‘Hold On’ app to aid positive mental health
Goal setting is not something Claire Smith would have done previously, as she didn’t think she would be here to see such goals come to fruition.
However, she did succeed in developing her ‘Hold On - We Got You’ app, which launches today.
“How can I use my pain to lessen the suffering for others? How can I reach the amount of people I need to reach?”
Those are the two questions the single mother of four asked herself when coming to terms with her own past, and realising that she can use her experience to help others.
The Kingscourt-based woman, with the help of local businesses, has developed a self-help app aimed at managing addiction and mental health.
The launch is a full circle moment for Claire, who struggled with an unhealthy relationship with alcohol all through her teenage years, suicidal ideation, and sexual abuse at a young age. The app was born out of her own experiences, and is something that she believes would have helped her in the past. From midday today, it will be available to download.
“It’s very very exciting, and I am so proud of myself for holding on,” she says.
Each day a user enters their own personal profile on the app, it will prompt them to select how they are feeling at that moment using a traffic light system; green for ‘I’m ready’, orange if you are feeling ‘stuck’ and red if you are feeling like ‘it’s too much’.
The response prompts tools, which can help you at the stage you are at. For example, green would give advice from a fitness coach or a prompt to set goals for the future; orange will provide support to get out of that “rut”; while red would suggest meditation for “calming your racing mind”.
The latter is the section about which Claire is “most passionate”.
“I have been on my knees and suicidal ideation would have been there so much throughout my life. I never want anyone to feel so alone.”
This section includes videos from family members and friends who have lost loved ones to suicide, and the impact this has had on their lives afterwards.
“Sometimes, in those moments, we just need something more than ourselves to hold on,” she says.
“Now I’m ready to live and it’s a very special place to get to after it all.
“To come from the depths of so much darkness and struggle to be able to come to a place where you feel freedom, and to a place where you can gift life to others...
“By clicking on the app, they are the ones making the moves [towards recovery]. People can help us, they can support us, but we are the only ones that can save ourselves. We have to put in the work.”
The app can provide help through a series of videos by Claire and other contributors, more of whom are expected to come on board in the future. It will also provide links where people can go to receive help, while the app also includes a function for journaling, music inspired by her book ‘The Girl from the Shadow’, and blogs. There is also a self-reflection section.
“We’re not leaving them with just videos or words; we are asking people to take action for themselves.”
The next phase of the app will be in September, when their fitness, nutritionist and AI bot will be incorporated. The latter will be informed by Claire’s experiences and advice from a psychologist, to make what she believes is Ireland’s first trauma-informed AI bot.
“This is just a bridge between isolation and connection,” she believes. “We are losing people because of waiting lists” and she adds how this will help them to “hold on” until they do get the help they need.
Launch tour
The thirty-nine-year-old has a launch tour of Ireland planned to get the word out there that this app is free of charge to download and free to use. The organiser of Kingscourt Cars and Coffee has arranged a convoy of vintage and show cars and motorbikes to tour Ireland over a period of four days starting tomorrow (July 2). The tour will begin in Cassidy’s Service Station, Carrickmacross and finish on Sunday, July 5 at 6pm in Kingscourt. They hope to leave QR codes to the app in towns across the country, while also meeting people and spreading the word about the app.
While Claire is hoping to reach people country-wide with the ‘Hold On’ app, she’s also aiming to inspire her four “incredible” children.
“I want to make them proud, so they can look at their mam and think ‘well she had the resilience and strength to come through everything she has, and look at her now. If she can do it so can I’.”
The app isn’t accredited or verified by a mental health charity or governing board. It’s a self-help and recovery support app built from lived experience, with tools, resources, videos and guidance to support people on their journey. Claire says it’s not intended to replace professional mental health care but to work alongside it and encourage people to reach out for support when needed.
HELP LINES
Pieta House can be contacted 24/7 via their helpline on 1800 247 247 or text 51444.
SOSAD’s helpline can be contacted on 1800 901 909.