A mental health tool that works around your schedule.
It’s normal to feel down, stressed, overwhelmed or anxious from time to time, but it’s important not to let these feelings get on top of us.
myCompass is a free online tool that can help you identify unhelpful thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, and learn strategies to deal with them.
myCompass is free to use and backed by research.
What is myCompass?
How does it work?
myCompass offers a customised experience and can recommend learning activities that best match your needs.
Alternatively, you can select from fourteen interactive learning activities that most interest you.
The myCompass mood tracking features allows you to track your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours in four areas – depression, anxiety, stress, and sleep. In addition, it provides graphical feedback to help you better recognise the patterns and triggers that impact your mental health, both positively and negatively.
The learning activities deliver proven psychological techniques doctors and psychologists use, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
If symptoms persist, worsen or change unexpectedly, always speak to your health professional.
The benefits of using myCompass include:
- Customisable for your needs: myCompass can recommend learning activities that best suit your needs.
- Fits into your schedule: myCompass is flexible, easy to access, and self-guided so that you can work at your own pace.
- Credible and actionable: Based on clinical approaches, it gives you real data about your mental health, making it easier to talk about and take action.
Who’s it for?
Requiring minimal technical skills, myCompass is for people who:
- want to better manage their stress levels with the impacts of COVID-19 and other events
- would like to improve their mental health
- have depressive, anxious and/or stress symptoms in the mild-to-moderate range
- are aged 18 years old and above
- read English with ease
myCompass for people living with diabetes
Diabetes is a common disease, and rates of depressive symptoms in people living with diabetes are two to three times higher than in the general population. With the support of the RACGP Foundation and Diabetes Australia, myCompass has developed a specific online learning activity aimed at helping people balance the demands of diabetes with other important life goals. Called ‘Doing what really counts’, this activity is accessible to all users of myCompass.
myCompass for men
myCompass received funding from Beyond Blue and the Movember Foundation to develop a specific online learning activity for men with mild-to-moderate depressive symptoms. Called ‘Managing depression for men’, this activity is accessible to all myCompass users who identify as male.
What’s the commitment?
It’s easy to build into your weekly routine, less than half an hour a week can give you insight into your mental health.
Ideally, committing to the program for a minimum of seven weeks increases the likelihood of gaining the full benefit.
Each of the fourteen online learning activities is comprised of up to three 10-15 minute sessions that can be completed at your convenience. Completing the mood tracking component takes around 1-2 minutes per day.
What’s the evidence?
Designed and developed by researchers at Black Dog Institute, myCompass has been shown to significantly reduce mild-to-moderate symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress, and significantly improve levels of work and social functioning in seven weeks.
Outcomes from a randomised control trial are published in BMC Psychiatry, and available on the BMC Psychiatry website.