Veteran-led charity offers free mental health app to all Australians

With funding from BHP, veteran-led charity Swiss 8 is now offering its mental-health monitoring app free to all Australians.

More than 3000 Australian military veterans are currently using the Swiss 8 app to improve their mental health. Now Swiss 8 is making this app available to all Australians.

Swiss 8 founder Adrian Sutter said the app has been built to prevent mental health decline in veterans experiencing isolation, unstructured lifestyle, loss of identity and loss of purpose. These are all issues veterans face when they leave the military. Now with covid, they are issues all Australians are facing.

“We launched Swiss 8 as a charity in 2019. The objective was to reduce the numbers of veterans taking their own lives as a result of anxiety and depression. Then covid hit and we knew suicide and mental ill-health was going to be a crisis faced by all Australians. We had to offer this tool to everyone, we just didn’t know how we would afford it.” Mr Sutter said.

Thankfully, Australia’s biggest mining company saw great value in what this team of veterans had created. BHP, through the Vital Resources Fund, offered to provide the financial support required to get the app ready for a national launch.

Swiss 8 Chief People and Culture Officer, Anthony Meixner, said the charity now has an even stronger purpose. Using veteran lived experience to provide interventions for all Australians and giving our veteran-led team the opportunity to serve the community again.

“We have improved the app features, allowing users to create teams, stay connected while working remotely and keep teammates accountable as they workout, follow nutrition plans, meditate, and become better at life.” Mr Meixner said.

With so many of us returning to work, in office or from home, this app is a great tool for maintaining a holistically healthy lifestyle. Overcoming anxiety and depression through the most vital of human requirements, connection.

The Swiss 8 app is available in the Appstore and Google play store.

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