Does your child suffer from anxiety? A new NHS-approved digital app can help them overcome their fears and worries
An evidence-based, non-stigmatising digital therapy in game app is now available and free to use for Newham children who are experiencing anxiety.
Designed for 7 – 12-year-olds (school years 3 to 7) and trusted by experts, Lumi Nova: Tales of Courage is a fun and safe digital therapeutic intervention that can be accessed on mobile phones and tablets.
Parents, carers and teachers can sign up on behalf of children to access the app via Newham’s Children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) online website here.
Lumi Nova is recommended by the National Institute for Health & Care Excellence (NICE) as a first line treatment option for children with mild to moderate anxiety. It combines ethical and studio-quality immersive gaming with exposure therapy and psychoeducation to provide instant access to therapeutic ‘best practice’ in a way that is practical, age-appropriate, engaging, and helps your child to learn to self manage their worries and build resilience.
ELFT professionals will be able to monitor their progress and continue to connect parents or carers with wraparound support where needed.
It has been developed as a result of extensive co-creation with experts from University of Reading, MindTech (NIHR-funded medtech cooperative), clinicians, teachers, parents and children themselves.
It is currently being rolled out across the UK and is funded by NHS and voluntary sector organisations.
East London NHS Foundation Trust’s (ELFT) Director for CAMHS Specialist Services, Sarah Wilson said:
“The Lumi-Nova app could transform the way children respond to the effects of anxiety.
“By providing Instant access to clinically meaningful therapeutic support, it can be a much-needed relief to those children and their carers who are waiting for support as well as help prevent escalation and relapse.
“It has the potential to reduce the number of children who need to be referred to a clinician for therapeutic care, by modelling coping strategies and developing self-care techniques, and so has the potential to reduce or even eliminate upset and unhappiness early on in a young person’s life.”
Manjul Rathee CEO and Co-founder of BfB Labs, the social enterprise team behind Lumi Nova said:
“We are delighted to be working with Newham CAMHS to bring Lumi Nova to a younger audience given most existing direct support tends to be for teens and older.”
“It is specially designed to deliver therapy in a fun intergalactic themed mobile game that can be accessed anytime, anywhere..
“Exposure therapy with psychoeducation is proven to be the most effective ingredient of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. It has been recommended by NICE as a first-line treatment option for children with mild to moderate anxiety, and we’re so pleased that children and young people in Newham will be able to access it."