Hon Paula Bennett
Minister for Social Development
Associate Minister of Housing

1 August 2013

Mood diary smart phone app released

The Social Media Innovations Fund has reached a key milestone with the recent release of the Phobic Trust’s mobile phone mood diary app.

“I’m pleased to see the Phobic Trust mood diary app is now available for free from the Apple Store, allowing young people easy access to an innovative tool to help manage their mental health,” Mrs Bennett said.

The Phobic Trust was one of five organisations awarded a one-off grant when the Fund launched in February this year.

“The grants were provided as a funding boost for existing projects aimed at improving the mental health and wellbeing of young New Zealanders.”

The Phobic Trust app allows people to keep track of the things that cause stress and anxiety in their lives, record sleep and exercise patterns, and provides one-touch access to key contacts in emergency situations.

Other projects to receive funding are progressing well. Youthline’s INSPIRE Me text message counselling pilot started on 22 July, and Zeal’s Live for Tomorrow social media campaign launches this month.

Like the mood diary app, these projects offer a chance for young people to talk about mental health and the things that affect them through relevant mediums like texting, Facebook, smart phones and blogs.

The Social Media Innovations Fund, a key part of the Prime Minister’s Youth Mental Health Project, provides $2 million over four years to develop and progress projects that use technology to help combat mental health issues.

As part of the Fund, four Lifehack Weekends were held throughout April bringing together around 100 young people who were given the opportunity to develop solutions to mental health problems.

Judges have reviewed ten video proposals to come from the Lifehack Weekends, and the teams whose proposals are set to move into Lifehack Labs for further testing and development will be announced shortly.

ENDS

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