Darling chatted to Wimbledon based Dr Nihara, who is an amazing role model for young and old.
1 in 8 children and young people present with a diagnoseable mental health condition, 1 in 12 young people self-harm and 1 in 8 present with an anxiety condition. Much has been publicised about health resources being stretched to offer support and the mental health of children and young people continues to be a national concern
HOW A TRAGEDY LEAD TO HELPING THOUSANDS
Dr Nihara Krause founded stem4, one of Wimbledon’s local charities in 2011 after she worked with a school where a teenager sadly lost her life to an eating disorder. As a Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Nihara saw this as an opportunity to set up a charitable organisation that would provide accurate, user-friendly psycho-education to young people, their families and carers, and schools in order to encourage early awareness, emotional resilience building, signposting to early intervention, and prevention. The charity has grown over the past years to provide mental health literacy in secondary schools as well as a portfolio of growing mental health apps.
Over the time Dr Krause has tirelessly volunteered for stem4 in her role as CEO whilst also working in her full time job as a clinician in her private practice, she has been committed to provide high quality, effective digital early intervention through clinician-created tools in the form of mobile phone apps and has worked in co-production with young people to deliver evidence-based products. Named an ‘inspirational woman leader in health technology’ as part of the Women Entrepreneurs category of the AXA Health Tech and You Awards and a ‘thought leader’ in young people’s mental health, she has developed a digital app portfolio for stem4 to support young people’s mental health: Calm Harm to help manage or resist the urge to self-harm, and Clear Fear to manage the symptoms of anxiety. Calm Harm has over a million downloads in 171 countries whilst Clear Fear, only released at the end of Dec 2019, already has close to a 100,000. Stem4 is proud to provide early intervention for 12-19 year olds via clinically safe apps, which are free, accessible, and collaboratively created, nationally and internationally. These high calibre products have been downloaded in 171 countries. For parents and friends, there is Combined Minds, supporting the mental health of a young person and combatting mental illness.
Always one step ahead, Dr Krause has recently spearheaded Head Ed, a range of educational resources which feature clinically accurate information on mental health issues for secondary schools in accordance with recent DofE initiatives on compulsory mental health literacy for secondary schools. These will be launched in early 2020.
The impact of her work has been tremendous.
Stem4 has worked with 350 schools and spoken to over 11,500 students, many of them local.
Dr Krause says, ”I am really proud of stem4 and the exceptional work of the stem4 team in furthering our mission to support the mental health of teenagers, and for our apps to be providing valuable support to so many young people across the world. As a tiny charity which operates on a tight budget and a big heart, we will continue to endeavour to deliver high quality support and hope that our next app, Combined Minds for parent and friends to support the mental health of a young person which is just about to be released will be seen to be just as beneficial. I am also starting on the creation of a new app for depression, Move Mood will be released in June 2020 and have no doubt Head Ed will prove an invaluable resource for secondary schools nationally.”
Darling has supported Dr Krause and stem4 which has featured in many Nationals and International publications as well as seen on TV and heard of on Radio.
WINNING AWARDS
Calm Harm has been the recipient of Third Sector Awards ‘Digital Innovation of the Year’ 2019, Charity Times Awards ‘Best Use of Technology’ 2019, and DBA Design Effectiveness Awards Gold 2019. Clear Fear was a finalist for AXA PPP Health Tech & You ‘Mental Health in Children Challenge’ Award 2019. Stem4 were also finalists of the 2019 Merton Best Business Awards for the Best Enterprising Business and were highly commended for Digital Innovation at the National Children & Young People’s Mental Health Awards 2019.
Want to overcome anxiety? https://www.clearfear.co.uk/
Clear Fear is the latest app from award-winning teenage mental health charity stem4.
Worried about self-harm? https://calmharm.co.uk/
Calm Harm provides tasks to help you resist or manage the urge to self-harm.
