So Louise, tell us a bit about yourself and WorryTree.
I’m the Founder of WorryTree app, but along with my husband Mark I’ve also co-founded a community workspace in our home city of Hereford which is where you’ll find me day to day!
WorryTree is a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy tool in app form. It’s available on Apple and Android devices and encourages people to learn to manage their worries and build more positive thinking habits which in turn will make them feel better. I’m the co-Founder of WorryTree. We’re passionate about helping people worry less and feel better.
What motivated you to set up WorryTree?
I was diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder several years ago now and referred for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). These sessions with my therapist taught me the worry tree technique.
I was practising this technique at home but wanted to find an app that would enable me to work through the technique wherever I was. I couldn’t find one that did exactly what I was looking for so I decided to create something myself.
What are your dreams for WorryTree?
In five years time I’d like to see us helping even more people manage their worries in a more constructive way and I’d like to see WorryTree expand with even more therapy tools so that it provides a whole toolkit that people can tap into when they need a little extra help.
We’re finally starting to treat mental health as equally important as physical health and just as we might take supplements or make sure we get enough sleep, we need to keep our mental health on an even keel by practising good mental hygiene.
On top of this our mental health collectively has been adversely affected by the pandemic and there will be a growing need for positive tools over the coming months and years.
What’s the most important lesson you have learned since starting your company?
As someone who has to manage my own anxiety on a daily basis, I have had to learn to step outside of my comfort zone in order to grow WorryTree and help more people find it and be helped by it.
In doing this I’ve learnt that actually, it’s when I step out of my comfort zone that most of the magic happens.
Getting WorryTree listed on the NHS Digital App Library in Spring 2020 was a huge achievement too and took months of working with the NHS Digital Team to make sure that WorryTree was compliant.
The key to achieving this was tenacity and persistence – seeing every challenge as an opportunity to make WorryTree better, safer, and more user-friendly.
If you were able to create ANY kind of technology what would it be?
I’d create something that makes the wearer invisible when they’re doing focused work and don’t want to be interrupted unless it’s an emergency!
WorryTree is part of FemTech Lab’s Spring 2021 Cohort. You can keep up to date with the latest updates via our news page.
