MindLand Intervention Launch Press Release

Big Launch Day: Reduce stress and boost creativity with a gamified mindfulness app

The MindLand app is ready! A gamified application to practice mindfulness via short exercises and meditations is available for users. Its main goal is to help young people cope with stress and boost creativity.

 “I used to have a nagging thought that caused me a lot of anxiety”, explains one of the first MindLand users. “With the app, I did an exercise about imagining the worst-case scenario, and now I don’t worry that much because I have an action plan in case something happens. The methodology works.”

The app provides guidance on how to deal with financial concerns, the end of a relationship, being alone, health, end of life (your own and that of loved ones), abuse, attack, and house theft. It also teaches various types of meditation and self-awareness techniques.

“Research shows that nowadays youngsters of 13-25 y.o. are the least resilient in terms of mental health compared to previous generations. The fast-paced world, overload of digital stimuli and health and social cataclysms provoke anxiety and depression. Mindfulness and meditation are tools that help relieve stress and increase resilience but the training in this area is usually expensive. With our application, we want to change the game”, says Anastasia Mazur, President of Association My Madeira Island. 

The MindLand app is free to use, does not require any registration, does not collect any user data and is available on Google Play for Android users and on the MindLand project webpage. 

The application was developed by T.R.I Technologos Research and Innovation Services ltd from Larnaka and Mindfulness for Life Ltd from Nicosia, both in Cyprus, with support from Welcome Home International, Belgium, and My Madeira Island, Portugal.

The game is meant for youngsters of 13-30 y.o. but is useful to anyone who is new to the world of mindfulness and self-awareness. It was initially created in English but then translated into Arabic and Ukrainian, to help refugees who fled war cope with stress. In the Ukrainian version, the exercises and meditations are voiced by a well-known singer, producer and radio show host Sonya Sotnyk.

The application is being tested these weeks and the reception so far has been positive.

In Portugal, the project team had the first official app launch – with the students of the International Baccalaureate of APEL School. The students were curious to try the new app: “School causes us a lot of stress, - they joked. “Can it help us out with that?”.

The MindLand project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.