A mental health care bear, called Panda!

I think it’s safe to say that we’ve been through a lot over the last two years, both as a country and quite honestly, as the human race in general. Mental health awareness has really come to the forefront, demolishing the stigma it has always tended to carry around with it and encouraging people to recognize their needs.

A friend of mine, Leni Bruinders, has become a part of this incredible movement of rewriting the mental health narrative. Enter Panda, a mobile app built around the mission and belief that everyone should have access to the right mental health support and resources, at the right time, to maintain a healthy mind.

Leni is the Chief Legal Officer at Panda and says, “So many individuals across the world are suffering from mental health challenges and don’t know where or how to find help. This is why I joined Panda, to accelerate the conversation around mental health and offer a support base and community at the click of your fingers, from the comfort of your own home. I’m truly honoured to be a part of this company in aiming to help millions of lives on a faster, cheaper and more accessible scale!”

Panda and its mission:

Panda’s vision is to be the go-to community and marketplace for mental healthcare and content. Panda has been designed to overcome three primary barriers to accessing mental health support, being stigma, cost and accessibility.

Background:

Panda was co-founded by Alon Lits and Allan Sweidan. Allan was the founder of Akeso Hospital Group (the largest group of psychiatric hospitals in South Africa) and he sold the business to Netcare in 2018. Alon spent 7 years with Uber and was their first employee in Africa and the Director for Uber across Sub-Saharan Africa. They joined forces to tackle the significant challenge that is mental health and wellness.

Panda offers 5 unique in-app features guided to aid you on your mental health journey:

The Forest

Users can anonymously join daily, live, audio-only sessions on various topics in The Panda Forest feature. When a user logs into the app, they can see what sessions are lined up for the next few days. Sessions run from 10am-10pm, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Life skills content

A library of mental health-related content (videos, articles and activities) can be accessed and worked through by the users on demand.

Assessments

To better understand individual mental health journeys, screening assessments can be completed in the app after which personalized feedback and suggestions for care are generated for each user.

Synchronous, text-based chat support

Users are able to reach out to a primary mental health professional via the synchronous, text-based support functionality, which is available 8 hours daily.

Connect with an expert

Mental Health Professionals such as psychologists, psychiatrists, life coaches and many others can easily be accessed through 1:1 virtual consultations via the booking functionality within the app.

Accessing Panda

You can download the app and get a feel for the Panda experience here:

iOS
android
Guidance on how to register and set up your profile

Follow them on Instagram @JoinPanda_App

My mental health journey has been something I have always tended to keep closed off, but over the past few years, I have found myself more confident in discussing things and opening up – maybe it’s my age, and the fact that I think I know myself better or because people actually tend to resonate with you when you talk, but one thing I do know is that access to platforms like Panda that provide engaging sessions, with real content and are highly accessible, definitely contribute to the new ‘mental health advocate’ in me!