YMCA Trinity Group and Thrive launch mental well-being app in a bid to improve early intervention in schools
YMCA Trinity Group has teamed up with app developers Thrive to offer schools across the Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Northamptonshire regions Feel Stress Free – a clinically proven mobile app to support student and staff well-being.
Feel Stress Free is now a key part of YMCA Trinity Group’s range of mental health intervention services offered to schools across the region. It uses a number of clinically proven techniques to assess users’ overall wellbeing and provides support tools and strategies in an engaging, entertaining format. The app already has over 800,000 users and this new partnership will enable schools to join this community from just £2, per user per year a fraction of the open market cost.*
The announcement comes as research released by YMCA as part of its ‘Be Real’ campaign has shown that half of young people have been bullied about the way they look, with two fifths of those experiencing this bullying at least once a week.
These findings back up a report (8,280KB, PDF) in February by the NAHT and Place2Be which showed that schools are coming under increasing pressure to help students to not only achieve academic excellence, but also to cope with a growing number of pupils who are struggling with their wellbeing. Despite this increased need, 90 per cent of school leaders cited funding as a significant barrier to making mental health support available widely in their schools.
Rod Allerton, Director of Development at YMCA Trinity Group said: “There continues to be a growing need in our region for mental health and wellbeing services. YMCA Trinity Group has worked in partnership with schools for a number of years and understands both their needs and the financial challenges they face.
“We have developed a comprehensive range of mental health services which includes direct intervention and teacher training. Feel Stress Free is a real breakthrough, providing a new, cost effective way to empower students and staff to take control of their personal wellbeing, whilst also identifying those in need of further intervention.
“The app can be customised for each school allowing them access to data trends specific to their staff or student cohort. This enables schools to prioritise funding and resources towards tailored wellbeing programmes. It’s a massive step forward for preventing mental health issues in young children.”
The app uses games and activities to assess users’ wellbeing and provides strategies and exercises to build their resilience. The app will also detect users who need some additional support and signpost them to the relevant channels.
Simon Jay, Business Partnership Manager at Thrive said: “We’re delighted to be making Feel Stress Free available to schools. We have a lot of experience working with young people through partnerships across a range of ages and sectors and we are confident that this tool will quickly become an integral part of the wellbeing offering available within schools. Existing users have embraced the opportunities the app offers and we have seen significant improvements in their wellbeing during use.”
Contact us
To find out more or to book a demonstration, schools should contact YMCA Trinity Group on 01733 373187 or [email protected]
More information is also available on our dedicated Thrive App page.
*Open market cost – £60 per user per year.
