During the Coronavirus pandemic, technology has become a significant part of our everyday lives from helping us work at home, to keeping in touch with family and friends. Technology can also play an important role in ensuring we take care of our mental health and wellbeing as it allows us to get involved with online communities, online classes or simply aids us in relaxing. The internet is a great way to gain useful information whilst discovering helpful online tools to learn about mental health problems. However, remember not everything you read online is true and if you are worried about the reliability of the information you are reading, Mind have tips on how to find trustworthy information which you can read here.
We have put together some useful ways in which you may use technology to help with your mental health, which you can read more about below.
Apps Available To Download
There are hundreds of apps which have been designed to help people with their wellbeing and mental health. Here are just a handful which you might find useful:
- Calm
Calm is an app which has been designed to help people meditate, sleep, relax and much more. People have found this app useful for things such as helping improve sleep, adopting breathing techniques and getting into a healthy morning routine by starting your day off with this app.
- Smiling Mind
This app has been created to establish effective online mindfulness meditation. Their programs are designed to assist people in dealing with the pressures, stresses and challenges of everyday life.
Smiling Mind has also created an app specially designed to help people code during the pandemic which could be really useful, you can find more information on this here.
- Simply Yoga – Home Instructor
This app gives you your own personal yoga instructor which helps you step by step through each pose. Workouts can range from either a 20, 40 or 60 minutes with each pose demonstrated by a certified personal trainer and these workouts can easily be followed in the comfort of your own home.
- Silver Cloud
Silver Cloud is an online course to help you manage stress, anxiety and depression. Within this app you work through a series of topics selected by a therapist to address specific needs. The eight-week course is designed to be completed in your own time and at your own pace. For further information, click here.
If you are interested in finding further information on the different apps which are available, the NHS provides an app library which lists a range of mental health app, you can find this here.
Online Communities
Online communities can be a helpful online tool for someone who suffers from mental health issues as these can help provide a support network and a safe place to discuss how you feel. Here are some of the online communities which are available:
- Big White Wall
Big White wall are an online service where millions of individuals with anxiety, depression and other common mental health issues can support one another. Their online community offers a way to get better together through peer to peer conversation which is anonymous. Find more here.
- Elefriends
Elefriends is an online community which provides a safe place to listen to others as well as to share your experiences and be heard. This online community is moderated daily by the Ele handler team from 10am to midnight, and you can find the online community here.
- SANE Support Forum
SANE support forum provides an online community which is a safe place for individuals to offer support, ideas and share experiences. This forum is available 24 hours a day however, you must be 18 to be able to create an account and can be found here.
Blogs/Vlogs/Podcasts
Blogs, vlogs and podcasts are all useful tools to get information and resources on current mental health issues and how to deal with them. Many groups and organisations different platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and Instagram to publish things they have written, created or recorded. These are useful to help you hear about other people’s experiences and how they have or are copying with their own mental health struggles.
Here at Thrive we also create blogs and videos on mental health and wellbeing, an interesting blog we did was about sleep and how it can impact on your mental health, you can read this here. You can also find our MD Jodie Hill’s YouTube channel here, in which may helpful videos regarding all sorts of concerns, topics and discussions.
As well as reading other blogs, you may find it helpful to create your own posts in order to share your experiences with others. This can be a way of building a small community which can help you keep in contact with other during this lockdown. If this is something which you would be interested in starting during, there are online resources such as WordPress and Blogspot which will no doubt help you get started.
For further information or support, there are charities which support people with mental health issues, such as Mind, Turning Point and Samaritans.
