with so many out there and not all properly checked it can be hard to know where to start.
Together with ORCHA, Mind have created a clear set of standards and only recommend apps that meet them. So you can explore with confidence.
Every app in their library has been independently reviewed by experts. So they know they meet Mind’s high standards for safety, effectiveness, and quality. Browse their collection of trusted mental health and wellbeing apps, accredited by Mind.
Whether you’re looking for support with anxiety, low mood, sleep, or general wellbeing, you’ll find trusted options that suit your needs.
Before using a health app, it’s important to know if it’s safe and suitable. Key things to consider include:
What is the app for, and does it meet your health needs?
Is it easy to use and accessible to the right users?
Is your private data handled securely?
Who created the app, and can their research be trusted?
To answer these questions, the ORCHA team uses a method called The Mind assessment. This process tests apps in four main areas:
Data and privacy How your personal information is handled and protected.
Professional assurance and clinical safety Whether qualified health professionals support the apps use and if theres solid evidence behind it.
Usability and accessibility How easy and accessible the app is for users.
Technical security and stability Whether the app meets required security standards and runs reliably.
Mental Fitness with Smiling Mind
The Smiling Mind Mental Fitness Model has been created by their team of researchers, psychologists and mental health experts. Informed by a two year research and testing project, the model pulls together five key mental fitness skills that evidence shows underpin our ability to thrive. To create our Mental Fitness Model, Smiling Mind undertook a comprehensive process involving:
Literature and evidence analysis
Creation, validation and assessment of the proposed model, including consumer testing and feedback
Intervention mapping aligned to specific skills, cohorts and contexts
Its designed to support practical skill-building for everyone of all ages and stages, helping them develop habits that will enable them to feel good and support resilience during lifes challenges.
Research indicates that mental wellbeing can be looked at as a skill and developed over the lifespan. Over the past few decades, these studies have returned many great insights into the factors that make up mental wellbeing. We’ve been able to interrogate this research to categorise, develop and test a model of Mental Fitness. We came up with five core elements of Mental Fitness which are grounded in science, can be learned and developed, and importantly, remain relevant to improving mental wellbeing over the lifespan.
Jed Dib, Senior Research Manager, Smiling Mind
Disclaimer: The information provided on this page is sourced from third parties and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of TALK. We do not take responsibility for the accuracy or reliability of this information. Always consult with the original source or a professional before making any decisions based on this content.
