Break Free

Break Free is an app that provides individuals experiencing difficulties with their mental health a platform to more easily share their emotions through artwork and seek help in a supportive and understanding family of like minded individuals.

Mental health is an often overlooked problem as more attention is given to communicable disease and cancer; although it is the third largest cause of death in the world, it fails to be treated as such. It becomes costly for people to seek care and because of this failure in the health care system--people die. Because of the stigma surrounding mental health, people fail to reach out to their loved ones for fear of seeming weak or unvalidated. There needs to be a solution that is both cost effective and easily accessible to people in need of an understanding environment.

Mental health is strongly correlated with human connection. If mental health issues are to be properly treated, a safe space must be created for individuals suffering from mental health issues. A 2016 article published in Scientific American on human connection in an increasingly digitalized world found that participants going into therapy with an automated system were more likely to open up about their feelings than when confronted with a real life person. This app would be able to provide the user with both the anonymity of a stranger with the option of pursuing later human connection through art collaboration.

The goal of our solution is to create a platform for people who are struggling with mental health to be able to reach out to others and form human connections. The BreakFree app would allow these people who are just beginning to struggle get the understanding and validation they need to either improve their mental health or seek professional help. Presenting emotions through art in a community where mental health is understood would allow emotional healing in an organic way. By intervening at an early stage, much of the damage that mental health can cause on society would be avoided.

Will track from app (there will be a meet up option that we can track remotely) - 1000 people reach out to meet and talk about mental health

Currently there are not any apps that address mental health in such an interactive way. There are apps that claim to reduce stress, but there is no consumer focused software that builds a community centered around mental health with the goal of creating connections through art as the Break Free app. The Break Free app would introduce organic conversation about mental health through shared artwork. 

The Break Free app would cultivate a community of humans with similar experiences. Humans will help humans will help humans by being a part of the community and providing support for others in need of a helping hand.

This solution will be provided to the population as a mobile phone app. There is already an extensive network of social media websites, and Break Free would be a type of extension to these websites. Instead of mindlessly scrolling through feeds that could contribute to mental health issues, users can interact with the artwork that someone posts either in a physical or virtual sense.

I had an idea, and I believe in the idea. I thought that Solve was a unique competition and I wanted to offer my share of thoughts on the issue of Brain Health. I personally have struggled with mental health, so I can understand just how difficult it is to reach out to people which is why I wanted to make it as easy as possible through the Break Free app.

Logan Abel