Tag Archives: Dawn Schell

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

It’s Back! The Long-awaited sequel of The Psychology of the Internet

Posted by: Dawn Schell on April 5, 2016 12:36 pm

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Think back. Way back to the early days of the Internet. Can you remember back that far? Think about squealing dial-up modem sounds, forum discussions and your first email account. A lot has changed since then (which is perhaps the hugest understatement I have ever made).

First written in 1999, The Psychology of the Internet[1] relied on classic studies in social science to inform our understanding of how the digital environment might affect human behaviour. The author, Patricia Wallace, wrote the original edition in an era of Internet pioneering. She was aware that cyberspace was “already having fundamental effects on human behaviour” and she wanted to better understand the hows and whys.

The original edition was a classic in its own right and has formed the basis for a great deal of the research and understanding we have of the Internet and human behaviour.

Wallace states that while these classic studies she relied on in the original edition are still relevant the research into the psychological aspects of the Internet has grown exponentially since 1999. The new edition, released this year, discusses, in a balanced way, “what we actually know from research about the psychology of the Internet, citing both positives and negatives and raising many new questions”.

Given that cyberspace is still a relatively new human environment it behooves us to do our best to understand it. Wallace shares research about how“… different kinds of human behaviour unfold in many corners of cyberspace, and why online environments can affect us in surprising ways.”

This well written, highly informative book includes topics such as: online persona; group dynamics; online aggression; interpersonal attraction; altruism; gaming; growing up online and much more.

I think this book is a must read given how much the Internet has become a part of all our lives. As Wallace says, “we need knowledge about how this technology affects us and how we can, in turn, affect it.”

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

[1] Wallace, P. (2016). The Psychology of the Internet Second edition. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

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

The New “Mood Rings”

Posted by: Dawn Schell on March 4, 2016 2:09 pm

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Remember Mood rings in the 70s? Okay, maybe you don’t. It was a long time ago after all. The idea behind a mood ring was that the “gem” would change colour depending on your mood. The change in colour was actually dependent on temperature. For those of us with cold hands our mood ring always indicated we were “anxious or stressed”. Suffice it to say they were kinda fun for a while but didn’t really indicate how we were feeling.

While the mood ring fad faded decades ago the idea of being able to detect our emotions using biometric data hasn’t changed. There are numerous devices on the market today that say they can detect your emotional state through your breathing, heart rate, etc. and the aim of all of these devices is to help you be less stressed.

Here’s a few:

Spire[1] is a beautifully designed tracking device that is meant to be unobtrusive. The purpose? As their website says, “by monitoring your breathing, Spire figures out when you’re calm, focused, or tense, and provides you with guidance and exercises when it matters most”. Linked with your mobile devices when Spire senses tension it sends reminders to breathe and calm oneself.

Being[2] is a watch-like device that “maps your moods, activities and sleep”. The creators say Being “provides health and stress insights for more mindful living” and also teaches ways to “transform bad stress into good stress”.

What’s missing for me is the contextual information about physical symptoms. What’s going on when one’s breathing or heart rate is increasing or temperature is dropping? What am I thinking or doing? Who am I with? Where am I?

This next device, Feel[3] is not yet available. The designers call it “the first wristband that recognizes and tracks human emotions throughout the day”. Feel is linked to your mobile phone where it sends the biometric information. What’s different here is Feel tracks your activities, who you meet and environmental conditions. Feel also says they offer a “range of recommendations” to improve your emotional wellbeing – both short and long term.

Finally, let me introduce the new mood ring- Moodmetric[4]. Moodmetric is called “smart jewelry for emotional wellbeing”. It’s way more attractive than the old mood rings. The designers state, “the Moodmetric ring measures the autonomous nervous system signals that can be used to understand emotional reactions and improve quality of life.” Like the other devices there are options within the associate app for calming one’s mind and interacting with and learning from one’s patterns of emotional levels.

Do I really need wearable technology to tell me how I am feeling or to serve as a reminder to pause, breathe, relax? Well, no. However, I can see how useful these devices could be to help people pay more attention to physical signs of stress and to learn ways to reduce tension in the moment. I would hope that it would also help people learn to spot those signs of rising tension earlier and empower them to pay attention to their bodies, minds and emotions without the aid of a device.

As I consider all of these devices I must admit I am equal parts curious and skeptical. Which means I will be paying close attention to the research and reviews.

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

[1] https://www.spire.io/

[2] https://www.zensorium.com/being#introduction

[3] http://www.myfeel.co/

[4] http://www.moodmetric.com/

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

One Step at a Time

Posted by: Dawn Schell on February 16, 2016 1:36 pm

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From smartwatches to fitness tracking devices wearable technology has come a long way. You can buy glucose detecting contact lens, clothes that correct your posture, running shorts that give you real time audio feedback, leggings that measure your shape and make clothes shopping easier, heated trousers that warm up your muscles, and all manner of clothing and devices that track biometric information. You can learn how many calories you’ve burned, how well (or not) you slept last night, where, how far and how fast you ran/walked/cycled/swam. The list goes on and new items are being created even as we speak.

I have a lot of questions about wearable technologies, especially the ones designed to improve our fitness and health. Do they actually work? Are people becoming fitter? Are they motivating?

An article in Scientific American[1] states, “These devices are succeeding not because of their scientific qualities but because of their motivational ones…What the fitness bands do is to keep these issues front-of-mind. There it is, every time you turn on your phone: the latest stats on your progress. Most also show the results of friends who wear the same brand; it’s fitness through humiliation”.

Well, the last part of that certainly rings true when I think of my friends who own these devices. The competition can be fierce when it comes to step counting!

There is some contradictory research about these devices. Some researchers claim that pedometers are as motivating as fancy fitness trackers while others claim the opposite. Some claim that people stop using the devices in a relatively short period of time while other researchers find that users like and keep using them. Are there long term effects? Do the behaviours these devices are designed to encourage stick long after we stop wearing the device? There are also questions about the privacy and security of the data that is collected.

It’s worth it to keep asking ourselves these questions and to think about ways in which we, as counsellors, may be able to use these technologies in our work with clients.

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

[1] http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fitness-trackers-are-everywhere-but-do-they-work/

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

Making Team Work Easier – Virtual Meetings

Posted by: Dawn Schell on January 29, 2016 2:08 pm

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Please tell me I’m not the only one who remembers what a big deal it was in the 90s to host a virtual meeting. I can remember a provincial meeting that was scheduled months in advance, a room full of thick wires and cables and much crossing of fingers hoping the technology would work and we would be able to see and hear each other. I also remember feeling very excited about how this technology could change our ability to work with each other over distances. The expense though was prohibitive. Though we could meet and collaborate virtually we didn’t often get to do so.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago. There was one virtual meeting platform I piloted for use with groups that regularly crashed. There were other problems too. We would be able to see some of the participants but not others. We could hear some people and not others. The longer we were online the more the difficulties piled up. Fussing with the technological issues took way too much of our time together. We rapidly gave up on that system and decided the timing wasn’t right yet for online group meetings. The concept was there but the technology did not yet meet our needs.

More recently, I have been experimenting with two different systems for virtual meetings.

Wiggio.com is a free online toolkit designed to “make it easy to work in groups”. The Desire2Learn company created this website based on their own frustrations with working in groups.

In Wiggio you can host virtual meetings conference calls, upload files, create polls and to-do lists as well as send email, text and voice messages to your group. It’s straight-forward and doesn’t require you to be super tech-savvy. The company reports that over 150,000 groups are using their website. Businesses, sports teams, event planners, and non-profits are examples of groups that have made great use of this site.

Now, that doesn’t mean it’s a perfect system yet. There are still some technical issues that arise. However Wiggio has a lot going for it in terms of virtual meeting space.

VSee.com is another virtual group meeting option I have been exploring. VSee, the world’s largest telemedicine platform, ” was created by a team of Stanford University human computer interaction scientists and network experts in order to overcome the limitations of traditional videoconference tools”. They wanted to create a platform that would “work over any network, and require minimal training”. The applications that it is being used for in terms of telemedicine are amazing.

In terms of my own use I stick to the basic free option for secure video chat. Though it’s not relevant in the context I am using VSee for at the moment it is worth noting that VSee is HIPAA compliant. [1] You can check out more about their data privacy here – https://vsee.com/hipaa

Once again when we have been meeting in VSee there have been technical issues at times and so one group has chosen to use the back up of a teleconference at the same time as being able to see each other via this website.

Of course these days there are multiple options for hosting meetings. They certainly are easier to use than they used to be and less expensive too! What I appreciate most about these is the opportunity to connect and collaborate with colleagues from across Canada.

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

[1] HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a US law that provides privacy standards for health information and records.

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

Compulsive Texting

Posted by: Dawn Schell on November 4, 2015 2:52 pm

It started out innocently enough. A teacher asking students to put their phones away and focus on what was happening in the class. One of the students said she felt “anxious” about not having access to her phone. Other students echoed her sentiment. The teacher was flexible enough to engage in the conversation and ask them to explain. The conclusion – some students said not being able to text at any given moment or to check their messages left them feeling nervous, anxious, worried. Naturally this concerned the teacher.

Now I don’t mean this to come across as yet another adult shaking her finger at the younger generation and saying they have it all wrong. When someone says NOT doing something leaves them feeling anxious I think it merits further exploration.

A recent study published in the Psychology of Popular Media Culture journal (http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/ppm-ppm0000100.pdf) looked at the role “compulsive texting behaviour” plays in students’ academic functioning. The research focused on assessing what counts as “compulsive texting” as well as three components of academic functioning (grades, social bonding and perceived academic competence). While the study was conducted with a relatively small number of Grade 8 & 11 students (n=403) and is based on self-reporting it’s worth having a closer look at their results.

The first step was to create a measure for compulsive texting that is similar to one used for Compulsive Internet Use (Young, K.S. 1998). They wanted to assess for: interference with tasks, cognitive preoccupation and concealment, all potential indicators of compulsivity. Their research showed a high internal consistency for their Compulsive Texting Scale.

The authors measured frequency of texting, compulsive texting, academic adjustment, and gender differences. They found:

Females had higher levels of compulsive texting than males (12% vs. 3%)
“It appears it is the compulsive nature of texting – not the sheer frequency – that is problematic”
There is a relationship between compulsive texting and poorer academic functioning for females and not for males

Hmm. Now that is interesting!

The authors go on to speculate about potential explanations for females being more susceptible to compulsive texting behaviour. They point to research that indicates “females are more likely than males to engage in rumination or obsessive, preoccupied thinking” (see study for details). They also are “more likely to focus their intimacy in interpersonal relationships than males”. Which may mean the content of their texts may be more “distracting or interfering than the texts males receive”.

The researchers discuss the limitations of their study and conclude with a reminder that texting can have potential benefits as well. It’s like anything really – when the use becomes compulsive that’s when we need to find ways to address it.

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

Pinterest Strikes again

Posted by: Dawn Schell on October 26, 2015 5:00 am

Picture this. There are four teams of three eleven year olds each gathered around a table. Each team has a piece of paper with four parallel lines, a plastic knife and a tube of toothpaste. Their mission? In 20 seconds squeeze as much toothpaste as possible out of the tube to cover the lines.

Thirty other students are there to watch and cheerlead.

The excitement of having a “squeeze the toothpaste out of the tube to cover the lines” contest was superseded only by the second instruction – “Now put the toothpaste back in the tube with the plastic knife”. I heard one of them say, “You’ve got to be kidding”.

What could possibly go wrong?

If you don’t count the students who ate the toothpaste it all went well.

There was a point to this. And I’m sure, thanks to the viral nature of social networking, that you already know what it is.

When we speak it’s like squeezing out the toothpaste. Our words are out there and, like trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube, words are hard to take back once they’ve been spoken.

Moments later I was blowing up a balloon – a breath into the balloon for each negative way to resolve a conflict that a child could think of. Of course the inevitable happened. There was a huge noise as the balloon popped and lots of delighted laughter. As I blew up another balloon and let out air each time the students named a positive way to resolve a conflict everyone was paying attention. No mean feat in a room full of 44 eleven year olds.

Why would I be doing these types of activities? Well, this is where Pinterest came to the rescue again. I needed lessons for grade five students about treating each other well and finding ways to resolve their issues more peacefully. As I have mentioned previously on this blog, I follow a number of other counsellors on Pinterest and they never fail to inspire me with wonderfully engaging activities that made serious points.

It’s not just activities. It’s ideas for group sessions, ways to organize my files, communicate with parents, and fabulous ideas for promoting positive mental health on campus. Whether it’s the elementary school or the university I work at.

Next up on my list?

Erasing Meanness.

http://www.erasemeanness.org/the-lesson.html

I can’t wait to see how that one turns out.

Dawn M. Schell, MA, CCC, CCDP is a school counsellor and 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

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

Play Nice with ‘Mindlight

Posted by: Dawn Schell on September 1, 2015 9:55 am

The name “Play Nice Institute”[1] conjures up images of extremely polite children playing on a playground – taking turns on swings and slides, no whining or complaining or blaming. Everyone being, well, Nice.

A lovely image but that’s not what the Play Nice Institute (PNI) is all about. They are “an organization that focuses on the design and development of games that promote emotional resilience through skills acquired while children are immersed in games they love to play.”

Recently, PNI has created a neurofeedback video game called ‘Mindlight”. Aimed at children 8 – 12 years of age, Mindlight is a video game designed to help children learn how to face and overcome anxiety and fear. The child wears an EEG headband. An electrode in the headband reads brainwaves – alpha, beta, and theta waves. The game uses the child’s mindset and brainwaves to advance the action in the game.

Mindlight starts with Arty who arrives at grandma’s house only to discover the house is covered in darkness. He has to rescue grandma. There are a number of obstacles he has to overcome, progressively scarier encounters, and puzzles he has to solve in order to save his grandmother. In the game Arty wears Teru, a magical hat that shines whenever the child playing the game feels relaxed. As soon as the child playing the game becomes anxious or fearful the game turns dark and they have to relax themselves in order to generate light again.

As the PNI says, “Using the neurofeedback headset to play the game, the environment, threats, and puzzles all respond to how a player is allocating his/her attention and, thus, how he/she is feeling. Relaxation allows for a light bubble to shine on the surroundings and focused concentration unlocks hiding spaces and allows the player to solve attention bias modification puzzles.”

MindLight uses several evidence-based strategies through which children learn to manage and overcome anxiety symptoms. Continue reading →

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