Alison and Naomi's experience of Molehill Mountain
Naomi and her mum, Alison used Molehill Mountain to help Naomi manage her anxiety. Alison spoke to us about the benefits that they found and their role in helping to develop the app.
We first heard about Molehill Mountain on social media and I decided to try it with my daughter, Naomi. Anxiety has always been a problem for her but it was particularly bad at that time. Her father and I were separating and we were planning to move house. Everything was changing and the future for her felt really uncertain.
Her anxiety was affecting her at school. She’d have what she describes as breakdowns where she’d freeze and struggle to breathe. At home she was teary, and would shut herself away, she lost all interest in the things she normally loves like art.
How Molehill Mountain helped
I’d ask her how her day was and she’d say ‘fine’ but I knew she just couldn’t explain how she felt. Using Molehill Mountain changed all of that for us.
We’d sit up in bed every evening and go through her daily diary in the app. It helped me to understand how she was feeling and the daily tips helped her to understand herself better too.
Alison
After completing the first stage of the app Naomi loved looking back to see the progress she had made. She could see that worries that once dominated her life were now no longer an issue.
Getting involved in the app development
We were then asked by Autistica to get involved in further development of the app. We’ve helped them with the tips and reporting dashboard and fed back on the best ways for a user to share their progress with a supporter. Naomi is interested in computers and technology and wants a career in graphic design, so this was great experience for her.
She normally avoids video calls, but when testing the app she had her camera on and was really vocal with her views. She loved seeing how her comments shaped the design of the app.
Alison
We are both so grateful to Autistica for developing the app, and for the practical research that they do. As a parent it is hard to know where to turn, but their information is helping to guide families like mine through difficult times. We’ll do anything we can to support their work in future.