Welcome to the beginning of a new series where I explore mental health and wellbeing apps to see if they actually help. I’ll be giving honest, first-hand feedback so you know what’s worth your time. First up: Finch.
While debating on what blog I should write a few days ago, I suddenly had the idea to test out mental health apps and discuss them using my honest opinion. The original plan was to use each app for a week before reviewing it, but I’ve used Finch before so therefore I only needed a few days to refresh myself on everything.
In all honesty, I forgot how good it is, and if you’re wondering why I uninstalled it in the first place, it was due to having no free storage and having to delete a LOT off of my phone.
First steps
After signing up in the app, some of the first things you do is choose which colour “birb” you’d like, select their pronouns, select which mental health challenges you struggle with (if any) and name what you’d like support with. The process was easy and I loved the simplicity of it.
Features
What I believe the main use of Finch is to be motivated and get rewarded for completing tasks/goals.
On the home page, there’s a list of achievements waiting to be ticked off, like: ‘Brush teeth’, ‘Take a stretch break’, ‘Take three deep breaths’. As well as this, you can add your own goals and delete the original ones so you’re not made to do certain things.
Just like games, it includes daily quests (such as ‘Name your emotion’) and even what I’d call a battle pass. To unlock these items and ‘Rainbow stones’ (in-game money), all you need to do is collect energy via completing your tasks. It makes looking after yourself fun which has definitely helped me do stuff as simple as getting dressed in the morning when I'm feeling shit.
Using rainbow stones, you’re able to not only buy clothes for your little friend but decorate their room too; I’ve got to say that I’ve enjoyed doing that part a little too much…
If you thought it couldn't get any better than that, you’re wrong! Finch allows you to add friends, get gifts from inviting friends and your birb goes out on adventures, coming across things and asking questions you get to answer! Based on your replies, your birb starts to develop its own personality as they grow up.
The benefits
To be honest, I’m naturally not at all a productive person, but with Finch I’m quite literally eager to get things done so I can tick them off and earn enough to buy some more furniture.
I got woken up at four o’clock this morning by my two cats. By the time it rolled around to five-thirty I thought ‘fuck it’, got up, showered, got ready and hoovered; I had to be up at seven anyway.
The point is, I genuinely don’t think I’d have bothered getting up that early if it wasn’t for this app. I feel motivated to do things and even get regularly excited to do them.
It helps break down what are normally overwhelming tasks into bite-sized chucks which has really helped my anxiety around the matter.
A lot of days, I struggle doing certain things because of my OCD, anxiety and low motivation. Finch has made me truly want to fight that, though. I think that’s another important factor: wanting to do something makes things more enjoyable. I never want to hoover, or even, brush my teeth at night, but I do.
Will this app, Finch, be for everyone? No, but I personally love it and highly recommend at least giving it a go. Here's a link to the website for anyone interested: https://finchcare.com/
Thank you for reading and I hope you’ll be back to read all about part two: Quabble.
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