‘Just like brushing your teeth’: The mental health app putting self-care at the top of the business agenda

I storm out of the room,” says Dr Nick Taylor, without a moment’s hesitation, when asked how he reacts to people that challenge the positive role of technology when it comes to mental health.

There’s a popular narrative that smartphones and social media networks are having a negative impact on our mental health, causing a surge in teen depression, anxiety and suicide. But as a clinical psychologist, as well as the co-founder and CEO of Unmind, Taylor believes tech could offer solutions too.

“Tech is complex but it’s not going to go away and it can be very empowering. The reality is, there’s a very high number of people who receive no treatment whatsoever for their mental health,” he says. “There is just not enough resources when it comes to traditional methods of care. Not enough psychologists, psychiatrists or doctors to meet the need of the population – and that’s in countries with developed health systems.”

Founded in 2016 with Steve Peralta, a wellbeing consultant and facilitator, and entrepreneur Ry Morgan, Unmind is a London based start-up offering a mental health platform for the workplace.

Taylor’s little sister has Down’s syndrome, which gave the entrepreneur a glimpse into how the world treats people who are different, and in turn how that person sees the world. His idea for the company was born out of frustration at the lack of prevention and good quality information about mental health.

“The idea that keeps me awake at night is that we are not focusing on prevention in mental health, which doesn’t make any sense because this morning I bet that you have brushed your teeth.

“We all spend four to six minutes on our dental care each day but we don’t apply the same love and care to our brains, which are far more complicated,” he says.

“I want people to open their eyes to the scale of the problem and recognise there’s not enough resources available. With digital we can create a highly personalised, scalable platform that people can use to improve their mental health and get the right care, at the right time. Why would we not do that?”

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Mental ill-health has been firmly on the business agenda since Princes William and Harry spoke out in 2017 and launched the Heads Together campaign – but it is still a growing issue in the UK.

According to Public Health England, more than eight in 10 Britons, or 83 per cent, have experienced early signs of poor mental health including feeling anxious or stressed, having a low mood or trouble sleeping in the past 12 months.

At that scale, the impact on business is significant, with the total cost to employers estimated at £26bn per year, according to the Centre for Mental Health.

Employers have slowly begun to see that mental health problems are too costly to ignore and have started taking steps to improve mental wellbeing among staff.

Investors are also taking note. Felix Capital, which invests in digital lifestyle brands, led a £3m funding round for Unmind earlier this year.

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This change in attitude partly explains why Unmind is becoming so popular among organisations. Since its launch, it has grown to 28 clients including British Airways, Just Eat, Farfetch and John Lewis. It now provides access to the platform to more than 250,000 people across 47 countries.

Just this month, Slaughter and May has become the first law firm to partner with the workplace mental health and wellbeing app.

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“The head partner stood up in front of the whole firm and talked about Unmind launching. Coming from the senior leadership it’s impressive, especially in a sector where long hours and hard work are expected of everyone. To have a senior person saying this is something you need to invest your time in – that’s really inspiring.”

So how does Unmind work in practical terms? The platform is designed to cover the whole spectrum of mental health and give users access to learning and development series with information as well as tools that can be used on a day-in, day-out basis designed to fit around busy schedules.

Unmind is available only through employers who have paid for access. Once partnered, a company’s entire workforce can anonymously log in on mobile or on desktop at any time of day.

The founders stress that all the programmes have been developed by clinicians and academics.

Recent collaborations include a series about how to switch off after work with Professor Mark Cropley, author of Offswitch, as well as a programme about understanding menopause with Dr Myra Hunter, emeritus professor of clinical health psychology at King’s College in London.

“We are constantly updating our content by releasing a new series every two weeks and a new tool every day. Beside that we get user feedback all the time, which we then use to improve our existing series,” Peralta, co-founder and chief content officer at Unmind, says.

“It’s a lot of work but we are working with the best people to ensure our content is as rigorous and valid as possible.”

As digital incursions into our daily lives become second nature and the stigma around mental health slowly lifts, Unmind’s aim is to become the leading platform when it comes to mental wellbeing in the workplace.

And it wants to do so without using black and white images of people holding their heads. “That’s not what mental health is about,” Taylor says.

“What get us out of bed in the morning is that everyone has a right to a healthy mind and that’s what really drives us as a company. Our mission is to become the leading platform that helps organisations understand how to support their employees better, helping them get the right care at the right time.”