Living Well – Men’s Wellbeing

The Living Well App is designed to assist men who have been sexually abused in childhood. It provides practical resources, support & suggestions. The information & resources in the Living Well app draw upon research evidence & practice knowledge.

Childhood sexual abuse can have a profound impact on men’s lives & relationships. However, men who have been sexually abused can live rich, full lives, develop healthy relationships & make positive contributions within our communities.

The Living Well App is designed to complement, not replace, the work of a qualified health care professional. The App covers the following areas:

Well-being

This section details information & actions to improve current health & well-being. Research tells us that having these building blocks in place enhances quality of life. Included are text & audio resources related to:

• Building connections

• Physical well-being

• Learning and thinking

• Living by your values

• 15 Mindfulness exercises

• 7 Relaxation exercises

Assessment

The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) is used to measure current well-being. To get a well-being score, read through the 14 questions & select the box that best describes your thoughts & feelings over the last 2 weeks. Upon completion, you will receive an assessment of your current well-being & steps you can take to enhance it. A chart plotting your results over time will help you track of your progress.

Learning

This section provides basic information about childhood sexual abuse, common impacts, difficulties & challenges that men who have been sexually abused in childhood or sexually assaulted as adults can face. We have included discussions of different ways of coping, as well as questions & suggestions to help you think through & deal with difficulties.

Manage Difficulties

This section offers suggestions to better manage common difficulties that can confront & overwhelm people exposed to abuse, including:

• Difficult memories

• Avoiding triggers

• Feeling isolated/disconnected

• Sad/depressed

• Anxious/worrying

• Anger

• Sleeping difficulties

Once you have selected the difficulty, you are asked to rate your level of distress on a scale of 1-10. Depending on the rating & specific difficulty identified, the Living Well App provides relevant information & suggestions of action you can take to better manage the distress.

Time2Breathe

We can all benefit from putting aside time to breathe, to settle & physically calm ourselves. The Time2Breathe function is a valuable tool to use on a daily basis, not just when you are feeling stressed, anxious or agitated. This function allows you to select the length of time & number of breaths per minute you want to practice the breathing exercise for. It offers visual & auditory cues to prompt your breath in & out. There are options to customise the prompts & schedule a daily appointment. A couple of minutes of breathing in time with the beats can help calm your body & mind.

Support

Everyone benefits from being connected & accessing support at different times. The support section contains & provides access to:

• Support line telephone numbers

• Add numbers from your own contacts - valued friends, supporters, professionals

• Links to useful websites

• Pre-loaded music – ‘More than a drop’

• Add your own music that helps you to feel connected & lift your mood

• A collection of calming & inspiring images which you can add to

Blog

The community blog link offers further information, inspiration, encouragement & hope. It's a place to keep abreast with the latest initiatives & ideas. Here you can offer encouragement & hope to other men (anonymously if you wish), & post comments, quotes, stories, inspirational images & videos. It's designed to help make the Living Well App more dynamic - ever improving & evolving.

Keywords: men's health, men's wellbeing, trauma, male survivor, sexual abuse, sexual assault, PTSD, mindfulness, relaxation, support, Living Well.