Anxious youths buddy up with app

When Isabel Steinberg finds herself struggling with anxiety, she looks to her phone.

The 26-year-old University of Victoria student, who has had an anxiety disorder since childhood, said she downloaded Island Health’s Booster Buddy app three years ago.

The app, aimed at youth 15 to 24, puts dealing with depression, anxiety, psychosis and other mental-health challenges in a game-like form.

“It’s like having a little coach in your pocket,” Steinberg said.

Booster Buddy has been downloaded more than 130,000 times since 2014. It is getting its first major update this week.

Users choose a “buddy” — a cartoon fox, raccoon or rabbit — they can check in with daily. The buddy asks how the user is doing. Based on the answer, the user is given tasks to complete.

If the user is struggling, one task might be to follow a crisis plan or try a coping strategy. If the user is feeling good, the task might be to exercise.

Steinberg said the app makes the tasks convenient and discreet. “Writing in a diary or filling out something on a sheet of paper — you almost want to keep that a secret. But if you’re just texting or typing or playing on your phone, all that stigma is just removed,” she said.

Lauren Fox, Island Health’s clinical lead, said the app was initially developed by consulting youth dealing with mental illness.

“It’s basically taking a wellestablished technique and putting it on a phone instead of a piece of paper,” Fox said.

The updates mean users can check in more than once a day, schedule repeating items and participate in enhanced “quests.”

Booster Buddy was developed and updated with support from Coast Capital Savings.