Using ideas from evidence-based, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), stem4 has launched Calm Cards, a pack of cards designed to help young people manage the urge to self-harm. The cards are based on stem4’s, NHS App Library approved and widely used, multi award-winning app Calm Harm and aims to pass on the teachings of the clinician-developed app into a physical medium. They enable young people to manage the urge to self-harm in places where phones are banned or unavailable, such as in the home (particularly at night), schools, hospitals and youth detention facilities.
Reports by some of stem4’s app users suggest that their urge to self-harm is often highest at night. Yet, with families growing aware of the negative impact of mobile phone use on sleep and mental health, young people often do not have easy access to phone apps, leaving them without their regular support to manage self-harm urges. Calm Cards provide a solution to this problem, allowing young people – who may be particularly stressed around this time of year due to pre-public examinations and mocks – to manage their emotions whilst maintaining healthy sleep patterns away from the blue light and distraction a mobile phone provides at night. Where phones are unavailable in high-stress environments such as schools or hospitals, Calm Cards can too provide an answer.
Based on the notion that ‘the urge to self-harm is like a wave, it feels most powerful when you start wanting to do it, once you surf the wave, the urge will fade’, the Calm Cards use the same activities as Calm Harm to help young people. With 93% Calm Harm app users reporting a reduction in their symptoms after completing an activity, the activities are tried and tested by young people and can be used to help manage their self-harm urges, increase motivation to seek help and learn to self-reflect. The timed, targeted tasks are designed to help alter thoughts, emotions and behaviours, enabling users to ‘ride the wave’ of emotion they experience.
The success of stem4’s Calm Harm app has seen over 1,000,000 downloads, and several awards; most recently Third Sector Awards’ ‘Digital Innovation of the Year’ 2019 and DBA Design Effectiveness Awards Gold 2019. Calm Cards are available now – click here to find out more!
