READ THE LATEST

Although your college years may be among some of the best of your life, they’re certainly not stress free. There’s the drama that comes from college friendships and relationships, anxiety around exams, the challenge of living away from home for the first time, and much more.

One solution to boost your mental health is to turn to wellness apps. Many options are affordable (if not free) and allow you to receive help at the moment you need it.

1. The Shine App

With features ranging from meditations to self-care courses and virtual workshops, the Shine app is ideal for working on your mental health every day. The app was founded by two women of colour who wanted to make mental health support more inclusive and representative. It is now owned by Headspace, meaning a yearly subscription gives you access to Headspace Health. However, there’s also a free version of the Shine app available if you just want meditations personally recommended for you.

2. Mood Mission

Use Mood Mission whenever you’re feeling depressed, anxious, or emotional in some other way. The app will ask you how you’re feeling and then provide you with five suggestions called Missions, all of which have been shown to have an impact on mental health through scientific research. Completing a Mission will give you a reward in the app to incentivize you to keep taking steps to become healthier and happier.

3. Moodfit

It may be that certain coping mechanisms work better for you than others. With Moodfit, you can track what these are. The app also provides you with daily goals to work toward to improve your mental health and allows you to track how your mood changes over time.

Lastly, there are a huge number of learning resources on the app to teach you how to prevent procrastination, rumination, and distorted thinking, regain your motivation, and become responsive instead of reactive. Best of all, everything is available for free.

4. Peers.net

Aimed at people aged 18 to 30, Peers.net is an online platform rather than an app. It’s staffed by people in this age group who have had their own struggles with mental health and who have received training to give others support through one-on-one video sessions.

You can search for the right peer supporter to help you based on life experience (such as depression, loneliness, academic stress, or body image) or by identity (gender, sexuality, or ethnicity). All the peer supporters have the date and time of when they’re next available along with the languages they speak on their profiles.

Another way to boost your mental health is to improve your living situation. You can do this by moving into student rentals. Barrie has a housing community of modern apartments at Arcadian Students. You’ll be able to relax in your private bedroom, chill with your roommates in your fully-furnished living room, or meet other students in the common areas, which include a lounge, basketball court, and outdoor fire pit. Contact us to sign a lease today.