Smiling Mind

You need to make a free account to use the app. In your account, you can set whether you want to see content for kids, teens, or adults. You can also enter if you prefer a ‘male’ or a ‘female’ voice – though some content may only be available in one voice.

You can track your mood in the app – but you don’t have to do this to access the content.

The content is broken down into sessions. You can try individual sessions one at a time, or you can follow a collection (a set of sessions that you do in a certain order).

Some sessions are suggested on the homepage, but you can also search for sessions using keywords and then filter the results by the age its designed for and the type of content it is.

There are three types of content in the app. Short lessons help you find out more about wellbeing (which are labelled ‘learn’), guided meditations help you feel calm (which are labelled ‘meditate’), and activities help in specific situations (which are labelled ‘practice’).

Practise sessions also include Soundscapes – blends of music (without words) and nature sounds. You can use them for unguided meditation, or as a peaceful sound to fall asleep to.

Before you start a session, you can see how long it lasts, and which of the ‘Smiling Mind skills’ it maps to. Find out more about these skills in the section below (‘How does the Smiling Mind app help?’).

Once you start a session, you can use the audio settings to change the background music and voice. You can also add closed captions, add the session to your favourites list, and download the session so you can use it offline. Finally, you can add that session to your routine.

You don’t have to use the routine feature in the app. It allows you to build a plan and set reminders. There are some pre-built routines you can try if you want to.

Finally, you can use the fitness tab to see how you’ve been using the app. This includes information like the skills you’ve worked on and how often you’ve practised. This information isn’t there to make you feel bad, stressed, or guilty – so if you find it unhelpful, you can avoid this tab.

Smiling Mind is based around the idea that there are a range of skills that underpin wellbeing – and that practising these skills helps people to build their ‘mental fitness’. ‘Mental fitness’ supports people to feel good by helping them respond to challenges, make decisions, cope with change, and build healthy relationships.

Smiling Mind has its own way of understanding and thinking about ‘mental fitness’, based on research and input from a team of experts. Their way of understanding ‘mental fitness’ focuses on five categories:

• live mindfully – skills to help us be present, pay attention and respond well to the things that happen around us
• embrace flexible thinking – skills to help us make decisions, solve problems and be creative
• grow connections – skills to help us build good relationships with others and ourselves
• act purposefully – skills to help us understand our strengths, values and how we want to make a difference
• recharge your body – skills to support our mind and body through movement, rest, relaxation and sleep

The Smiling Mind website has lots of information about the research and how they decided on these skills.