MNHQ here: fancy having a play with a new NHS-approved tool for mental health support?

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello,

We've been asked if Mumsnet users would be willing to check out a new NHS-approved tool for mental health support and give some feedback on it - and let us know whether you'd like to see it featured in relevant Talk and content areas across Mumsnet.

You can find it here: it's called Good Thinking and aims to help people find tools and resources to support their mental wellbeing. At the moment some of the resources are a bit biased towards London and the southeast, because the tool has been supported by the Mayor of London's office as well as the NHS, but the aim is to add more national resources over time.

The makers of the tool want to know whether it would be a useful thing to feature on Mumsnet in relevant topics and content areas, so we're throwing it over to you. Would it be a useful addition to the site?

Any feedback or thoughts let us know - and if you have any questions for the developers we'll try to get them answered for you.

Thanks
MNHQ

I tried a number of the options and also tried the self-assessment tool I kept getting directed to.

I think the portal is pretty good, though I found the sideways scrolling weird for computer based browsing - I guess its more intuitive on a phone.

The resources at the other end I am slightly less convinced about. I set off answering questions about insomnia and work stress honestly to see what it would say and before I knew it, I was answering things like 'are your lips blue'.

The big problem is that you feel all warm when being directed to resources, but then when you've clicked through to the actual resource you get the 'I'm too tired to engage with this' feeling and you give up before you've completed the 'transaction'.

Sorry - my feedback is rather diffuse - but I'm having difficulty concentrating due to work stress based insomnia

Looks really interesting and could be helpful. I felt I was repeating answers to very similar questions, though.

Worked through the anxiety self-assessment and basically it was asking if felt like doing anything serious, and as I wasn't then the best thing to do was talk to family & friends. And if your parents aren't supportive & you have no real friends to talk to......
Pretty crap. Wouldn't bother with the site any further after that.

The user interface seemed fine from a phone...

Had a look through the broad range of tools and suggested resources but everything was claiming to be free but when you clicked more there was a cost ...

Then used the stress assessment and am apparently in need of a Drs appointment.... hmmm ....

I'd say that if you had serious issues it's unlikely that you'd benefit from these tools to seek help as its going to cost you money for apps or it'll direct you to GP - who you've avoided seeing / so you'll end up back where you started

I did the self assessment tool, which bizarrely decided that I had problems with urination, despite my negative answers to the many questions about this. İt then decided that I needed to see a doctor within 24 hours as "the system" was unable to find a cause for my (non existent) problems with urination.

I think this resource needs some refining!

I worked through some of the insomnia menus. There is good stuff there, advice and further assistance, both paid and unpaid, but I didn't find anything about the menopause which is disappointing.

On the whole, I would say it looks helpful - and as a Healthcare Professional, though no longer a front line clinician, I can see that it is a resource to signpost patients and carers to.

I tried the assessment, I think it could do with more suggestions if you can't do what they suggest. E.g. the final screen on mine said Go to A & E now, which I can't do, so alternative suggestions would be helpful - e.g. asking if you have contact with a M H team or G P.

I don't like the title. It's a bit 1984.

Currently doing the self-assessment and, like a PP, am currently stuck in a series of questions about urination apropos of nothing that's been said before. Very strange!

Finally got to the end and it basically said there's nothing wrong with me, other than to cut down on my drinking (which I estimated to be 8 units a week tops so hardly excessive). I suspect the urine questions came about because I said I get up in the night to wee - probably because I drink a lot of water.

It seems good but yes, it does need some work!

Crap. If you have serious mental illness like diagnosed anxiety disorder, an app to help you breathe or a forum to discuss your issues isn't going to stop the brain chemicals in your body from being imbalanced.

Tryed the self assessment answered all questions honestly about sprained knee and cold apparently I need to see a gp as I've got arthritis 🤔
Really not impressed

whydon't

breathing, mindfulness and discussing your problems with others can have a large impact on 'brain chemicals'.

It is absolutely the case that talking can help both anxiety and depression - though it is equally absolutely the case that this will not be sufficient in all cases to produce a cure.

I can't get past the first question about sleep on the self assessment. I have a sleep problem caused by a medical issue, but there isn't an answer for that.

I tried the anxiety and low mood and both worked well and came up with suggestions for people/organisations that might help. Seems like a good idea to me.

Talking can't cure brain chemistry, sorry.

I spent some time on the self assessments.

Similarly to RangeRider and WhyDontYouComeOnOver I found the mental health signposts to forums totally unhelpful.

I have a diagnosis of c-PTSD and found it unhelpful now, and would have been super unhelpful if I didn't have the diagnosis and already know what was wrong - I'd think my anxiety might be my fault and I just need to speak to a friend to perk myself up.

I think this is really bad I answered some questions on how it takes me up to an hour to get to sleep sometimes mainly because I'm on my phone, and that I drink four glasses of alcohol once a month, it's now telling me I am suffering from alcohol withdrawal and that's why I'm struggling to sleep and to ring 111 this site will make the nhs worse it needs urgent work

@WhyDontYouComeOnOver that may be the cause for you, but it's unfair to write this when anxiety can be lowered if you have a disorder and actually calmed down to the point where the person doesn't have episodes of it all the time, as someone with bad anxiety could just think they'll be like that forever, I know if when mine was bad I'd of read your comment a few months ago I'd been beside myself thinking I'd be like that forever which isn't the case after all these years of dealing with it. Really unhelpful

It says any feedback or thoughts. I've shared mine. I've also specified serious mental illness.

Definitely some issues with this. I selected that I wanted to do things offline for clinical depression, and it recommended a load of websites.....

I got a bit lost in there, to be honest. One of the self-assessment forms told me I need to discuss my symptoms with a Dr "within the next 4 hours" or call 111. This feels very alarmist. I'm certainly in no emergency, and actually enjoying a good patch with my mental health right now.

Tried the self assessment, it's incredibly long. I thought it was about mental health but it ended up diagnosing me with cystitis for my 'sleep problem' - I get less than the recommended amount of sleep but it didn't consider that that's because I have a baby.

I need to go to A&E immediately apparently. Or call 999 for an ambulance for:
'Possible alcohol misuse and sleep concerns

Depressive symptoms similar to previous illness

Possible normal period (menstrual) irregularities associated with the late menstrual years

Possible sleep problems related to the menopause

You are not spending enough time in bed

Taking longer than normal to fall asleep

Too much time spent awake in bed trying to sleep

You are not getting enough sleep for your age'

Of the five 'support' groups suggested, I'm ineligible for three by virtue of being an old crone in my late 30s, one you have to pay for, and the other is an unmoderated forum. I don't really recognise myself in their diagnosis tbh. Although now I have the joy of realising the menopause is almost upon me...

Personally I don’t like the combo of horizontal and vertical scrolling. I’m scrolling down, then suddenly it stops and I have to scroll sideways, but at the end I have to scroll vertically again. Links and buttons aren’t clear enough either. It’s a mess. The website definitely needs to be made more usable.

I had a look, it was quite interesting, but all these tools and online assessments and all that stuff needs to come with huge warnings that they do not and should not ever replace speaking to your GP first.