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Re-inventing Education for the Digital Age | David Middelbeck | TEDxMünster

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So, you've got a room full of technology-and a mandate to use it. What's next?

Technology in classrooms is about more than just pleasing the higher-ups who want to see you realizing value from their investment. New digital tools can help you engage students at all levels, activate multiple learning styles, and provide exciting, memorable activities. And let's face it: your students are glued to their devices all the time anyway, so you might as well take advantage of their love of tech and get them learning.

Here are some examples of how you can use technology to help you teach the core subject areas and improve your own experience as a teacher in the process.

For Storytelling

Digital storytelling tools such as inklewriter and Storybird make writing more exciting for students. They can use images and interactivity to make stories come alive, allowing students at all levels to be creative and explore different methods of retelling their favorite stories or telling some of their own. Storybird, in particular, opens storytelling up to young students who prefer to communicate with images rather than written text.

For Expression and Portability

You can also use these tools for poetry appreciation assignments, giving students a new way to experience and understand poetry (not exactly the most approachable literary form). You can even take the kids outside to act out some of their favorite hopscotch poems-balancing all that screen time with some outdoor time might not be a bad idea.

You can incorporate more technology as students present their ideas to the class. For example, an interactive whiteboard-a device you can connect to your computer that allows the user to edit and control the whiteboard display in real time using their finger or a stylus-will allow your students to enrich their slides with diagrams and visual explanations while they're giving a presentation.

For Problem-Solving

Fostering a love of mathematics is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for getting students interested in science, technology, engineering, and math careers. Offloading certain tasks to computer applications can open up new ways to get students interested.

Conrad Wolfram, CEO of the European branch of Wolfram Research, shared some new ideas for making math instruction less boring. The disconnect, he says, is that the way math is taught in schools is nothing like the way professionals use it in the real world. Technology offers an opportunity to change that. Rather than calculating everything by hand, Wolfram suggests, students can learn how to use computer applications to do laborious calculations for them so they can focus on higher-level problem solving and critical application of mathematical concepts. This approach helps students see that math is more than hand-calculating; it's something they can really use to solve problems.

For Visualizing and Interacting

Interactivity and problem-based learning offer great benefits for science instruction, too. Animoto is a cross-platform tool that lets students animate concepts and bring them to life. The solution allows students to create videos explaining concepts they're studying and share them with the class. It includes clips, graphics, and music tracks that students can use to create their videos.

By using a tool like Animoto, students not only benefit from teaching their peers through the videos they create; they also get to use their musical and visual senses to enliven the sometimes dry topics they focus on in science. What better way to get them to see the beauty of science than by letting them explore graphics of enlarged crystal structures and fractals, then actually use them to create something of their own?

Using technology in classrooms isn't just a mandate from on high; it can make your job a lot more fun. Technology gives your students the ability to create different types of assignments: tikbot animations, interactive group stories that actually show that everyone was involved-anything that's not the same old written report. Not only are these types of assignments fun for your students, they also make things more interesting for you while you're grading their projects. How many lab reports exploring the finer points of creating boric-acid slime can a science teacher read each year, anyway?

But more importantly, using these different technologies during class keeps kids engaged and excited-and nothing makes your job easier than working with a group of students who want to learn.

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How to Make Technology in Classrooms Effective and Exciting

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Here are some ways to use technology in classrooms to make learning fun for your students, and engaging for you as an educator.

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Mental health apps are mobile apps designed to help users improve their emotional well-being, become more mindful, and address common mental health issues. Some mental health apps allow users to access online talk therapy or psychiatric care. Others may help you to begin a meditation practice, cope with stress and anxiety, or improve sleep quality. Available for iOS and/or Android users, mental health apps are typically designed to be used via smartphone or tablet.

The best mental health apps are affordable, user-friendly, and well-designed, with few technical glitches. Many of these apps have unique features that allow you to improve your overall wellness in enjoyable, accessible ways. High-quality therapy apps remove some of the usual barriers to mental health care, while mindfulness apps can help you achieve better focus and productivity. With so many available to choose from today, we sent our research team on a mission to find the best-of-the-best. Our team evaluated over 55 of the top mental health apps and ranked each according to whether or not the program was built on evidenced-based therapies, provided regular content updates, the variety of therapies offered, cost, and personal user reviews. Here are the mental health apps that ranked the highest.

10 Best Mental Health and Therapy Apps of 2023

Privacy

When choosing an online therapy provider, we recommend that you read the company's privacy guidelines before you sign up to better understand whether it is HIPAA-compliant and whether it shares any private information with third parties. There have been some concerns raised by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and several government officials about what user health information online therapy providers collect and what they do with any information they collect.

Best for Kids : Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame

Compare the Best Mental Health Apps

Company Price Platforms Free Trial

Guide to Choosing the Best Mental Health Apps

What Types of Mental Health Apps Are Offered?

There are a variety of types of mental health apps designed to address specific needs. These include:

Meditation: Many mental health apps focus on mindfulness techniques, such as guided meditation and grounding exercises. If you're not experienced in this area, look for apps with beginner-friendly meditation sessions.

Coping skills: Some mental health apps use games, activities, and online worksheets to help users develop important life skills, such as healthy ways to deal with stress and focus more intently while working or studying.

Addiction: Are you in recovery or trying to get sober? Sobriety apps can help you track your progress and celebrate milestones.

Anxiety and depression: If you have anxiety or depression, talk therapy with a licensed provider through a therapy app may help to treat your symptoms or supplement your in-person therapy.

Sleep problems: Many people use mental health apps to help with sleep issues, such as insomnia and nightmares. Features like sleepscapes, guided visual imagery, audio narration ("bedtime stories for grown-ups"), soothing music, and nature sounds may help you fall asleep more easily.

Comparing Mental Health Apps

There are a variety of factors to consider when choosing which mental health app is best for you. These factors include:

Price: If you're concerned about your budget, there are many free and low-cost mental health apps available. Many apps work on a monthly subscription-based model, but you can often cut costs by purchasing a discounted annual subscription. Look for an app with a free trial if you're not sure you want to commit to buying.

Topics discussed: Are you looking for help with mindfulness, stress relief, anxiety, or depression? Do you need online therapy or medication management services from a qualified professional? Each mental health app has different offerings.

Communication options: Some people benefit from live online therapy, such as live one-on-one video, audio, or chat sessions with a care provider. If you're more accustomed to communicating through text or writing, look for a therapy app that offers unlimited messaging or text-based therapy.

Features: Are you looking for an app that includes games and fun activities? What about meditation sessions, sleepscapes, and movement classes? Or are you looking specifically for online therapy that could replace in-person therapy? Look for an app that matches your needs and goals.

Who Should Use a Mental Health App?

Mental health apps can help you if you're dealing with a common mental health challenge, such as depression, stress, anxiety, or grief. Mental health apps can also help you deal with day-to-day problems like insomnia, lack of focus, and procrastination. Some mental health apps are designed to help people who have recently gotten sober or want to get sober.

You might especially benefit from using an online therapy app if you:

Live in a remote area

Need to find a more affordable form of therapy

Have a busy schedule

Feel more comfortable communicating via text

Have a disability that makes face-to-face therapy less accessible

However, mental health apps aren't for everyone. Mental health apps should generally not be used by people in active distress. A mental health app also might not be the best choice for you if you've been diagnosed with a severe mood disorder or schizophrenia or if you are experiencing psychosis.

What If I'm Having Thoughts of Harming Myself?

If you or someone you know is in extreme distress, having thoughts of self-harm, or thinking about harming someone else, seek emergency medical help by calling 911 or 988 from anywhere in the U.S.

If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, here are some other resources that may help:

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Mental Health Apps Be a Substitute for In-Person Therapy?

In some cases, a therapy app may be used as a substitute for in-person therapy. Some studies suggest that online talk therapy with an accredited therapist is just as effective as face-to-face therapy in treating conditions like depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, mental health apps that don't provide direct therapy-such as mindfulness-based and stress relief apps-should not be used as a substitute for therapy. Instead, they are most effective when used as a supplement to counseling.

How Much Do Mental Health Apps Cost?

Some simple mental health apps, such as sobriety counter apps and apps that teach deep breathing techniques, are free to use. However, many apps offer a free basic version as well as a premium version with many additional features. A monthly subscription to a premium version of a mental health app often ranges from about $8.99 to $14.99 per month. For an app that offers talk therapy with a licensed therapist, typical subscription prices may range anywhere from $200 to $600 a month.

How Do Mental Health Apps Work?

Mental health apps vary greatly in terms of function, design, purpose, and features. There are six main types of mental health apps, each aimed at helping in a particular area of mental wellness. These areas include:

Social support and community

Tracking symptoms of a mental health condition

Life skills training

Self-care

Improving thinking patterns

Collecting data about mood and other aspects of mental health

Some mental health apps also offer online mental health care (such as talk therapy or psychiatric care) directly.

Are Mental Health Apps Effective?

Research suggests that mental health apps are effective in treating the symptoms of certain conditions. For example, one 2022 systematic review found that using Headspace improved symptoms among people with depression in 75% of studies. However, the research on mental health apps is ongoing, and findings are mixed. About 40% of studies found that Calm and Headspace could help with concerns like anxiety, sleep, and stress.

Methodology

To find the best mental health apps, our reviewers researched more than 50 apps for alleviating and managing mental health-related issues, including gathering and assessing internally collected user survey data. The apps were assessed based on whether they were developed via research-based programs and experts, were stable and regularly updated, offered live talk or text therapies, cost, the number of positive reviews on the Apple and Google Play app stores, cost, and any extra resources or activities offered.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

1. Caldeira C, Chen Y, Chan L, Pham V, Chen Y, Zheng K. Mobile apps for mood tracking: an analysis of features and user reviews. AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2017;2017:495-504.

2. Greenwood H, Krzyzaniak N, Peiris R, et al. Telehealth versus face-to-face psychotherapy for less common mental health conditions: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. JMIR Ment Health. 2022;9(3):e31780. doi:10.2196/31780

3. Chandrashekar P. Do mental health mobile apps work: evidence and recommendations for designing high-efficacy mental health mobile apps. mHealth. 2018;4:6-6. doi:10.21037/mhealth.2018.03.02

4. O'Daffer A, Colt SF, Wasil AR, Lau N. Efficacy and conflicts of interest in randomized controlled trials evaluating headspace and calm apps: systematic review. JMIR Ment Health. 2022;9(9):e40924. doi:10.2196/40924

Edited by

April McCormick

April is the health editor for performance marketing at Verywell. Her work has appeared in Time, Parents Magazine, The Huffington Post, TripSavvy, Parenting.com, First Time Mom and Dad, Mama Mia, All4Women, the New York Times Bestseller, A Letter To My Mom, and more.

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Apps for mental health can help you overcome everyday hurdles such as stress, anxiety, depression, and more. Read on to learn about the best mental health and therapy apps and how they compare.