Young People’s Mental Health Apps
Choosing apps to support your mental health and wellbeing isn’t always easy. With so many apps to choose from it can be difficult to know which ones to choose and trust, and where to go to find them.
Choosing apps to support your mental health and wellbeing isn’t always easy
With so many apps to choose from it can be difficult to know which ones to choose and trust, and where to go to find them. Sometimes apps can have hidden costs attached, and there may be others that are not designed with young people in mind. This list has been produced to try and address some of these challenges. All of the apps listed are free to use, do not contain in-app purchases, and are available on both Android and iOS. They all have a privacy policy and have either evidence for the approach used and/or direct evidence to support the apps’ benefits.
These apps have been designed to help users to manage things that they might find difficult when experiencing low mood, anxiety, or stress. They work by teaching skills and strategies to manage these feelings in the moment, and to help reduce their impact in the future. Some of the apps can also direct users to sources of more information, local resources, and who to contact in a crisis.
Move Mood
Move Mood is designed to help young people manage the things they might find difficult when experiencing low mood. Created for Stem4 (teenage mental health charity) Move Mood supports users to define goals and set activity schedules. The app motivates users by providing a 'companion' to help them accomplish tasks they commit to and earn 'awards' for completing them.
There is the opportunity for monitoring progress and a section for resources. Intended age range: 13+
Mental Health
Entirely Free
71%
Level 3
71%
Level 3
Calm Harm
Created by Stem4 (teenage mental health charity), Calm Harm provides techniques to help break the cycle of self-harm. Users can learn to ‘surf the wave’ by doing five-minute or fifteen-minute activities in these categories:
- Distract: helps to combat the urge by learning self-control
- Comfort: helps to care rather than harm
- Express Yourself: gets those feelings out in a different way
- Release: provides safe alternatives to self-injury
- Random: selects a random activity from the categories above
There is also a breathing technique to help reduce symptoms of stress and anxiety. Intended age range: 13+
The app has been developed for self-guided use by individuals who experience non suicidal self-injury. If you self-harm with suicidal intent, please talk to a responsible adult and see a health professional urgently.
Mental Health
Entirely Free
71%
Level 3
71%
Level 3
Clear Fear
Created by Stem4 (teenage mental health charity), Clear Fear uses a Cognitive Behavioural framework to help change anxious thoughts and emotions, alter anxious behaviours and calm fear responses. It also has descriptions of the different ways in which anxiety can manifest, and information and resources to help manage this.
Intended age range: 11-19
Mental Health
Entirely Free
67%
Level 3
67%
Level 3
Combined Minds
Created by Stem4 (teenage mental charity), Combined Minds helps families and friends support young people with their mental health. When a child or young person has a diagnosed mental health condition, families and friends want to support them in the best way but also know when to step back.
Mental Health
Utilities/ Administration
Entirely Free
81%
Level 2
81%
Level 2
Tellmi
Tellmi is a peer-support app, where users can post questions or concerns and receive replies from a community of people their own age, whether they are struggling with stress, anxiety or depression, or having problems with relationships. All posts are checked by a trained worker before being published.
Age range: 11+
Mental Health
Entirely Free
86%
Level 2
86%
Level 2
86%
Level 2
Apart of Me
Apart of Me was co-created by experts in child psychology and bereaved young people and translates bereavement counselling techniques into a 3D world.
A guide supports the user along their journey. The in-app journey is designed to help users explore, accept, understand, and articulate your experience of grief and the wide range of emotions connected to it.
Intended age range: 12 - 18 (core 13 -16)
Mental Health
Paediatric
Entirely Free
80%
Level 2
80%
Level 2
distrACT
The distrACT app provides easy, quick and discreet access to general health information and advice for people who self-harm and may feel suicidal, and people supporting them.
Intended age range: 13+
Mental Health
Utilities/ Administration
Entirely Free
82%
Level 2
82%
Level 2
Feeling Good Teens
Feeling Good Teens is designed to help build self-esteem and motivation. It features 11 tracks of varying length, from 3 minutes to 11 minutes, that guide mindful relaxation, muscle relaxation, calming the mind, building self-confidence, coping with exam stress, and sleeping well. It can help you with:
- Feeling calmer and more relaxed
- Feeling less stressed
- Having better concentration
- Having more confidence
Intended age range: 10–15 years olds
Healthy Living
Mental Health
Entirely Free
82%
Level 2
82%
Level 2
Molehill Mountain
Molehill Mountain is designed to help people with autism to understand and self-manage their anxiety.
Molehill Mountain allows you to track your worries and identify the situations that trigger your anxiety. Your daily check-ins are plotted on a chart which allows you to identify pattern and trends – and you can also display a previous check-in to help you identify recurring triggers for your anxiety. Over time, tips are unlocked that will help you to understand your anxiety and learn ways to manage it.
Intended age range: 16+
Mental Health
Neurodiverse
+1
Entirely Free
69%
Level 2
69%
Level 2
Our Health App Library
The Health App Library
Our Library only contains compliant health apps, so we can be sure that the ones we recommend meet digital and clinical safety standards. You can visit the library at lscft.orchahealth.com
Please be assured we do not expect apps or the library to replace any services you may be using, but rather to complement them.