WorryTree began after a conversation in the car with my husband, when I asked him if he thought my worrying had a negative impact on our life together and he said yes.
Although worry had been a constant friend and companion for longer than I could remember, it was the first time anyone had really called me out on it.
Naturally that conversation sent me into a tailspin of worry but it was enough to send me off to the Doctors and for the first time to admit that it might actually be a problem.
I was referred for a series of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) sessions.
During these sessions, I learnt to catch worries and negative thoughts in the act, as they were happening, record and challenge them and where possible deal with them or change them. As a naturally conscientious person I worked hard to follow my therapist's homework suggestions, but soon grew tired of scribbling worries down on scraps of paper and the back of envelopes.
So I looked for an App for my phone.
I found plenty of apps that would help me schedule 'worry time' for later on, but nothing that quite fit the bill in terms of recording and problem solving worries there and then. I could have used by Notes App, but I wanted something a bit more secure from prying eyes, and a bit more focused on my worries.
I decided to create something myself, and so the first version of WorryTree was born and then launched on Google Play.
The first version of WorryTree was very rough and ready, it was clunky and the text was a bit blurry on some devices. But it was functional, and I used it.
Then other people started to use it, and reviews and feedback started to come through that they were finding it helpful. I wanted to update it so it wasn’t blurry and it was a smoother user experience, so I ran a short crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to pay for the next stage of development. It was unsuccessful, but it did put me in touch with Ieso Digital Health and with their help we were able to release a new version of WorryTree as well as release it for the first time this year for iOS devices on the App Store.
You can download the latest version of WorryTree here, and if you’d like to find out more about our future plans for WorryTree then you can read this blog post.
I created WorryTree because I wanted to help other people who were struggling with excessive worries and anxiety and I hope you find that it works for you.
Best wishes,
Louise.