HOW TO Get chatting with Woebot

1 Say hello

Woebot is a chatbot, designed to talk and interact like a human counsellor – albeit one with a lame sense of humour. When you first run the app, Woebot will tell you a little about who they are and what they’re here to do.

2 Start chatting

It’s important to feel at ease in these conversations, so the app takes a bit of time to get you comfortable with the character. Many of your responses are canned replies, such as the “really” and “that’s strange” options here.

3 Answer questions

Woebot bases its sessions around simple questions. For example, here it’s asking us to think of three things we’re grateful about. This is to introduce us to the idea of gratitude journalling, recognising the good things in life.

4 Ask for help

When Woebot asks about the more negative things in your life, it’ll ask whether you want help or if you just want to vent. It may also offer a choice of tools, such as the offer of a mindfulness option here.

5 Learn new concepts

One thing Woebot does very well is introduce you to key concepts that can help you reframe negative thoughts. Here it’s describing ‘fortune telling’, when we convince ourselves we can predict the future.

6 Set reminders

You can get Woebot to strike up a conversation at whichever time of day suits you by going into the preferences and selecting your chosen time of day. Woebot will then pop up in your notifications at the appropriate time.