Virtual Hope Box app

The Virtual Hope Box app was originally developed for military service men and women (and their families) by the US Department of Defense. It contains simple tools to help people cope with strong, unpleasant emotions. The app is divided into four main sections.

• Distract Me has four types of  short games you can play to distract yourself from negative thoughts and feelings. You can choose your own photo to use in the photo puzzle game, play sudoku, do a word search or play mahjong solitaire.
• Inspire Me has lots of inspirational quotes or you can add your own quotes.
• Relax Me is an interactive feature with a variety of exercises to help you manage stress such as controlled breathing, meditation and muscle relaxation.
• Coping Tools allows you to create coping cards and plan activities. The coping cards help you identify specific situations or triggers that you struggle with. You can identify the problem, the emotions you feel when that problem comes up, and skills you can use to cope. 

The app also allows you to add your own photos, videos and songs that make you feel happy and inspired, and allows you to add support contacts who you could call when you’re feeling down or having an emergency.

For a more detailed description of the app, see Google Play(external link) or iTunes(external link) and for a detailed review, see reviews below.

Clinical review

Reviewer: Kris Garstang, Clinical Psychologist, Life Mind Psychology
Date of review: April 2022
Platform: Android
Version: 1.5.9
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
Platform: Android
Version: 1.4
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.