Mental Renewal

I am committed to finding a solution to the emerging problem of mental health issues such as anxiety and depression caused by the disconnect of the Covid-19 pandemic. I am proposing the solution of a mobile app which would offer an easier link for teenagers and young adults to seek help, since many young people do not seek help due to the negative stigma associated with these issues. My solution could positively change the lives of people outside my close community and the young age group if scaled globally, as the app could be built and expanded to appeal to more audiences and support more people. Global exposure would allow more people to learn about the app. Because the app helps people find therapists or life coaches to talk to, a larger scaled version of the app would gain the attention of more pro bono workers.

The specific problem I am looking to solve is the lack of entry for teenagers and young adults to therapists for problems such as anxiety, depression, social stress, and more. Because there is a negative social stigma around depression, many young people do not seek help because they do not want to face these problems. In my high school community, an optional survey sent to every student found that the average avoidance and intrusion subscale fell in the moderate range of total stress (35.15), above the cut off level of mild stress (26). A new global report from Sapien labs and the Mental Health Million Project found that the percentage of respondents with clinical level risks of anxiety and depression increased from 14% in 2019 to 26% in 2020, worst among the 18-24 years old age group. 

My solution is called Mental Renewal. It is a mobile app which allows young adults and teenagers an easy entry point to finding help and resources for mental health issues. It is a mobile app with four main uses. One of the tabs in the app allows people to read the latest information concerning the pandemic, mental health, and other issues from articles posted by trusted sources such as the CDC. Another page is a contact page for people to find therapists or pro bono workers who would be available for counseling. A third page is similar to a forum, where simple questions related to mental health (not personal) could be posted by verified users of the app to be answered by professionals. The final page is an events page where community events are held, such as a movie night, to offer activities for young adults and teens to participate in which prevents loneliness, a detriment to mental health.

My solution primarily aims to serve young adults and teenagers, and I plan to have this app serve the community around me, which includes my school, as well as people outside of my community who find the app through other means. Many people in my school have suffered from the pandemic, especially in the 2019-2020 year, and I know both school and family friends who have struggled to stay in a positive mindset in the past two years. Although the pandemic itself is beginning to end, the problems from the pandemic persist; the app Mental Renewal would engage with its users and address their needs through support in the form of therapists and a friendly  community.

Combating mental health issues from the pandemic, primarily anxiety and depression, relates to the problems of loneliness, stress, and depression as the app Mental Renewal helps to address the mental issues they contribute to. Mental Renewal acts as the solution to these problems because it is an easy way to access resources which help with loneliness, stress, and depression through community to address loneliness and professionals to help with stress and depression. The target population of young adults and teenagers is appropriate for the challenge as they have been impacted the most by mental health during the pandemic.  

Mental Renewal is currently a prototype because the framework for the app has already been finished, with a working and complete prototype. However, the app itself has not been released to my local community or released online yet. I am still looking for and asking a number of therapists and life coaches who would be willing to offer their services pro bono for the app, as it is developed to be an easy entry point for people suffering from mental issues.