If you’re looking for some additional help in addressing mental health needs, yet lack the time or resources to see a therapist in person, the answer could be in the palm of your hand. Many sophisticated smartphone apps have been developed to make it easy for users to get connected with professional therapists, addressing mental problems ranging from depression to eating disorders, general anxiety, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and more. 

These apps offer more privacy and can remove the barriers to treatment for people who would otherwise not reach out for help. Individuals who may be concerned about confidentiality, or reluctant to admit to their mental health issues, can feel a sense of safety since they’re able to talk through their problems without the need to meet a therapist face-to-face. 

Though user reviews claim these apps give them valuable support and guidance when struggling with mental health challenges, such digital tools can’t replace medical treatment or intervention. If you have a medical condition or health concern, or if you are having thoughts of self-harm, you should always consult a physician or a qualified healthcare professional. Note also that not all of these apps have peer-reviewed research to support their claims, so you should make your own assessment of what you find helpful. 

Take a look below at our roundup of some popular mental health apps, and see if using one can help you feel better. Some of them are free of charge or free with additional costs, and others have reasonable charges. 

MoodTools
Free, iOS and Android

MoodTools contains several different services aimed at supporting people with clinical depression, including analyzing thoughts and identifying negative thought patterns, performing energizing activities while tracking your mood before and after, and giving self-help guidelines. There’s also a video section presenting mood-boosting videos and enlightening TED talks. 

Recovery Record
Free, iOS and Android

Recovery Record supports recovery from eating disorders, including anorexia and binge eating disorders, and can also help those don’t have an eating disorder but have weight and body image concerns. The app allows you to keep a record of your meals, customize meal plans for a certain goal, keep a chart to show the changes, set reminders, and receive feedback updated in real-time. 

Worry Watch
USD 1.99, iOS

Worry Watch is designed to capture and reflect users’ trigger points for anxiety. The app allows you to record your anxieties, and analyze your thought patterns with the help of charts and statistics. The app sends you daily and weekly reminders based on the reflection of your thoughts and worries, to change your thinking patterns for the future. It works offline, with an internet connection only needed for newcomers to register and while using the iCloud sync. The app has been picked as one of the best apps for anxiety relief by medical website Healthline. 

BetterHelp
USD 35 per week, iOS, Android

BetterHelp is a service that matches users with counselors who can help with all sorts of issues, including depression, addiction, stress, anxiety, relationships, grief, self-esteem, and more. It’s a network connecting users registered on the platform with licensed therapists and counselors, as well as other users struggling with similar difficulties. The platform offers a free one-week trial before users make a commitment to match with a therapist, so it’s relatively low risk. 

Headspace
USD 12.99 per month, iOS and Android

Headspace is an app featuring techniques for mindfulness and meditation. You only need to spare a few minutes every day, as the app provides access to easy meditation skills, to help you feel relieved from stress and anxiety and achieve better sleep and focus. You can set a reminder on the app, to keep yourself motivated daily. 

Talkspace
USD 49 per week, iOS 10.0 or later 

Talkspace is a platform that connects users with over 1,000 professionally licensed therapists, and allows you to text message them anonymously and privately anytime, anywhere (as long as you have Wi-Fi). They offer services to individuals experiencing symptoms of stress, feeling depressed or having anxiety attacks, as well as couples looking for more positive feelings in their relationships. The app matches users with therapists based on a number of factors, determined by a questionnaire. Your therapist will check in with you on a regular basis, as necessary. 

Moodnotes
USD 3.99, iOS 10.0 or later 

By helping you to track your moods, thoughts, and emotions over time, Moodnotes empowers you to learn about common thinking traps and how to avoid them by developing new, healthier perspectives, as well as reducing your distress and enhancing your self-awareness and sense of well-being. 

Breathing Zone
USD 3.99, iOS

Taking deep and even breaths while focusing your mind on something else could really work to combat anxiety or when you’re going through a panic attack. Breathing Zone is designed to offer specific breathing exercises, accompanied by calming music. The app offers an optional voice function to guide you through a looping inhale and exhale practice which you can breathe along with, until you find a pace that you’re comfortable with.

Optimism
Free, iOS 9.3 or later

Optimism is a mood-tracking app for people struggling with depression and bipolar disorder, as well as those looking to brighten their days. Users have space to record all the factors that affect their emotions, including the amount of caffeine or alcohol they consume daily, the length and quality of their sleep, and the exercise they’ve done. The app keeps a chart of their emotional state, to give users a visual understanding of how these factors affect their mental health. It also allows users to record potential triggers or occurrences which negatively affect their mental health. By constantly keeping tabs on their mood, users may learn to recognize key triggers and avoid depression or anxiety before they occur.

This post appeared in the beijingkids October 2018 Mental Health issue.
Photos: Apple App Store, Google Play Store, stylecaster.com

Art making is for everyone; it relieves stress, expands our ideas, makes us happier, and more thoughtful. Fostering that creative mind can also give your kids a leg up in the new creative economy, where new ideas are valued more than static information. For those right-brained (and not so right brained) kids of ours, there is a wealth of apps that can help get that creativity flowing. Whether they are painting a digital abstraction or creating a silly cartoon, here are five positive, educational kid-friendly app choices for drawing, photo editing, and other creative outlets.

FlipaClip (Free download with in-app ads and purchases / Ages 3+)
If your kids are interested in animation, this tablet-friendly drawing tool makes frame-by-frame old school flipbook style animation easy. Use background layers and paste moving characters over them, or use onion layers to show the previous drawing as a ghost image for easier tracing. Perfect when used with a stylus pen. Although the app is listed as 3+, the interface may be too challenging for kids under 6.

PicCollage Kids (USD 2.99 / Ages 3+)
From the makers of PicCollage, a hugely popular photo editing app, this kid’s version is safer, with no account required, no ads, and no social media sharing features. Your children can cut out, colorize, combine, doodle over and add borders to their favorite photos. Rotate, resize with simple touch gestures, as well as slapping on some fun, free colorful sticker packs, which are frequently updated. Save images on a device when done, print and share with friends.

MediBang Paint (Free download, in-app ads / Ages 3+)
Possibly the best-designed drawing app around, MediBang is a Japanese app specifically created for anime drawing but can be used for anything. Ideal with a tablet, your kids can navigate the simple interface and select over a hundred brushes like sumi ink, airbrush, and even something called a “turnip pen.” The beauty of this app is that it’s easy for young kids, but so dense with options, that older kids and adults can easily engage. Saved drawings can be saved and shared on social media, or within MediBang’s drawing communities, many of which are kid-friendly.

Plum’s Creaturizer (Free / Ages 5+)
Created by PBS Kids, Plum’s Creaturizer combines interests in nature and art by allowing players to create fantastical creatures with fully customizable physical features. But that’s only where you begin, because you then get to build freeform, creative narratives around the creature, like where it eats, sleeps, and raises babies. The game also has augmented reality features that allow kids to place their crazy creatures within nature, giving them things to eat and creating virtual habitats.

Happy Snap (USD 1.99 / Ages 4+)
Combining close to home adventures, photography and “I spy with my little eye,” Happy Snap is an augmented reality app that creates missions, or “scavenger hunts” to photograph something red, or something tiny or any number of fun, easy to understand parameters. With both outdoor and indoor options, this is an ideal game to play in many situations. Since kids could be running around looking for specific objects, make sure kids have a good grip on the phone or tablet. For safety, in-game photos are not stored in the app or device’s camera roll.

This article appeared on p27 of beijingkids February 2018 issue.

Keeping healthy and fit is a challenge, especially in our grey city full of cheap unhealthy food, brutal winters and a frequently high AQI. For kids, good health habits form the bedrock of adulthood, but spending formative years sitting hunched over endless homework, being overfed by nainai and a minimal focus on physical education can be problematic.Naturally, the key is education. As parents, it’s our job to encourage healthy eating and fitness habits early on in our kid’s lives to prevent childhood obesity. Luckily there are a plethora of well made, usually free apps designed for teens and pre-teens to get them to use tablets and smartphones in an active way. After all, if their faces are glued to their screens anyway, they might as well do something healthy and productive.

NFL Play 60 (Free)

Sponsored by the American Heart Association and the NFL, this free AR (augmented reality) game enables kids to run continuous obstacle courses collecting coins and power ups. These can be redeemed to buy in-game gear for your rather adorable, customizable avatar. This game requires holding an iPhone or tablet while jogging in place or jumping, so be aware of risk to the device. Use a lanyard and tell your child to play over a rug or large yoga mat.

Sworkit Kids (Free)

A teen friendly version of the extremely popular Sworkit line of fitness apps, this app is the best reviewed on the list. This sleek, well designed app enables kids to plan workouts based on improving fitness in several categories, like strength, agility and balance. You can also share your routines and progress with friends, if competition is a good motivator. It’s simple, easy to use and doesn’t contain patronizing or baby-ish graphics or voice-overs, making it ideal for older kids.

Wokamon (Free, In-App Purchases)

Not to be confused with Pokemon Go (although, “Wokamon” seems close to copyright infringement), Wokamon is actually far less buggy than its similarly named competition. The game play is simple; a pedometer counts your steps, and steps create energy. Energy can then be used to feed, grow and collect the various exceptionally cute Wokemon. You can then explore different worlds as you progress in the game. Works well with a fitbit, but otherwise can work with your phone’s GPS to track your movement.

C-Fit Yoga (USD 2.99)

According to the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, teens can benefit immensely from yoga. A regular practice helps reduce anxiety, depression, angry outbursts, relieve stress and possibly improve poor attention spans. If your kid is a yoga newbie, try the C-Fit yoga app. Created by teachers and designed as a classroom program, C-Fit Yoga presents four ten-minute yoga videos with clear instructions for proper poses. Design, however, is cheesy, with a very “PowerPoint presentation in Comic Sans” look.

Zombies, Run! (Free, Pro Membership USD 19.99 a year)

The most creative app on the list, Zombies, Run! is a mostly audio based RPG (role playing game) that allows players to wear headphones and jog outdoors or on a treadmill evading zombies and collecting supplies. The storyline is engrossing, and adds a lot of motivation to the monotony of jogging. When you hear the undead hordes groaning in your ear, your adrenaline kicks in and you’ll run for your life. Exhilarating, but not for the faint-hearted. Also not appropriate for kids under 12 due to the extremely gory and violent storyline.

Dungeon Runner (Free, In-App Purchases)

Graphically resembling a vintage SNES game, Dungeon Runner uses motion tracking technology and your tablet’s front-facing camera. You’ll kick-box enemies, squat through passageways and jump over pits. Progressing through the game means your child is becoming more fit with every monster vanquished. This is great motivation for die hard arcade gamer kids, and is the beginning of a revolution of very playable, fun fitness games.

Photos: Google Play, Apple Store

This article appeared on p16-17 beijingkids November 2017 issue.
Download your copy here.

For those looking to feed their brains with the knowledge and challenges that they crave, check out the following free apps that will help keep your thinking skills sharp and ready for the new school year.

Games

Lumosity
Scientists and game designers have come together to develop this brain training game. Lumosity is a simple online tool that allows anyone to train core cognitive abilities, such as memory and attention. Challenge your brain with more than 30 different games and puzzles, and track your score to help you improve or see how you compare with others. Free to download on iOS and Android

Brilliant
Are you looking to improve your math and science skills? Then this “brilliant” app is for you! Master subjects like chemistry, number theory, and computer science through conceptual quizzes, written by mathematicians and scientists who are passionate about teaching. Free to download on iOS and Android.

Chess.com
Have you ever shied away from learning chess, because it seems like too much of a difficult game? This app will boost your confidence by giving you various forms of support on your chess-learning journey. Lessons and videos teach you everything you need to know about openings, endgames, tactics, attacks, and strategy. You can solve tactical puzzles to develop your intuition about the best moves to make, or you can play against others or the computer to strengthen your overall skills. Free to download on iOS and Android.

Language Help

HelloTalk
HelloTalk is an app that you can use to learn languages by chatting with native language speakers from around the world. Choose from over 100 languages and become instantly connected with native speakers. This app offers many language learning tools such as voice-to-text, transliteration, translation, and grammar correction, which will help you pick up the language faster and more efficiently. Free to download on iOS and Android.

ChineseSkill
Similar to the well-known Duolingo, ChineseSkill is a game-based app that makes learning Mandarin a whole lot more fun. The lessons are available in the form of mini-games that test your listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills. The lessons are also split into bite-size pieces that cover topics such as greetings and introductions, shopping, travel, food, dating and flirting, and many more. Free to download on iOS and Android.

Online courses

Khan Academy
Whether you need extra homework help or you are just passionate about learning, Khan Academy offers videos, interactive exercises, and in-depth articles to help you learn math, science, economics, humanities, and more. You can also find lessons to prepare you for the upcoming SAT, GMAT, or MCAT. This is one of our personal favorite learning tools, as the lessons are easy to understand, and the exercises do a great job of reinforcing the main points. Free to download on iOS and Android.

edX
edX offers online courses from the world’s best universities and institutions including Harvard University, MIT, Tsinghua University, Microsoft, and The Smithsonian. Anyone who loves learning will benefit from the plethora of courses in subjects like programming, calculus, and business, which will fit into even the busiest of schedules. Free to download on iOS and Android.

Fun for kids

Scratch Jr.
Children as young as five can learn the basics of coding with Scratch Jr, an app designed by researchers at Tufts University, MIT Media Lab, and Playful Invention Company. This programming language is a simplification of the more famous Scratch language, as it is suitable for children who have yet to strengthen their reading skills. The objective of this app is to snap together different programming blocks to make adorable characters move, jump, dance, and sing. This app is not only perfect for teaching kids how to code, it is also great for improving their problem solving, design, and creativity skills. Free to download on iPad and Android tablets.

Photos: MIH83 via Pixabay, courtesy of apps

---

This article originally appeared on p 18-19 of beijingkids August 2017 issue.
Download the digital copy here.

For those looking to conceive, track a pregnancy, or plan for the birth of their child, we reviewed some free apps that can help guide you and your partner through this life stage. These apps can be useful for both the pregnant individual and any involved partner to better understand what exactly is going on.

Full Term

This app has a stopwatch to track a mother’s contractions while she’s in labor and also includes a kick counter. Users can also track the intensity of each contraction by simultaneously using the intensity tracker and contraction length tracker. Full Term’s “Quick Reference” section also includes information on topics related to prenatal care, labor and delivery, and postnatal care. Free to download on iOS and Android.

Ovia Fertility Tracker

After entering basic information on the mother-to-be’s health, including age, date and length of the last period, and the length of her period cycle, the Ovia Fertility tracker creates a personalized ovulation cycle calendar. The app also has a space for users to add the dates that they last had intercourse, the consistency of their cervical fluid, the food and liquids consumed, hours slept, and other detailed health information. It helps, that the app is quite comprehensive in functions and information.  Free to download on iOS and Android.

Baby Bump

The Baby Bump app allows expecting parents to track important information throughout the pregnancy. Parents-to-be simply begin by inputting their baby’s size and weight data. The app also includes general educational materials on the daily and weekly stages of pregnancies. The daily and weekly stages include picture depictions of the baby during particular stages of growth, the mother’s bodily reactions, recommended activities to do or shy away from, and health tips. The app also includes forums to meet and engage with other expecting parents, a function to create private groups and send private messages, a journal, potential baby names, and a kick counter. The information that parents input is also made into convenient graphs and charts to track changes over time. Parents can also make a plan for the day of the birth as well as use the app’s inbuilt contraction counter. Free to download on iOS and Android.

Baby Center: Pregnancy App & Baby Tracker

Baby Center is a comprehensive app that helps track your baby’s movements and growth patterns while in the womb. The app includes such functions as a kick tracker, a searchable database that shows which activities are safe or not safe to participate in, a contraction timer, and other educational tools. Users can also plan for their child’s arrival by creating a baby registry of necessary items as well as watch the childbirth class videos in the “Tools” section of the app. These classes cover such topics as the signs and stages of labor and steps to a positive birth. When opening the app, users will start on the “Calendar” page which shows what week of pregnancy the user is on, as well as the facts surrounding the baby’s development and other important information surrounding that particular stage. Users can also interact with other people on the app through Baby Center’s community forums. Free to download on iOS and Android.

Baby Tracker

In addition to attending to your daily necessities, parents will most likely also want to keep track of milestones, activities, and information on  their little ones as well. This app aims to make it easy to track important information on your child. The tracker allows parents to record  feedings and breastfeeding patterns, diaper changes, sleep, growth, and allows you to keep a photo library of your findings. The app also makes it easy for parents to input and track medical history. This information from the app can be copied to other devices and synced with other phones for easy sharing and access for yourself and others. Free to download on iOS and Android.

Children can understand basic fundamentals of money and its value by age 7 according to a University of Cambridge study. We asked TKè, a company that provides workshops for children to get more hands on experience with technology, for an app recommendation to assist in this. TKè works with schools like 3e International School to provide technology-based afterschool activities. According to the organization, “We believe improving children’s interpersonal skills and technological know-how will help them overcome the challenges and grasp the opportunities posed by 21st century technology.”
The app they recommend is the PiggyBot, a free iOS application for teaching children about money. The major drawback of the app is that the app can’t be synced across your iPhone, iPad, or iPod but can be downloaded on to each device. “This electronic piggybank’s simple interface and limited vocabulary makes it easy for children ages 6 and up to navigate. However the app does not explain what an allowance is, nor the difference between spending and saving; it facilitates that conversation between parents and their children. Parents can use the app to indicate how much allowance each child gets, and how much of that allowance must be saved or shared.”
“Once the electronic I owe you (IOU) is dispensed, each child can open his or her account and put the “money” into their respective “bins” (Spend, Share, Save). Children can then list their target purchases (e.g. a cupcake) and upload a picture of the item. They can also indicate who they want to share their “money” with, as well as remove “money” from their savings account (with parental permission). When a financial target is met, children can carry out the task with their parents’ help (e.g. purchasing the cupcake) and then indicate their accomplishment on the app. Once parents confirm the accomplishment, the child receives a badge!”
“Finally, parents can tap on a child and add a list of bonus chores the child can complete for extra money. Privacy is not an issue with this app, as it asks for nothing other than a parent’s email address for password recovery. No actual money is being transferred through the app, but it’s a great way for children to get used to online banking, and thinking of money in more abstract terms (i.e. debt and credit cards).”
“If you’re a busy parent, with older children, Green$treets may be the better choice. In this virtual world, children complete electronic “chores” to earn in-game currency. They can then use the currency to decorate their virtual playroom and rescue endangered species. The app implicitly teaches children the difficulty of earning money, and the importance of saving and donating what you earn.”

Green$treets
Platform: iOS
Price: Free

Piggy Bot
Platform: iOS
Price: Free

Contact Celia_y@tketech.co for info on camps and classes.

This article originally appeared on page 35 of the September 2016 Issue of beijingkids magazine. Click here for your free online copy. To find out how you can obtain a hard copy, contact distribution@truerun.com.

PHOTOS: Moneyisland.com, iTunes.com

McJoseph Besong, physical and health education teacher at Beijing No.55 High School, International Students Section, emphasizes that eating well is key to performing well in sports and other athletic activities. Besong says that using a variety of online apps, kids can learn about food groups, nutrition facts, the digestive system, and cooking skills, so they can make healthy decisions about what they eat. Apps are an ideal platform for nutritional learning because kids are excited to use them, and healthy eating habits built early will last a lifetime.

As children come back from the highs of summer and get into more indoor activities, it’s a great opportunity for kids to learn how to make the right choices about eating healthier food and learning to get a better grasp of different food groups through educational games. Besong recommends:

Easy Eater 2
Easy Eater teaches your kids to eat healthier by eating more fruits and veggies. In Easy Eater, kids are responsible for naming and keeping a pet healthy and happy by feeding it the same foods they eat. Set in a magical forest, Easy Eater boasts a motley cast of characters that teach food groups and encourage food recognition. Kids learn foundational food facts like that shrimp, tofu, and nuts are proteins and that avocados are fruits. Healthy choices earn “grub bucks” to buy app accessories and real world prizes.
Platform: iOS
Price: USD 0.99

Healthy Heroes 1 & 2
As the Healthy Heroes 1 in this game, kids are charged with saving the city of Yogopolis from Hungry Monsters. Through 36 levels of game play, kids fend off the Hungry Monsters with healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. Junk foods anger the monsters and prevent advancement. Kids learn to recognize healthy foods and eating habits throughout the game. Getting the right nutrition is an important part of a child’s growth and development. Kids who eat healthfully perform better at school than those who have poor eating habits. Teaching your children how to make the right food choices will help give their brains and bodies the energy they need to grow into healthy adults.

Healthy Heroes 2 is about “Queen Ignorantia”, who has meddled in the Yogome world once more by sending her robotic henchmen to steal away the good stuff, leaving the healthy monsters feeling sick and out of sorts.  Players journey through a prehistoric landscape to find the five food groups and restore nutritional balance.

While we all learn about the five basic food groups in grade school, public education does little to really reinforce that learning. School lunches are rarely as healthy as they should be, while junk food is available just about everywhere.

Healthy Heroes 2 seeks to teach kids the basics of holistic eating by combining a compulsively playable “matching game” puzzle mechanic with a story that seamlessly ties together the five food groups (i.e., fruits, vegetables, cereals, proteins, and dairy) and rewards learning. There are plenty of different morsels to find for each food group in the pyramid – over 30 healthy foods in all!

More so, Healthy Heroes 2 teaches kids about balanced meals and as they play the game, parents are encouraged to participate in the process by offering healthier eating options at home. If our kids are our future, then nutrition should be a concern higher up on everyone’s list. Help the healthy monsters feel happy again by taking nutrition out of the classroom and into the living room with Healthy Heroes 2.
Platform: iOS
Price: USD 2.99

This article originally appeared on page 35 of the August 2016 Issue of beijingkids magazine. Click here for your free online copy. To find out how you can obtain a hard copy, contact distribution@truerun.com.

Photos:Screenshots

Teachers from Beijing World Youth Academy and Harrow International School Beijing recommend educational apps for the summer months

Math Battles to Go
Zach Ellis, first grade teacher at Beijing World Youth Academy, recommends Math Battle as a great time killer app for kids when waiting for a flight or sitting in the back of a car on long journeys. Math Battle is free to download with no additional paid add-ons or distracting advertisements, and is an innovative math practice app that combines math problems with a futuristic space ship battle. With the level of difficulty ranging from kindergarten up to complex long division, the gameplay alternates between arithmetic drills and exciting space missions. Getting the right answers powers up your spaceship for the next mission.

Zach adds, “This app really feels more like a game than anything educational and represents a fun challenge for all ages and levels that really helps develop a child’s numeracy and mental arithmetic abilities. Children are using smart devices all the time these days but apps, such as Math Battle, ensure that the time playing on a smart phone or tablet doesn’t have to be time wasted. This is a great app to have on any device that your child regularly uses and is a perfect way to keep children occupied during any vacation down time.
“WiFi is not necessary in order to enjoy the app so it is perfect for those summer travel plans as content is accessible wherever you are. It also includes a full tutorial on how the play the game, so your children will be working their brain cells while destroying asteroids in a far off galaxy before you can say blast off!”

Designer Outlets
Ian Wade, Design and Technology teacher at Harrow International School Beijing recommends two software programs for your laptop hugging child! The first is Westpoint Bridge Builder, which as its name suggests, is a program for budding engineers to discover what it takes to build a strong and sturdy bridge. Once you’ve finished the design, you can name the bridge, see how much it costs to construct, and assess the weak and strong aspects of your design.  Finally, you can even test your bridge by opening the design in the simulator, which will play a 3D animation of a lorry driving over your bridge, at which point the question will be: will your bridge be strong enough?

The second software that Wade recommends is TechSoft2D Design, which allows users to create sophisticated drawing and design features without having to pour hours into learning how to use it.  TechSoft2D Design’s simple user interface means that 2D Design is the Computer Assisted Design (CAD) standard for the vast majority of secondary schools, allowing for drawings for traditional engineering, colorful free-form designs for embroidery, or smart graphical presentation sheets.  Once you’re back in school, you can ask your Design Tech teacher to assist in producing your 2D design with whichever tool you need: laser and vinyl cutters, embroidery machine, or any other Computer Assisted Manufacturing (CAM) output that can be used with 2D design.

This article originally appeared on page 39 of the 2016 June-July Issue of beijingkids magazine. Click here for your free online copy. To find out how you can obtain a hard copy, contact distribution@truerun.com.

Photos courtesy of BWYA & Harrow Beijing