Digital and Nature-based Innovation for Children and Young People’s Mental Health, Anxiety

We were delighted to support six partners, selected through our 2022 Health Equity Innovation Challenge, who led innovative work to reduce anxiety for children and young people experiencing health inequity. 

Since being selected we have worked together to implement and analyse, some of which is detailed below.
 

Digital Innovators 

Luminova; Tales of Courage, by BFB Labs 

Luminova; Tales of Courage is a NICE-recommended and CE marked digital therapeutic intervention game, which has been piloted in North Devon, as part of our programme. 

Learnings since working with BFB Labs:

• 185 children signed up to the Lumi Nova intervention at rural and socio-economically deprived sites. 
• Children & Family Health Devon have said they will continue to signpost suitable children to the Lumi Nova intervention. 
• Self-sign-up was found to be the most common access mechanism. 

Tellmi  

Tellmi is an award-winning peer-support app where young people aged 11-25 can share experiences and support each other, which has been recently tested in Somerset, as part of our programme. All posts and replies are pre-moderated by humans to enable a safe environment. 

Learnings since working with Tellmi:

• 331 young people joined Tellmi, compared to 46 in the six months prior to the study, indicating that engagement work is important to increasing access. 
• Qualitative data highlights the lived experience and challenges of young people in Somerset with anxiety. 
• Significant learning around the challenges of real-world evaluation, including the timing of data capture and the outcome tools used.  

Good With  

Good With is a money and mental health app that uses a personal AI coach to support learners to understand their relationship to money, and tackle financial anxiety as they prepare for adulthood. Tested in the South-West as part of our programme.  

Learnings since working with Good With:

• Financially vulnerable users reported significantly greater levels of financial anxiety, lower levels of wellbeing, and lower self-efficacy than less financially vulnerable users. 
• The intervention had greater impact on financially vulnerable users, with stronger indications of improved levels of financial wellbeing after engagement.  
• Learning to take into future large-scale testing includes app design and content, approaches to real-world evaluation, and populations who may benefit most from its support. 

Read more about all of these digital innovations in our 2022-2023 Annual Review.

Nature-based innovators 

The Wave Project  

The Wave Project uses evidence-based surf-therapy to support young people. This project evaluated and compared the effectiveness of stand-up paddle boarding on inland waterways to the surf therapy offer. The project was for children and young people struggling with anxiety and experiencing inequity, including those living with learning disabilities and/or autism.  

Learnings since working with The Wave Project:

• The young people who completed the course reported change across seven wellbeing areas, including self-esteem, resilience and confidence. 
• Average scores in these seven areas of wellbeing all increased after the interventions. There did not, however, appear to be any change in anxiety levels. 
• The ‘Plus’ population group that had the highest number of children participating was learning disability or autism (n=11). All seven areas of wellbeing improved for this group of children and young people. 

Resilient Young Minds  

This project evaluated a peer group community nature-based wellbeing programme, which aims to empower young people aged between 18-25 to develop a sense of agency for a healthier life. The young people recruited onto this programme experienced a range of challenges, all of which disproportionately and adversely affect their mental health (e.g. Adverse Childhood Events, unemployment and young carer responsibilities).  

Learnings since working with Resilient Young Minds:

• 9 out of 12 participants reported an increase in mental wellbeing.  
• 5 out of 12 participants reported a reduction in anxiety.   
• All 12 participants agreed that the programme had a positive impact on their lives. 

The Apricot Centre  

This project explored activity-based approaches on the Apricot Centre organic farm in Devon, to support children aged 7-13 who are either in care or at risk of being taken into care. This included working in close partnership with a local Pupil Referral Unit.   

Learnings since working with The Apricot Centre:

• The results indicate high level of emotional and behavioural difficulties in this group of children in care or on the edge of care.  
• Scoring indicated a need for further investigation for anxiety among five of the eleven children.  
• Half of the 12 children and young people had a lower Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD-2) score at follow-up than at baseline. This reduction in anxiety was found to be statistically significant, although it is not known if it will be sustained over time. 
• Qualitative feedback indicates that children, parents/carers and teachers found the intervention valuable. Key value themes identified included facilitating building relationships, fun and enjoyment, building resilience around anxiety, cultivating new opportunities and interests, upskilling parents and teachers, therapeutic value of being in nature.  

Explore eight learnings from running nature-based therapy for children with anxiety in our blog.

Read more about all of these nature-based innovations in our 2022-2023 Annual Review.