13 apps for bettering your mental health

NAMI AIR

The National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) has an app called AIR that is a support network for those who have a mental illness and their loved ones. Use it to find support online, learn more about mental health, or to find support groups in your community. Available for free for iOS and Android.

Image: NAMI

PTSD Coach

The PTSD Coach is designed for veterans and military service members who have or had post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It provides information, a self-assessment, access to professionals, and tools to help manage stress in daily life. Available on iOS and Android for free.

Image: US Department of Veterans Affairs

Mindfulness Coach

Mindfulness Coach was also designed by the VA, and is aimed at people with PTSD as well as anyone wishing to practice more mindfulness and emotional balance in their daily lives. Free for iOS.

Image: US Department of Veterans Affairs

Talkspace

Therapy is expensive and most often not covered by insurance. Talkspace is a web and mobile platform that connects people with 200 licensed therapists for individual and couples therapy. It's $25 per week for unlimited message therapy -- you can simply text. Or, pay $29 for a 30 minute video call. You can also do it anonymously. Available to download on iOS and Android for free.

Image: Talkspace

Worry Watch

Worry Watch is for anxiety management. It's a journal app to log and analyze your anxiety and help you better understand what gives you the most anxiety. It helps you track "what might happen" vs. "what actually happened," and has been lauded as a really logical approach to anxiety treatment. Available for $1.99 on iOS.

Image: Worry Watch

Crisis Text Line

Crisis Text Line was launched by DoSomething.org. It isn't an app, exactly, but a web platform and SMS system for volunteers to help people who are in crisis. Someone texts anywhere, anytime, about any type of crisis, and a live, trained specialist responds immediately. Users stay safe and secure, and get information about counseling and other referrals through text.

Image: DoSomething.org

Lantern

Lantern offers individual mental health coaching. It offers muscle relaxation and deep breathing exercises to help people cope with things like anxiety, stress, depression, and body issues. The startup received funding from the National Institutes of Health.

Image: Lantern

MindShift

MindShift is an app for helping teens and young adults cope with anxiety. It offers ways to relax, develop more helpful ways of thinking, and identify steps to take to gain control of anxiety. Available for free on iOS and Android.

Image: Anxiety BC

How Are You

How Are You is an app that supplements therapy. It's a unique form of mood tracking, asking you to assess your moods through tests, track your changes and compare them to others, and it also offers ways to boost your mood. It's $12.99 and available on iOS and Android.

Image: Quantum Lab Co.

A Friend Asks

The Jason Foundation, an organization for preventing suicide, developed A Friend Asks, which is a resource and tool for teens who are experiencing or have friends expressing warning signs of depression and suicide. Available for free for iOS and Android.

Optimism

This app is targeted to people with depression and bipolar disorder, allowing them to log and analyze the triggers that affect them most. Find starting points to start tackling the issues, and develop a wellness plan to lead a more optimistic, healthy life. Available for free for iOS and Android.

Image: Optimism

SAM

The Self-help Anxiety Management (SAM) app is a tool to help understand and manage anxiety symptoms, and it also offers a closed social network of users. It was developed by a team of psychologists and computer scientists in the UK. Available for free for iOS and Android.

Image: University of the West of England