Smiling Mind

One in five Australians experience a mental health issue every year and an estimated 45% of Australian adults will have a mental health condition at some point during their lifetime. Far too many Australians also live with suboptimal health and wellbeing related to other chronic illnesses, many of which share the same risk factors. These concerning statistics are compelling reasons to find better ways to help people take action to prevent the onset of poor health.

As one of Australia's leading providers of pre-emptive mental health programs, Smiling Mind understands the benefits of mindfulness as a daily practice, which can have significant impacts on physical and mental health and wellbeing. As a result, Smiling Mind's accessible mobile app has been downloaded over 2.6 million times, helping people dealing with the pressure, stress and challenges of daily life through their mindfulness meditation programs.

With our multi-year funding support, Smiling Mind will develop and evaluate the 'Building Healthy Habits for Healthy Minds' home-based mindfulness meditation program, designed to empower Australian adults to take positive, proactive action to look after their mental health each and every day.

Using Smiling Mind's popular mobile app technology, the program will develop innovative new content to support Australian adults to take a pro-active, regular and routine approach to mental health and wellbeing by providing mindfulness based tools that address the specific needs of each individual.

The development of the program will be led by an in-house expert psychologist at Smiling Mind, and will involve mindfulness-based activities, interactive exercises and meditations that address the protective factors associated with mental health including sleep quality, social connection, and developing coping skills and resilience.

The aim of the program is to encourage changes in attitudes, beliefs and behaviour so that taking action to look after your mental health becomes a normal and routine part of life, embraced by the majority and made as simple and commonplace as brushing your teeth.

There is growing evidence that supports the benefits of taking a self-directed technology-based approach to developing a healthy mind through mindfulness based practice; including, stronger mindfulness skills and significantly lower stress, anxiety and depression symptoms.