Helen Smith

A new toolkit targeting uniquely female mental health challenges is being put to the test, tackling everything from burnout and caregiving to stigma and coercive control, areas where traditional approaches haven't kept up.

Smiling Mind, alongside the Sisterhood Foundation, launched the free Women and Girls Mental Health Fitness Hub to build on everyday resilience and prevention.

And it's already showing promising results, but how does it actually work?

Dr Addy Wooten from Smiling Mind says a preventative approach like this can really shift the way women experience and manage their mental health.

One user, Michelle, a psychologist, mother, carer and survivor of coercive control, has said the app has completely changed her approach to mental health.

And she joins me now to share her powerful story.

Michelle, welcome to The Briefing.

Can you tell us why you first started using the Smiling Mind app?

Speaking of those triggers that you just mentioned, why were they happening?

Unfortunately, your story is very common and a lot of women and even some men have gone through similar experiences.

And you mentioned that you were a psychologist.

You were a professional in your field.

You had the skills that...

a lot of people don't have.

But what tools did the app give you?

How does it fill that gap that maybe some other more traditional methods might not?

You've spoken about how at the time when you were going through your personal experiences, there wasn't that language.

There wasn't the words to describe what was actually going on.

There's coercive control, financial control.

We have the language for it now.