Nature diary app launched to boost mental health
by Startacus Admin
A free smartphone-based ‘nature prescription’ for mental health developed by researchers at the University of Derby and the team behind the popular walking app Go Jauntly has been launched.
Developed as part of the £1.3m Improving Wellbeing Through Urban Nature project, The Nature Notes feature has been integrated in the Go Jauntly iOS app, which also enables its users to discover, create and share walking routes. By using Nature Notes, users can now record the good things that they notice in nature.
Founded in London in 2017, Go Jauntly is a free community-based walking and nature connection app that offers local trails for city dwellers looking for a quick fix of nature.
Based on a user’s location, simple photo guides lead walkers around urban areas and surrounding nature. The new Nature Notes feature offers a chatbot-style 
'nature diary' tool to help notice the good things in nature, and was found to deliver clinically significant improvements in mental health.
Studies led by the University of Derby’s Nature Connectedness Research Group (NCRG) found that using a smartphone app to prompt people to notice the good things in urban nature not only increased their connection with nature, but brought key wellbeing benefits to users.
Crucially, the research found it brought clinically significant improvements in quality of life for people living with a mental health difficulty.
The NCRG was the first dedicated research centre to be established to examine the relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world, and has developed some of the first interventions to bring about sustained increases in nature connectedness, enhanced wellbeing, and changes in conservation behaviours.
Hana Sutch, co-founder and CEO at Go Jauntly, said:
"Now more than ever, we're all experiencing the real link between contact with nature and our mental health. We hope that through familiar technology, Nature Notes can help us all appreciate the positive moments, no matter how small, and ultimately improve our wellbeing”.
Go Jauntly is available to download on the App Store and the Play Store. The new Nature Notes feature is available on iOS and is coming soon to Android.
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Published on: 20th May 2020
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