LonePack Buddy

Thank you, @5harath for hunting LonePack Buddy. To feel heard and supported is what we need, especially when we are going through a difficult time. While that’s not a lot to ask for, it’s not always that easy. It’s hard to open up about our feelings and emotions without feeling like a burden or fearing judgement. Yet, the very act of talking to a supportive friend in a safe space often makes us feel better. We at LonePack are no exception. LonePack as a non-profit was born from our collective struggles with mental health through our formative years. We know first hand that confiding in someone isn’t easy, but we wanted to create a platform that made it simpler, easier, and safer to do so. We believe these spaces are even more critical in current times considering the increase in collective anxiety and isolation due to the pandemic. 💬 Buddy is a free, peer-to-peer, mental health chat app, targeted at the youth and run by the youth. It’s a platform to anonymously talk about anything that’s on your mind with a trained volunteer in a safe space. 👂 The app features trained volunteers aka “listeners,” who can provide emotional support and build healthy conversations while you navigate through your thoughts and emotions with them. 🎓 The volunteers are trained to be empathetic listeners through a rigorous course and evaluation procedure, designed in conjunction with mental health experts at The Minds Foundation. 🤝 While your Buddy isn’t equivalent to a therapist, they’re equipped to listen to you as a non-judgemental friend, help navigate through emotional distress and be there for you while you get through the hard times. They can direct you to qualified professionals if required. 🚫 At Buddy, we value the safety of both our users and listeners. A “Report” button is given to report any inappropriate messages on the platform. 📚 Through Buddy, you can also get free access to our repository that contains a listing of verified clinicians and professionals, thoughtfully-written blogs, and candid stories on why #MentalHealthMatters, shared by people around the world who talk about their experiences of mental health struggles. Buddy has been a labour of love for us at LonePack, aimed at letting people know that they are not alone—we hope you feel the same once you meet your Buddy! ❤️ Love, The LonePack Team

It's been a phenomenal learning curve for me in understanding how I could contribute my expertise in mental health and behavioral sciences to help develop innovations in the mental health tech and product space! LonePack Buddy is unique in that it emphasized Listener quality and has made that it's priority in every step. Happy to be a part of helping improve the training and evaluation for Listeners here which by far has yielded us quality contributors 💯💯

Nice to talk to trained volunteers, not bots! Simple to use, lots of resources, patient listeners...

Much needed at a time like this! Well done LonePack team :)

Harnessing the full might of peer support to make access to basic emotional support easy, and in the process normalise reaching out for professional help! Super proud to be part of team LonePack, and excited!

It's an amazing application with a lot of features! For every person who needs a non judgemental safe space to vent their feelings or need support during a difficult time I'm sure a Buddy will be ready and waiting for you!!

So happy to know that my favourite peer support platform now has an app! Can’t wait for more people to benefit from this real cool and relevant initiative. LonePack has helped so many people so far and I’m sure this app will only widen the reach further. Thanks team LonePack for constantly broadening horizons!!