Smartphone Apps
Mental health is an important issue that can go unnoticed in tweens and teens. If your child is in crisis, it’s important to seek professional help. In this digital age, phones also provide a supplemental resource for teens to get help. Besides general health apps, there are several apps that focus on mental health. Here are five apps that help teens with mental health (along with professional help) by helping them cope with anxiety, depression, and other mental illnesses.
Calm Harm provides tasks to help users resist or manage the urge to self-harm. The app contains five categories to help you fight the urge to self-harm. Each category includes five to 15 minute activities. These activities turn users’ attention to healthier ways to handle emotions and impulses.
My3 is a crisis support app for people who have suicidal thoughts. The app features a contact list to call in case of emergencies. The list includes three of the user’s trusted contacts, 911 and the National Suicide Hotline. My3 also includes a safety plan which lists coping strategies and distractions. It’s one of the best apps that help teens with mental health struggles that include suicidal ideation.
Meditation has been shown to help people stress less, focus more and even sleep better. Headspace is meditation made simple. We'll teach you the life-changing skills of meditation and mindfulness in just a few minutes a day.
Happify is all about playing games. But every game is a science-based activity meant to reduce stress, build resilience, and overcome negative thoughts. The activities were developed by positive psychology experts who are familiar with evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy interventions.While the ultimate goal is to make you happier, the app lets you decide which track you’d like to work on.
Moodshift
Moodshift
Moodshift is targeted to help adolescents, teens, and young adults gain insight into and basic skills to manage their symptoms of anxiety disorders, including GAD, social anxiety, specific phobias, and panic attacks. It’s also useful for managing worry, performance anxiety, test anxiety, and perfectionism. The skills taught may be applied to individuals with physical, emotional, cognitive, or behavioral manifestations of anxiety, providing users with more helpful, balanced ways of thinking about feared situations.