Psychologist from University of Bath wins prize to launch mothers’ mental health app
HearHer app will offer support to mothers of children with mental health or developmental challenges
A clinical psychologist from the University of Bath has won a major award for her app aimed at supporting mothers’ mental health.
Dr Faith Martin, a Senior Lecturer in Bath’s Department of Psychology, designed the HearHer app to assist the over 2 million mothers in the UK raising children with mental health or developmental challenges.
The app aims to provide personalised psychological support to help mothers manage chronic stress and emotional exhaustion while navigating difficult periods such as waiting for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAHMS) or caring for their children between appointments.
Dr Martin said: "Mothers supporting children with mental health or developmental challenges are often coping at home, waiting for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAHMS) support, or managing their child's distress between appointments and trying to keep everything else going.
"HearHer is designed to provide evidence-based, personalised psychological support during those critical gaps, helping mothers to sustain their own wellbeing while they care for their children.”
The app design has earned Dr Martin co-winner status in the first Ripple Women’s Digital Health Challenge, set up by Cogniss with the Health Innovation Network and Amazon Web Services to promote solutions addressing gaps in the Women’s Health Strategy for England.
HearHer will be built on the Cogniss no-code digital health platform, with further development support from the Health Innovation Network, including studies, pilot site identification, evidence generation, and NHS adoption pathways.
Women’s Health Minister Baroness Merron praised the initiative, saying: “Closing these gaps in women’s health is key. It is unacceptable that so many women are waiting too long for the care they need, and we are changing this through renewing the Women’s Health Strategy.
“What is so encouraging about the winning solutions is that they bring frontline clinical insight, lived experience and academic rigour together to address real, persistent gaps in care through digital solutions.”
Alongside HearHer, the second winning app of the Challenge is NVP Minds, designed by University of Oxford’s Associate Professor Fiona Challacombe. This app will tackle Hyperemesis Gravidarum, a condition causing severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.