Calming Down - staff wellness app
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a substantial negative impact on the mental health of healthcare workers, with 68.7% reporting a decline in mental health because of working and living during the crisis. HCPC Registered Music Psychotherapist Anthony Hall found that his knowledge of music therapy and guided relaxations made a difference to others who needed support with their emotional and mental health during this challenging time.
The opportunity
Anthony wanted to make practical and concise psychological support tools and techniques, that offer low level support in managing issues such as sleeplessness and anxiety, accessible to as many people as possible. We felt that this was a great opportunity for the Digital Hub to support our staff’s health and well-being and wanted to help kick-start Anthony’s ambitions.
What we did
The Digital Hub connected Anthony to the School of Code. The School of Code offers free coding courses to anyone, from any background, who would like to start a career in tech. The aim was for their students to develop a MVP (Minimum Viable Product) for an app as their final project on their course, which the Hub team can test with our staff.
The app would offer a unique mix of music therapy, guided relaxation and short visualisation in five-minute bite-sized chunks. The idea was to offer a tool box of solutions that anyone can use as and when they need to, several times a day, offering quick relief in stressful situations.
At the end of the four-week boot camp, Anthony was presented with two options for an app from two different group of students. The Hub team spent three months promoting the app Anthony chose to volunteer testers across the Foundation Group, gaining some valuable feedback on how to progress with its development.
“Using the app, I now have the knowledge and confidence to take just 5 minutes several times a day to relieve accumulating stress or clear my mind.”
— App tester
Following this, we explored a number of different options regarding how Anthony could move his app into the next phase. Finally, we connected him with Aston University, where a team will support him with creating the next version that can be promoted to our staff.
We are looking forward to welcoming the next version of Calming Down back soon! However, in the meantime, check out Anthony’s website for a taste of what content will be available in the app.