Panda is on an incredible mission of hope and service. Rarely have I felt as encouraged about something being able to use the power of technology and scale up to make a huge impact on the world and bring hope and help to the many millions out there suffering from mental health distress.

Alon Lits and Allan Sweidan are the co-founders of the Panda App. Panda is on a mission to democratize mental health care, believing that everyone should have a right to mental health support. It leverages the power of the “forest”, with a focal point on the cultivation of community and support through sharing stories. Alon is a former director at Uber and tech investor and advisor.

Allan is a clinical psychologist and former CEO of Akeso, a Behavioural Health Group operating with inpatient and outpatient clinics across South Africa which specialises in the care of people with mental health challenges.

Panda’s app is completely free. If you or anyone in your life is struggling with their mental wellbeing, encourage them to get into the Panda forest.

Website: https://www.joinpanda.com

Join us as we explore:

How PANDA has been at the forefront of managing a 10x spike in suicide hotline calls during the COVID pandemic and what makes it stand out amongst the 20,000 mental health apps out there.

The power of the “forest”, how it brings people together, makes them feel heard and takes the power of storytelling to a meaningful place.

What DBT, dialectical behaviour therapy, is, what it does and why it’s a powerful and practical modality to easily relate to and creates results.

Why BEAR matters to stress, why it’s so important to separate stress from distress and how mental health can move away from diagnosis to deconstructing them into three key measurable and manageable components.

The momentum of anxiety out there and why we all need to be cautious of the pitfalls of social media, technology, television and more.

Messages of hope and why balance is fundamental to health, mental health and the future.

Mentions

Podcast – Richard Sutton, Leveraging Stress and Living A Superhuman Life, https://youtu.be/iTen58Yc0FE

Book – Cal Newport, A World Without Email.

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