Clinical review
Reviewer: Kris Garstang, Clinical Psychologist, Life Mind Psychology
Date of review: April 2022
Version: 1.5.9
Platform: Android
Comments: This is a simple but effective app that I have been recommending to clients for many years now. It remains an excellent method to access relaxation exercises which are useful for reducing anxiety and improving sleep. It additionally provides users with access to other simple but effective behavioural strategies for coping with strong emotions, including distress tolerance strategies and activity scheduling. These tools are commonly recommended to people by psychologists to improve mood or cope better with strong, difficult emotions and are known to be highly effective.
Safety concerns: No, but emergency numbers provided are not useful for New Zealand audiences. Users in other countries are able to add their own emergency contact numbers and dial these straight from the app.
New Zealand relevance: Audio tracks feature US accents.
Clinical review
Reviewer: Kris Garstang, Clinical Psychologist, Life Mind Psychology
Date of review: July 2018
Version: 1.4
Platform: Android
Comments: This app contains relaxation, distraction and activity scheduling tools useful for managing common mental health issues. It is most useful for people suffering from stress or anxiety. The app has the potential to reduce muscle tension, improve sleep, improve mood and help you get through periods of high distress safely. I recommend this app to almost all of my clients as most will be looking for support to improve sleep or cope with periods of high stress.
Safety concerns: None
New Zealand relevance: This is an American app but all of the strategies contained are commonly used by NZ trained psychologists making it highly suitable for a NZ audience. No link to New Zealand crisis support services.
