Samaritans Scotland has launched the new app to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week
A new app has been launched which aims to help people through difficult times.
Samaritans Scotland is encouraging people to show kindness to themselves and look after their emotional wellbeing with the launch of a new, free self-help app.
Taking place between throughout this week (18 – 24 May), kindness was announced as the theme for Mental Health Awareness Week, in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
At a time when kindness, especially to ourselves, has never been more important, Samaritans Self-Help, which launches today, offers people practical ways to cope and stay safe if they’re going through a difficult time.
Rachel Cackett, Samaritans Scotland executive director, said: “Finding ways to show kindness to ourselves and look after our wellbeing is so important during this challenging and uncertain time. With access to face-to-face support services and networks limited, digital resources like this have a vital role to play in supporting mental wellbeing.
“Our new self-help tool provides another channel of support for anyone who may be struggling, featuring practical, evidence-based techniques and exercises. We hope this will prove a valuable resource, helping people to look after their emotional wellbeing, now and in the future.”
The app aims to provide a means of accessing support for people who may struggle to use Samaritans’ listening service, or who may find it difficult to express how they are feeling when talking to someone.
Samaritans Self-Help features a mood tracker that allows people to record how they feel. It recommends evidence-based coping techniques based on how you’re feeling, as well as activities that others have found useful when experiencing similar feelings.
Samaritans product manager Felix Macpherson said: “Over the past two years we have worked alongside people who have experienced emotional distress and suicidal thoughts who have found it difficult to talk to a Samaritans volunteer, in order to understand what they find most useful for coping with distress.
“We brought the launch of Samaritans Self-Help forward in the hope that it will prove a valuable place for support for those observing social distancing, facing prolonged isolation or lacking the privacy to make a call to the helpline.”
From muscle relaxation to breathing and written exercises, the app offers people a range of techniques for coping with difficult feelings, as well as suggestions for non-screen activities that people can build into their daily lives to help themselves cope. Whether it's meditation or exploring volunteering opportunities, the activities cover a wide range of topics including kindness to yourself as well as kindness to others.
Samaritans had also developed new online resources for people who are supporting someone who is struggling that includes practical ways for people to look after themselves when they are supporting others.
As well as launching the new app and online resources, Samaritans Scotland is also encouraging people to share messages of support and encouragement through their Cup O’ Kindness campaign.
As part of this campaign some of the charity’s nearly 1,000 volunteers in Scotland have been sharing their experiences of kindness and ways they are showing kindness to themselves and others. The charity is calling on the public to share their own message about what kindness means to them this week using #CupOKindness and #KindnessMatters.
Samaritans Self-Help is funded by Nominet, Samaritans’ Digital Transformation Partner, the Peter and Teresa Harris Charitable Trust and the National Lottery Community Fund.
Visit the Samaritans website from today (Monday 18 May) to try out or download the new web-based app and find out more.
