7 apps to help you take a breath and reconnect with yourself

Sometimes as our mind races, our thoughts can feel slightly out of control. Or we might feel overwhelmed by our eating disorder voice, self-criticism, or anxiety. When these emotions arise, we may not have the words to fully express what we’re feeling. Or maybe we don’t feel like talking at all. It can be helpful to take a moment, breath, and plug in – to an app.

A note on safety: while mindfulness and recovery support apps are a great way to take a step away from the outer world and reconnect to our inner self, body scans – or checking in with your physical body may be suggested within the apps as part of the meditation process, which can be potentially triggering. If you are on the recovery journey and find it a bit daunting to connect with your body in such a direct way, you can try just focusing on your mind. With a variety of apps out there, if you feel unsure about whether or not they’re the most useful option for you, it’s best to consult with a health professional that understands eating disorders, like a therapist or dietician.

When used correctly, having help to quiet our inner critic or our anxious thoughts, at the touch of our fingertips can be very beneficial.

Check out this list of seven sensational apps to help give you a bit of a reset.

1. Mindshift

Designed by ReachOut to help teens and adults better manage their anxiety. Rather than trying to get rid of your anxious feelings and thoughts, this app was made to help you make a shift in the way in which you think so you can take steps to face your anxiety and take charge of it. It includes tools to help with perfectionism, worry, panic and conflict. It can also help you with situation-related anxiety such as exam anxiety, performance anxiety, and social anxiety.

Cost: Free

2. Headspace

Headspace created an app that aims to teach meditation and mindfulness skills in just a few minutes a day. It offers meditation for an assortment things such as focusing, work, kids, sleep, stress, and anxiety. It includes guided meditations, animations, articles and videos.

Cost: $12.99 per month

3. Calm

This mindfulness meditation app is great for people across all levels of meditation, whether you consider yourself to be an expert or just beginning. Calm has over 100 guided mediations geared to help with how to better manage anxiety, stress, as well as get a better night’s sleep.

Cost: $12.99 per month

4. Recovery record

When used alongside a practitioner, the Recovery Road app can be useful to help you with the challenges that may come up on your eating disorder recovery journey. It’s designed to help you achieve your recovery goals by staying motivated and connected. This app is intended to be an interactive and integrated treatment platform, and is designed for every type of eating disorder at any stage of recovery.

Cost: Free

5. Insight Timer

This app is filled with a large variety of mediations, and is constantly evolving as new content is added every day. Whether you’re on the go and in a bit of a rush or sitting at home with some time to spare, this app has all sorts of mediations with different time durations. It has an array of topics for you to explore, from confidence, happiness, love, stress, depression, motivation, and more.

Cost: Free

6. Smiling mind

This app was created by psychologists and educators to help you deal with the pressures, stress and challenges in your daily life. With just 10 minutes a day, this app can help you bring more balance into your life with mediations and programs for both children and adults.

Cost: Free

7.BeyondBlue – The Check-in app

If you feel as though you have a friend who needs support, but you don’t really know how to go about approaching them, this is a great app for you. It’s intended to help young people plan out that potentially difficult conversation; including tips on where to have the conversation as well as tools to test out how the conversation may go. It offers you a way to look out for your own mental health while trying to be there for a friend who needs help. There’s tips from other young people and a variety of online and phone services throughout Australia you can go to for more help if you need it.

Cost: Free

If you’re experiencing any kind of emotional discomfort, just want to talk, or if you’re concerned and want to speak with a health professional who has specific knowledge around eating disorders, reach out to Butterfly’s National Helpline for a referral.

Get Support –

You can talk to us! Contact the Butterfly Foundation’s National Helpline – 

Phone: 1800 33 4673 (ED HOPE).
Email: support@butterfly.org.au
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