Updated on 26 March 2020
If you (or someone you know) are feeling stressed, anxious or sad about coronavirus or you’re having trouble sleeping, Good Thinking is here to help. You can get fast access to a range of digital mental health resources, most of which are free to Londoners. Popular apps include Be Mindful, My Positive Self, My Cognition and Calm.
In this short guide, we’ll take you through the various Good Thinking resources and then answer some of the questions you might have. And please rest assured, we’ll continue to review our resources on a daily basis so that you have the most up-to-date information and support at this challenging time.
Find resources and apps tailored to you in three easy steps
1) Go to our home page and choose from four of the most common concerns
2) Answer three simple questions
3) Review your results and access the recommended apps and other resources
Use our self-assessment tool
Our in-depth, clinically validated self-assessments are a thorough assessment of both your mental and physiological wellbeing. An assessment takes around 15 minutes to complete and at the end, you’ll get a list of recommended actions for you to take forward. You can save this as a pdf or print it out for your reference.
We have a range of self-assessments for you to choose from based on how you’re feeling – anxious, stressed, low mood or sleep deprived. If you don’t know which option to choose, you can take our general self-assessment. We’ve recently incorporated some additional questions about coronavirus symptoms in the self-assessment tool.
See our resource collections
If you’d prefer to explore our resources yourself rather than have a recommendation made for you, each of the four mental wellbeing areas has a collection of resources. Just choose one of the four options and you’ll find the collections below the quiz questions.
Q&A
What should I do first?
Just as your body needs good food to keep well, your mind needs good information. A diet of too little or too much information can be unhealthy and you should definitely try to steer clear of false information (the equivalent of junk food) on social media.
Make sure you know where to get the latest and most accurate information and advice about coronavirus. It’s a good idea to bookmark the Government and NHS websites.
How can I check how stressed I am?
When we’re stressed, we might stay calm and carry on, but we often forget about ourselves and how we are. We can become ‘numb’ and, whilst that might be the mind’s way of protecting us from too much stress in the short term, when we can’t feel pain or uncomfortable feelings, we can do things that are harmful to us. Reconnecting with yourself and how you feel can be uncomfortable. You might even feel a bit guilty that you haven’t been looking after yourself.
Use our self-assessment tool to check how stressed you are and get advice at the end that you can save for later. Our self-assessments contain many validated scales and will even help you check out your physical health if you need to. We recommend that you complete one of our self-assessments every two weeks.
How can I reduce my stress?
Although there are ways to reduce stress in the short term, it’s worth taking a step back and planning a longer-term campaign if you can. You can download our leaflet about Stress to guide you.
Our free app My Possible Self lets you track your mood and helps you build a plan to make sure you keep looking after yourself and build your resilience. That’s not just good for you, it will also help all of those people who rely on you to keep going. Staying connected to yourself is a gift to others.
How can I improve my sleep?
Sleep is as important for your body and mind as a healthy diet and exercise. So, when you’re stressed, one of the most important things you can do is make changes in your life that will help you to sleep better. Download our leaflet about getting a good night’s sleep and take our Sleep Deprived quiz to find out which resources, including mindfulness apps, could help you to get better sleep.
How can I reduce my anxiety?
There are lots of resources on Good Thinking to help you lower your anxiety. Download our leaflet and take a look at the free apps we offer, such as My Possible Self.
If you have the time to commit, our free mindfulness app, Be Mindful, is proven to be very effective in lowering anxiety, especially if you commit to regular practice.
How can I concentrate better?
One of the hardest aspects of being stressed or feeling overwhelmed is the struggle to focus. You can soon feel like you’re not as effective as you know you can be, which just adds to the stress.
Our cognitive fitness and mental resilience app My Cognition, which is clinically proven and NHS approved, can help you assess how your brain is working and improve your focus – its personalised game (AquaSnap) sharpens your brain and makes you function better - its healthy habits programme will continue to keep you functioning well.
How can I boost my mood?
When our mood becomes low, we stop doing the things that makes life more enjoyable and keep doing the things that bring us down. Fortunately, there are many ways to improve your mood. You could start by downloading our leaflet that gives you expert tips on how to improve your sleep. Our free app My Possible Self also has a number of modules that will help you to feel happier.
If you have time to commit to regular practice, free apps Be Mindful and My Cognition give you alternative routes to boosting your mood and developing good mood habits.
