Due to the coronavirus pandemic, people are being forced to stay indoors and can barely go outside even to breathe some fresh air or hang around with some friends and talk about how stressful the world has gotten.
Unfortunately, isolation and social distancing is not the easiest thing to do, especially for naturally sociable people and especially for those who suffer from anxiety, depression, and chronic stress.
Online Peer Support App
To battle the feeling of isolation and stress, clinical psychologists and certified counselors have moved online to provide remote therapy and counseling sessions.
However, there are still people who are not comfortable about talking to experts, and in these moments, finding like-minded people that you can talk to is incredibly essential--and that's where the HearMe app comes in.
According to CNET, the HearMe app matches people with "listeners" or empathetic people that are ready to lend a sympathetic ear to hear anyone's problems and help users talk things through.
These "listeners" are strangers on the other side of the phone, so for anyone who might be anxious with actual talking, the app only allows chatting, which should help users feel a lot more confident opening up to someone they don't know.
Finding a "Listener"
HearMe app is available to download on both iOS and Android devices and is free.
Additionally, users don't have to provide any personal information that could potentially be mined or leaked, which is something that would be good to hear if your privacy is extremely important to you.
The app then asks new users a few customers, such as their listener preference--whether they are male, female, or non-binary, as well as their age.
New users can also have the option to be upfront with the topics they wish to talk about, or they could start chatting and get matched with a listener.
Nevertheless, these listeners are trained volunteers, as per Forbes, so they are trained to understand what the user on the other end is experiencing and to answer the best possible answer based on what the user is going through.
With that said, HearMe is not a dating app nor a forum.
It provides one-on-one emotional support from a trained individual to someone who is tackling mental health issues and stress.
According to the HearMe app's description from the developers, the app is used to help users who are dealing with stresses of "becoming a parent or dealing with a breakup on their own."
CEO and founder Adam Lippin designed the app in the hopes of battling the adverse side effects of social media, including the lack of genuine, direct interaction.
More Free Online Resources to Combat Coronavirus Anxiety
Meanwhile, Stylist has listed down a list of free online therapy and wellbeing resources that anyone could access during the coronavirus lockdown.
Among them is Balance--it offers a free one-year subscription. Sanvello, offering its premium for free during the COVID-19 pandemic; Muse offers free stress management resources; and mindfulness and meditation app Calm, which provides a bunch of free resources to help with anxiety and stress.
