Created by Anxiety BC (a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the public’s awareness and access to resources on anxiety disorders) and BC Mental Health & Substance Use Services, this app can be your child’s personal and portable coach to help them face challenging daily situations and to help them regain control of their life.
MindShift is a multi-facited app for smart phones, which is designed to help teens and young adults cope with varying levels of anxiety.
The app gives answers to FAQs about anxiety, but also has many other tools to help deal with anxiety.
One of the most unique features of the app is called My Situations. This feature allows you to insert certain situations and then rate to what extent this affects your life. Then, after a period of time, you are provided with a tailored program to help you handle the situation. These include chill-out tools and relaxation exercises.
The main categories on the app are:
1. Anxiety 101–facts and figures
2. My Situations (as described above)
3. Check Yourself –a tool to document your anxiety at a certain time by keeping track of things such as racing heart, tightness in your chest, nausea or diarrhea, feeling on edge, etc.
4. Thinking Right–helpful thoughts for dealing with specific situations or realistic thinking for every day to help shift thinking
5. Chill Out Tools– relaxation exercises, visualizations and mindfulness strategies
6. Active Steps— coping strategies for certain situations
7. Inspiration– quotes to inspire you to reach your goal and think positively; you can tag some as favorites too!
Did you try out the app? Do you think it would be useful for your teen? Let us know what you thought!