Education

Recovery Colleges
Recovery Colleges are set up by individual NHS Trusts to offer free educational courses on mental health and recovery. The focus is on empowering people to become experts in their own mental health and wellbeing. A wide range of courses are open to anyone with an interest in mental health issues. Each course is co-delivered by a tutor with lived experience of a mental health condition and a professional trainer. Google Recovery College and your local area to find your nearest College, enrol, and download a course prospectus.

Apps

Construction Industry Helpline
This free app is delivered and supported by the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity. It provides information, advice and guidance on several well-being topics. The app focuses on preventative tools and building resilience within the four areas of need: mental health, physical health, financial health and social health.

Who needs the app?

We recognise that not everyone feels comfortable talking about their feelings or personal situation, so the app is aimed at construction workers who would like to find out more information about how they can perhaps help themselves or if necessary, take the next step in seeking professional help. It is a preventative tool and aims to provide support at the initial stages of a situation so that the problem does not reach a life critical stage.

How will the app help?
Users will initially be guided through a series of questions to help gain a basic understanding of what their issues are. Depending on the answers provided by the user, the app will:

• Offer learning: Give detailed information about various well-being conditions from reliable expert sources
• Assess: Provide an assessment tool to help the user understand what is normal and what is not for each condition
• Provide tools: Describe a variety of self-help tools and offer easy to use coping strategies that will help users to be proactive in relieving the signs and symptoms of many of the conditions
• Guide: The app will help the user gain confidence about a condition to the extent that they may feel comfortable talking about it.
• Benefits: The app helps cut through the amount and complexity of information about welfare and well-being topics and delivers a refined list of contacts for accessing ongoing support

Mental Health Crisis App – Stay Alive
Suicide prevention app offers help and support both to people with suicidal thoughts and people concerned about someone else. Features quick access to national crisis support helplines and suicide bereavement resources.

Wellness and Recovery Self Help App – WRAP
Wellness Recovery Action Plan app to identify triggers for mental health issues, create a crisis plan, and develop your own toolkit to stay well.

Mindfulness and Meditation Apps

Headspace
The Headspace app makes meditation simple. Learn the skills of mindfulness and meditation by using this app for just a few minutes per day. You gain access to hundreds of meditations on everything from stress and anxiety to sleep and focus. The app also has a handy “get some headspace” reminder to encourage you to keep practicing each day

Calm
Named by Apple as the 2017 iPhone App of the Year, Calm is quickly becoming regarded as one of the best mental health apps available. Calm provides people experiencing stress and anxiety with guided meditations, sleep stories, breathing programs, and relaxing music. This app is truly universal; whether you’ve never tried meditation before or regularly practice, you’ll find the perfect program for you.

Ten Percent Happier
Want to sleep better, find relaxation, be more mindful and, well, ten percent happier? This is the app for you. Ten Percent Happier has a library of 500+ guided meditations on topics ranging from anxiety and stress to parenting and sleep, as well as videos, bite-sized stories, and inspiration you can listen to on the go. New content is added weekly, so you’ll never tire of having to do the same meditative practice again and again.

CBT Thought Record Diary
The centre piece of cognitive-behavioural therapy is changing your emotions by identifying negative and distorted thinking patterns. You can use CBT Thought Record Diary to document negative emotions, analyse flaws in your thinking, and re-evaluate your thoughts. This is a great app for gradually changing your approach to anxiety-inducing situations and your thinking patterns for future situations.

Mind Shift
Mind Shift is one of the best mental health apps designed specifically for teens and young adults with anxiety. Rather than trying to avoid anxious feelings, Mind Shift stresses the importance of changing how you think about anxiety. Think of this app as the cheerleader in your pocket, encouraging you to take charge of your life, ride out intense emotions, and face challenging situations.

Self-Help for Anxiety Management (SAM)
SAM might be perfect for you if you’re interested in self-help, but meditation isn’t your thing. Users are prompted to build their own 24-hour anxiety toolkit that allows you to track anxious thoughts and behaviour over time, and learn 25 different self-help techniques. You can also use SAM’s “Social Cloud” feature to confidentially connect with other users in an online community for additional support.

PTSD Coach
Created by the VA’s National Centre for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), PTSD Coach offers everything from a self-assessment for PTSD, to opportunities to find support, positive self-talk, and anger management. What’s great about this app is that you can customize tools based on your own individual needs and preferences, and integrate your own contacts, photos, and music.4

Recover Me

Gambling Addiction
This app was designed with the help of psychologists, psychiatrists and others suffering from this addiction. There are six easy to follow cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) sessions to empower you to overcome this addiction. There are a number of sessions that have been developed to encourage you to focus on the present moment. The diary will improve your self-awareness and allow you to monitor your progress through this journey. This is a way for you to connect with others embarking on a similar journey or other organisations that may be helpful. This provides you with strategies to better manage your urges to gamble when you experience them in real time.