“Take a Chill” – Smartphone App for Teens

“Smart technology” has come to serve as a valuable resource to the Child Life community when working with children and families in health care and related settings in accordance to best practice guidelines.

Today, teens and smartphones (in some of the most glitter-ific cool cases I’ve ever seen) seem to go hand in hand – literally! While many caution the use of smartphones, citing them as “addictive,” they also can be very useful to the adolescent population when you consider the therapeutic value of certain* apps like – Take a Chill. Take a Chill is full of tools to help reduce adolescent stress and the physical and psychosocial problems that could result.

Take a Chill is described as a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction tool for Teens (MBSR-T). It is full of short mindfulness exercises, reflective activities and affirmation phrases that help adolescence manage stress, and bring mindfulness practices into their daily routines, whether it is studying for a test or preventing and overcoming negative thought patterns that can develop.



This application features:

• Short Exercises: Illustrated activities for relief in “in-the-moment” situations. 

• Daily Dose: Daily activities to help reinforce concepts and increase mindfulness practice.

• Audio: Music to accompany exercises.

• Progress Tracker: The ability to see your progress overtime.

• Reminders: To keep motivated.

Stress Assessment: Quick self-assessment to gauge stress levels.

• Notes: A notepad to jot any thoughts or insights that come to mind.

• Motivational Quotes: Motivational quote appear after each use.

[?] What is MINDFULNESS?

Mindfulness is about grounding consciousness in the present. Mindfulness is a way of learning to relate directly to whatever is happening in your present life. It is described as a way of “taking charge of your life” or making a conscious effort to cope with personal stress, pain, illness or other challenges and demands of everyday life.

In contrast, we have probably all experienced moments of “mindlessness” or a loss of awareness resulting in forgetfulness or the inability to remember experiences; feeling separate from one’s own self; or a sense of living mechanically – all of which can greatly diminish a sense of well-being.

Restoring a sense of well-being requires increased awareness or mindfulness. An increased awareness of our own thinking, feeling and experiences allows us to cultivate a sense of control because we can choose to consciously respond or react in more productive ways rather than on the basis of habit. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is intended to ignite this inner capacity and infuse your own life with awareness.

Mindfulness or MBSR have proven to be reliably effective in reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression (Ramel, Goldin, Carmona, & McQuaid, 2004; Segal, Williams, & Teasdale, 2002) and increasing self-regulated behaviour and positive emotional states (Brown & Ryan, 2003).


[!] Mindfulness in ADOLESCENCE

Adolescence often have difficulty with developing social skills, emotional regulation, confidence, multi-tasking, impulsivity and attention.

Learning Mindfulness Can:

• Bring adolescence into the present moment through a reduction of focus on the past or future and more attention on the here and now. Being present may add clarity and vividness to experience and bring about quality or optimal moment-to-moment experiences.

• Reduce - thought-fixation, “distorted” thinking, worries and negative self-talk or other experiences/experiences that can diminish a sense of well-being.

• Increase - empathy, patience, “letting-go” and kindness toward self and others.

• Bring Focus to - self-regulation (attention, thoughts and emotions). An increased awareness of our own thinking and feeling, allows us to consciously respond or react in more productive ways rather than on the basis of habit.

What I like about “Take a Chill” – A CHILD LIFE PERSPECTIVE

As a Child Life Specialist, I advocate for developmentally appropriate practice or altering approaches to anxiety-reduction and coping to the development (also, the physical, emotional states) of the child or adolescent that I am working with. What I like most about Take a Chill is that it seems to have applied the principles of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) to suit the adolescent population specifically. For example, it accommodates for attention span with shorter in duration exercises and activities. Also, Take a Chill seems to aims to ‘meet’ adolescence where they are developmentally and use language, references and stories that are relevant to their social world. It is very user-friendly and……. Fun!

** Take a Chill is available through the itunes store currently for $1.99 (USD) at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/take-a-chill-stressed-teens/id496802813.

** If you would like more information about Take a Chill, please visit http://www.stressedteens.com.



Thanks so much for reading!

<3.



Okay – I admit it, my smartphone is very sparkly!

“Pain is inevitable in life; stress is optional.”

 - Stressedteens.com

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Take a Chill Logos
All Take a Chill Screenshots