Tag Archives: app

Wildflowers Mindfulness

Posted by: Dawn Schell on May 9, 2016 10:28 am

Need another app to help you meditate?

No?

Well you might want to reconsider when you see the new Wildflowers Mindfulness app from Mobio Interactive.[1] This beautifully designed new app was released on May 2, 2016 and is free for the first month.

The aim of Wildflowers Mindfulness is to assist individuals with developing a mindfulness practice. Research has shown that practicing mindfulness can improve both physical and mental health. It takes practice to really become comfortable with it and make it work for you. Given how busy our lives can be it isn’t always easy to make the time to practice. It’s like lots of things that we know are good for us and that we “should” do. Sometimes a little help is needed! That’s where an app like Wildflowers can come in handy.

There are interactive lessons on mindfulness, a library of meditations, and a journal to track your progress. The creators of this app have also designed a feature that makes meditation suggestions based on your mood. The page lists a number of different feelings and you can pick the one that is the closest fit and the app will suggest a variety of meditations for you to try.

One of the really fun features is you can use the camera on your mobile device to calculate your heart rate. That’s right. I said, the camera! You can use this feature to calculate your heart rate both before and after a meditation and see how well you were able to relax.

Give it a try today and as the creators say, “Make friends with your mind”.

***

Dawn M. Schell, MA, CCC, CCDP is an affiliate of Worldwide Therapy Online Inc. http://www.therapyonline.ca

[1] http://www.wildflowersmindfulness.com/#home

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Teaching a black dog to do new tricks – Digital Dog

Posted by: Dawn Schell on December 8, 2015 2:38 pm

As the field of e-Mental Health continues to evolve it’s critical that we do research to keep expanding our understanding of how, why and for whom it works. Fortunately, there is a great deal of excellent research being done all over the world.
More recently I came across these researchers based in Australia. Launched in March 2015, Digital Dog is a “research group…working to use technology to solve mental health problems”. You can find a linke here – http://digitaldog.org.au. Digital Dog is a branch of world leader in mood disorders Black Dog Institute’s research programming. Check them out here http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au

Their definition of eMental Health (eMH)? eMH “refers to services that target common mental health problems and are delivered through online and mobile interactive websites, apps, sensor-based monitoring devices and computers as well as telephone and online crisis support lines.” Sounds comprehensive to me.

So what kind of research are they doing?

Building and testing online interventions to lower depression, lower suicide risk and promote wellbeing (websites or apps)

Establishing the validity of social media as an indicator of mental health risk

Using the technology built into Mobile phones to measure mental health and social connectivity

Harnessing technology to deliver preventative mental health programming in schools (games, apps, websites, and much more)

Publishing papers to promote the usefulness and cost-effectiveness of e-health technologies

Whether it’s a positive psychology app based on values (SPARK) or determining whether people or computers can reliably detect suicidally “concerning” tweets or testing the effectiveness of web based self help programs the aim is to deliver evidence-based treatment.

And that means better resources for practitioners and clients.

You can’t go wrong with that.

Dawn M. Schell, MA, CCC, CCDP is an affiliate counsellor with Worldwide Therapy Online Inc. http://www.therapyonline.ca

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

TruReach Health App Revisited

Posted by: Dawn Schell on October 19, 2015 2:56 pm

A short while ago I reviewed a new app – TruReach Health (you can check out my initial review here – https://www.ccpa-accp.ca/hot-off-the-app-press-trureach-health/ ). Shortly after my review went live I was contacted by the developer, Jeff Perron, thanking me for my review and offering to chat with me about my concerns.

Impressive!

App developers of the world, listen up! This is how you do it. Being responsive to feedback is crucial to the ongoing success of any app and especially one that’s about improving our mental health.

My concerns were:

The positioning of the privacy policy after one had given contact information
This issue is being resolved on both the Android and iPhone versions. The link to the privacy policy will now be on the download page. Which means you can read it before you download.
Report progress email was pre-filled in with the TruReach email address
This issue is being resolved on both the Android and iPhone versions. The email address section will now be blank offering the user the opportunity to make a clear decision about who they send their progress report to.
Lack of contact information on the accompanying website

As I suspected, this is a cost issue. The decision was made to concentrate more on the development of the app. As TruReach has more financial resources they will build out the website more fully. Given the other issues have been addressed I see this as less of an issue.

In addition to the app there is now this short video from TruReach explaining what it’s all about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCSOhnWSe0w

TruReach is being piloted through the Royal in Ottawa. The Royal has an app titled “Health Minds” which I have reviewed previously. Dr. Simon Hatcher, a psychiatrist who has been involved with providing clinical input into an e-Therapy website in New Zealand for people experiencing depression, will be involved in testing TruReach with two different patient populations. I look forward to hearing the results.

Jeff said his aim is to “get help to as many people as possible”.

So, if like me, you feel that these fixes to the app will address any concerns you have then please do encourage people to use it. If you have any lingering questions don’t hesitate to ask. You can reach Jeff at [email protected].

Dawn M. Schell, MA, CCC, CCDP is an affiliate of Worldwide Therapy Online Inc. http://www.therapyonline.ca

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Hot off the App Press – TruReach Health

Posted by: Dawn Schell on September 16, 2015 2:50 pm

On September 9, 2015, Jeff Perron, a University of Ottawa doctoral student released a new Mental Health app titled TruReach Health. I read about it, downloaded it (for free) and gave it a trial run.

According to the description on iTunes “TruReach is mental wellness on-the go. TruReach has broken down cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) into quick, 5-minute lessons and packed them into the TruReach app”. It goes on to emphasize that this app is meant to be along the lines of a self-help book.

As reported in the Ottawa Citizen, Perron said “This isn’t a replacement for therapy or medication, but it’s a new option that you have. It’s to give people something where there’s nothing.”

Each lesson is given in the form of a short animated video. You have to watch each one in sequence. Watching number one unlocks number two and so on. There are eighteen lessons altogether. The first twelve are free and there is a fairly low fee ($7.99) for the last six. The money collected will be directed toward future development of this resource.

There is much I like about this app. Continue reading →

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA