Mental health apps in the workplace

A 2020 Labour Force Survey (LFS) identified 828,000 workers suffered from work-related stress, depression or anxiety. This accounted for 51% of all work-related ill health cases. According to Bupa, work-related stress can be caused by a lot of things such as: excessive workload or unrealistic deadlines, regularly being under pressure to meet targets or deadlines, difficult relationships with colleagues, management style and many other factors. It could also be due to a mix of things in both work and personal life.

Digital Apps

Virtual platforms are making mental health care more accessible and affordable. They offer employees access to new tools, skills, and resources to help better cope and manage their mental health. Mental health apps should only be used to complement therapy or other forms of self-care which includes exercise, healthy diet and sleep. The digital apps mentioned below are great examples of platforms that companies can provide for their employees.

Calm

Calm helps to improve employee well-being by promoting better sleep, reducing stress and anxiety, and developing more mindfulness. Examples of tools and resources used are: meditation and breathing exercises, sleep stories music and nature sounds and calm body which includes light stretching and physical exercises designed to relax body and mind. Calm offers plans to suit organisations of all shapes and sizes.

Headspace

Headspace is another great digital platform used to support employees health. It is a science-based application which gives employees access to hundreds of meditations and exercises from stress to focus to sleep. Organisations can view the impact of their tailored programme using the employee dashboard, engagement resources and measurement tools.

Neuroflow

Neuroflow is a platform which supports behavioural health access, integration, and engagement in all care settings. The platform engages individuals with behavioural health assessments and personalised, evidence-based activities. Neuroflow connects patients to care providers and specialists, empowering them to remotely coordinate and deliver effective mental health care at scale.

Ginger

Ginger is a mental health technology platform designed to identify patterns of anxiety, stress and depression, and alert patients and their healthcare providers to deliver care. Resources include: text based behavioural health coaching, video therapy and psychiatry sessions and personalized, clinically-validated skill-building activities. Many businesses are incorporating Ginger within their workspaces including Buzzfeed, Sephora and Pinterest.

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