by Kate Fitch, CMWN Volunteer
You can carry your task list, calendar, coupons, music, exercise diary, and just about anything else you can think of in your pocket with your smartphone apps. Well, now you can carry wellness and recovery tools with you too! There are a whole host of mental health and wellness-oriented apps out there, these days, and I want to introduce you to a few of my favorites.
- MoodTrack Diary: For those of you who like keeping track of your moods throught the day, MoodTrack Diary is the app for that! However often you want to update it, you can choose your mood from a comprehensive list, add notes and thoughts to it, and rate it on a scale of 1 (worst) to 5 (best). It also puts your moods into a graph so you can look for patterns.
- NAMI Air: Air (which stands for Anonymous, inspiring, relateable) is an app that’s in message board format, but there are no usernames or identifying information required, so it’s completely anonymous. There are two boards to choose from when you download, one for people with mental illness, and one for caregivers of people with mental illness. It’s a really supportive community of people simply talking about what’s going on in their lives.
- Happier: This is an app if you’re a big fan of gratitude journals like I am! Aimed to get you thinking about the positive moments of your day, the purpose of the Happier app is simply to record your happy moments. No matter how small. For example, my last moment recorded was “I noticed that the pancake restaurant has a little coffee cup on the roof, and it’s adorable.” Even those little things add up to making you feel more positive about each day.
- Headspace: Keep wanting to try mindfulness meditation, but don’t know where to start? Headspace is for you! It’s chock full of guided meditations, and free courses to get you started in the practice. Many of the meditations are only 10 minutes long, which is great for beginners and busy regulars alike.
Those are just my favorites, but there are so many more out there! What are your favorite apps that help in your wellness plan?
Wellness Apps!