Happiness apps: how schools are joining the fight for better student mental health.

• Author: Fleming, Sean

Byline: Sean Fleming

Schoolchildren who have experienced trauma or neglect could benefit from the use of mental well-being apps in the classroom. That's according to educationalists and welfare workers in Australia, where the use of apps in schools is becoming increasingly popular.

The apps are being used in a variety of ways.

Australia's third largest state, the Northern Territory, is bigger than Egypt, Pakistan or Peru. Yet it's home to fewer than 250,000 people. In this vast and sometimes inhospitable landscape, many smaller communities, especially those of the indigenous Aboriginal people, are isolated and lacking access to many support services.

St Joseph's Catholic College is one of 10 schools in the state that are trialling the Smiling Mind app. Teachers use it to help children refocus and settle down after breaks, recesses and lunch.

Dr Addie Wootten, who is a clinical psychologist and the chief executive of Smiling Mind, told Australian news network ABC: "The teacher can start to talk about how your body physically reacts to emotion, and how kids can learn simple techniques to calm their body so they settle themselves rather than react to those emotions."

A problem but not a stigma

According to the World Health Organization, in the region of 450 million people worldwide are currently suffering from mental or neurological disorders - two-thirds of whom never seek help.

"Mental illness is not a personal failure. In fact, if there is failure, it is to be found in the way we have responded to people with mental and brain disorders," Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the WHO, says.

The causes of poor mental health and mental health breakdowns are yet to be fully understood. In its Fundamental Facts About Mental Health report, the UK-based Mental Health Foundation writes: "A significant body of work now exists that emphasises the need for a lifecourse approach to understanding and tackling mental and physical health inequalities. Disadvantage starts before birth and accumulates throughout life."

Well-being depends on both nature and nurture.

Image: Mental Health Foundation

Smiling Mind provides additional training to schools and individual teachers in the use of their app and in mindfulness - how to practise it as well as how to teach it.

It's just one of an increasing number of mental health and well-being apps available.

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