I MIND- An App Focused on Taking Back Your Life Minutes..
From the past couple of years, the Covid-19 pandemic has affected people all over the world, but more so, it has highlighted this much bigger global emergency in the realm of mental health and who isn’t receiving the services they need .
My Inspiration
This app idea came to life while studying the way that technology plays a role in mending the gap, especially within the global shortage of psychiatrists and the lack of sources surrounding mental health care. While looking at the way that young people today use technology, I wanted to see if I could somehow, make their mental health and integration into the technology they use, invest in, and care for, everyday.
Because of the interconnnected feelings users tend to have from using apps, I thought that with the technology generation; I hit the jackpot. My idea was based on not changing too much about the person’s daily habit’s, but to really start integrating the small aspects that create big change over time. This big change is called mindfulness and gratitude.
Because of the negative work culture surrounding higher education, college students all around the world are constantly working, putting their education first, and tending to often forget about their own well-being or mental health. More so, many college seniors are so pressured by post-graduation plans, fear of failing, and doubting their skills that they often aren’t even aware to the negative effects this has on their mental health. Overwhelmed with stress and anxiety, these students put themselves last every time.
IMIND helps to promote awareness and growth of oneself, by being simple, easy to navigate, and having short activities that can allow users to really track and watch themselves grow overtime, as they integrate mindfulness and gratitude.
App Construct
IMIND is broken down into 4 sections- Journal, Reflection, Senioritis, and Activities. With a series of positive regards, the app encourages users to take the small steps in creating a better space to be in their minds, and doesn’t reinforce the guilt that often comes with not fulfilling one of these mental health apps.
The Journal tab asks users to show up for themselves, and do some expressive, open ended writing to help solidify where they’re at. This feature is used within the app to start to create awareness. Often times, students are moving so fast within their days, they forget to check in with themselves and see how they are or what they need- and this is a crucial piece within mental health. Once finished, this creates a journal entry for the time and date that the user created it- and then stores it so the user can later interact with it.
The Reflection tab is similar, it asks users to “check-in”, and the goal for this tab is to see how the user is feeling in the moment, and tries to link that by asking about previous events or thoughts that led up to this feeling. This helps to connect the dots and make users more aware of the huge impact that their thoughts and environment have on their mental health on a microscopic level. This “check-in” also allows users to choose whether they are practicing mindfulness or gratitude today, and serves as a good reminder that we can start anytime of any day. To finish this tab off, it also asks users to choose an affirmation to keep in mind today, this is to set some intention for the day. Once an entry is created, like the first tab, it will go to a running list and be available for users to have full access to, that way users will be able to see their feelings and understand a link to why they were feeling this way when they were. All about awareness and learning about themselves.
The Senioritis tab is all about support and helping students recognize that they’re not alone, and that their are services for them. It highlights some areas of stress/worry and allows the user to really connect to some of the feelings they’re going through. This page is also to be used to validate the users feelings and to enstill confidence.
The final tab, the activities tab, gives three buttons reading; mindfulness, gratitude, and breath work. The mindfulness activity has a narrative about the purpose of mindfulness, and asks users to recognize how they will be using it. More so, it leads to 3 examples of how you can simply be mindful, even in a students busy day. The gratitude page asks users what they can be grateful for in the moment, and they even get a bit of joy out of doing it (confetti). The last page is breath work, where there are 3 different examples of mindful breathing, and explaining how to practice them.
IMIND is a big part of what I care for and the passion that lies with how I can change the world and make it a more joyful place to be. My purpose for this app is to bring more joy into people’s lives and for users to realize that life is short and precious, and that we should be living every minute as if we are absolutely in love with our lives and what it brings to us.
https://previewer.adalo.com/74220c61-31aa-4d6a-9609-d1d61bda54c3
