Students in Canada and around the world are downloading an app on their mobile devices called HealthyMinds to help them manage their emotions and cope with stress.
The application was developed by The Royal, a mental health care and science centre in Ottawa, and it was launched with associations of colleges and universities across Canada.
High school and college students are brought in to The Royal regularly to talk about mental health. “Students were beginning to ask us ‘Well, what are ways, how do you cope with stress,’” said Nicole Loreto a social worker and spokesperson for The Royal. And that gave health care providers the idea of creating an app for them.
No good health without mental health
“Every day we talk about their physical health, but do we actually tell them to take care of their minds? That was something we wanted to tackle. You can’t have good health without good mental health,” said Loreto.
The app helps provides a mood tracker so students can examine how they are feeling and what are their stressors. It has a calendar to help them monitor their activities and see when the stressful periods are, and it offers coping mechanisms such as relaxation techniques.
App used in 35 countries
The app was launched in English and French at the end of January and Loreto says the response has been phenomenal. 3,500 people have downloaded it in 32 different countries. “It’s a personalized tool, nobody needs to know that they’re using it. It’s on their phone. They live in a mobile world and we figured in between events or on the bus they can look at their moods.”
The HealthyMinds app is available for Apple devices and will be available for android in March.
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