Balancing leisure and work is challenging for digital nomads. Burnout and loneliness were cited as top struggles for remote workers even before the pandemic, and now with limited social events and interactions, restricted travel, and shut offices, it has become exacerbated.
The Martec Group surveyed 1,214 individuals to identify how working from home during the pandemic is affecting employees and found a significant decline in mental health across all industries, seniority levels, and demographics. Surprisingly, 84 percent of employees reported working from home as bad for their mental health.
At Fairytrail, most of our users are remote workers and we fully recognized the challenges, so we’ve curated the top 9 must-have mental health apps for digital nomads based on category.
For Meditation
1. Headspace
I’ve been using Headspace since the day it first came out. To be honest, it’s actually tough to imaging my life without it. It offers excellent options for guided meditations that help you stay calm and provide clarity on things you’re trying to figure out.
Additionally, they offer articles, videos and guided exercises that will help you live a happier, healthier life.
Headspace claims to increase your happiness by 16% in 10 days and a single session would reduce your mind wandering by 22%. Use this app regularly for a period of 30 days to see an 11% increase in mental resilience.
You can sign up for a 10-day free trial of all the premium content. After this, you can subscribe for $12.99 (monthly) or $95 (annually).
The bottom line: Use this app if you’re curious and just starting out with mental health apps.
2. Pacifica
This app will help you significantly reduce stress, depression and anxiety through journaling and meditation. You can pick what type of environment relaxes you the most when you begin.
Pacifica will ask you about your goals, preferred meditation time and if you’re working with a mental health professional. If you are, it will tailor your practice using that information.
The calming and lovely design and the interface will compel you to use it every day. Each day, there’s a free unique meditation that focuses on a specific point of stress like relationships, work, school, etc.
What truly sets this app apart from the thousands of meditation apps on the play store is its integrations with your Spotify playlists. It will recommend you a new playlist every week with tracks that will leave you feeling energized, empowered and will help you with your meditation practise as well as your life.
Another highlight of this wonderful app is access to chat rooms and community discussions. You can discuss your struggles, wins and experiences with other users of the app.
You can access the 7 basic modules for free or you can subscribe for $8.99 (monthly), $53.99 (annually) or $199 (lifetime).
The bottom line: This app is perfect for you if you want to hone a particular pain point such as confidence, social anxiety, etc.
For Reflection and Mood Tracking
3. Stigma
It’s journaling and mood tracking app that helps you track your moods and pen down our thoughts. You can also share your thoughts with their community of users.
Its robust analytics feature helps you analyse your thoughts and attitudes over time by creating word clouds that show prominent trends.
Access to most of the features is free but you need to subscribe in order to track your moods in relation to your fitness/location levels.
The bottom line: Sign up for this app of you want to understand your mood cycle and wish to be a part of an affordable support group that’s always available.
4. Happy Not Perfect
The goal of this app is to help you change the way you take care of your mind through straightforward and thoughtful reflections and exercises.
With hundreds of themed sessions to work through activities and stressors, it helps you deal with complicated relationships, depression and work stress.
The app features one-of-a-kind modern, clean aesthetics combined with mindful games that help you gain the clarity you need. You can also listen to a wide array of sound healing experiences and pen down your thoughts in order to keep a track of your moods and feelings.
It gives you space and time you need for reflection by helping you analyse the stressors that make you feel a certain way.
The access to 1 session per day is free and you can upgrade for personalized unlimited sessions for approximately $5 a month.
The bottom line: This is your go-to place for everything you need to look after your mind in a fun new way.
5. Stoic
A free, comprehensive and beautifully designed app that is based on the Greek philosophy of Stoicism. This app helps you manage your negativity by tracking your actions and thoughts through reflective exercises like breathing and mood tracking exercises, meditation with a strong focus on journaling.
The bottom line: Start using this app if you need help dealing with your emotions and daily obstacles. It’ll help you live a happier, tranquil life.
For Therapy and Advice
6. Sanvello
Boasting over 3M+ users, this is the #1 free app if you want to deal with depression, anxiety and stress. It provides clinically validated techniques to help you manage your thoughts and moods and offers expert lessons on health and mood tracking and mindfulness.
You can use the community board to share your stories and progress with others. If you wish to seek professional help, you can browse through the directory of a licensed therapist in your area.
The bottom line: Use this app if you’re suffering from stress, depression or anxiety.
7. Talkspace
It’s an online therapy app that matches you with qualified therapists. If you’re looking for real therapy without leaving the comfort of this app, Talkspace is what you need.
Their plans start at $49 a week that allows you to choose a therapist with experience in your problem area. You can chat with them or video call them according to your convenience.
Therapists will offer actionable advice and steps similar to what you’d get in an actual brick-and-mortar therapy session. You can upgrade your package if you need an unlimited chat and video call access.
The bottom line: This app is perfect if you’re searching for a therapist. It’s great for teens as well. All you need is your parents’ permission to get started.
8. 7 Cups
If you’re looking for free counselling and therapy, install 7 Cups. You’re matched with a “listener” based on what you wish to talk about and how you’re feeling.
Please note that these listeners are not qualified professionals but are volunteers that want to offer you support. The chats are confidential, anonymous and free with listeners available in several different languages.
Additionally, you can access educational material that’ll provide more insight into therapy, videos and activities, calming games and wellness tests.
If you wish to chat with a licensed therapist, you can subscribe for a premium service that starts at $12.99 a month.
The bottom line: Use this app if you need someone to talk to for free counseling or therapy. Return the favour by becoming a listener to do something meaningful with your life.
To Deal Specifically With Anxiety
9. Calmer You
This app was made by Nick Begley, former head of research at Headspace and is dedicated to help you build an anxiety-free future.
It has turned self-development books into app-based actionable courses incorporating CBT and mindfulness techniques. These help you form positive habits that will help you keep your anxiety at bay.
The app provides you with everything from diaphragmatic breathing to mindfulness techniques to help you break down your worries and boost your self-esteem.
The bottom line: This app is perfect for you if you want to learn mindfulness skills that will improve your overall mental and physical health.
Written by Shristi Patni
Shristi is the founder of F and B Recipes. Formerly the Chief Content Officer at Raletta, she is currently working on her second cookbook. Feel free to check out her interviews with other food bloggers or her articles on Shamballa Reiki.
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