YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

Nice to meet you guys all here, I'm Manuel! Hope you're all doing well. I like how friendly everyone on this forum is.

So, I'm currently building a free chatbot app in collaboration with two psychologists that helps build coping skills for people with anxiety. I'm confident it can really help better deal with worries and anxiety.

It's made up of chat conversations that take a few (usually not more than 5) minutes per day. In these chats, you learn small lessons and exercises that are designed to gradually help you build coping skills and resilience. It's aimed at people who experience worry or feelings of anxiety and want to do something about it.

If that sounds interesting, please reply to this post
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**NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR PROFESSIONAL HELP**

Welcome!

Hello Manuel,

Welcome! That sound interesting.

A few questions, if you don't mind;

Are you a programmer or psychology student, and what brought you to this?
I assume this is might end up being a phone app.... What's the plan and what's needed from potential volunteers?

And can you share some of the anxieties you've been struggling with?

Thanks!

SD

Sure, snoringdog, happy to answer! We have one programmer and two psychologists in our team. You're right - it's going to be a phone app. The plan is to simply have a few people join as beta testers and share their thoughts about the chatbot app. Do you want me to send you the link when we are beta-testing? We are happy with any help we can get

Anxieties I'm struggling with myself. All kinds of, not at a clinical level but definitely become anxious in some social situations or before big presentations.

Thanks.

Sure, send the link!

Is there a way I could text you in private somehow? I am not sure how this forum works yet

If you're logged in, you can click on a user's name and you'll see a "Send a Private Message" link.

I just sent you one.

They're accessible from the User Control Panel link at the top of the page.

SD

Hello to any fellow travelers wrestling with anxiety like I am...

I want to give a shout out to Manuel who started this thread and the little Pocket Coach app I've been testing.

It's a conversation app that helps guide you thru some of the reasons for anxiety and negative thinking and how to deal with them. Good reminders of things you might already know, but forget about when they're needed most.

Since a lot of us are staring at our phones too much anyway, seems like a good use of screen time...

I have no vested interest in this app at all, just want to share a little tool that's had some value to me.

Wishing you all well.

Snoring Dog