Not long ago, therapists avoided encouraging clients to pick up their phones and indulge in screentime between sessions. But as mental health apps have proliferated—many developed by your own colleagues in the field!—the tides have noticeably changed. Now, the problem isn’t whether to recommend an app that’s a useful adjunct to therapy (for whatever reason); it’s knowing—out of the estimated 20,000 mental health apps and 9 million other apps on the market—which are worth our time.
As it turns out, there’s an app for that! When we asked a handful of therapists what mental health apps they suggest clients try these days, they shared their top recommendations with us—along with an app that rates mental health apps.
Tapping into Self-Exploration
As a couples therapist, I find that increasing mindfulness practice beyond sessions can help partners slow down during moments of conflict and stay present in their bodies through the sensation of overwhelm. There are lots of mindfulness apps out there, but I recommend the Calm app to many of my clients because it’s straightforward and user-friendly.
Two other apps I’ve been recommending are Human Design with Jenna Zoe and the TimePassages Astrology app. I know many therapists might shy away from sharing these kinds of unconventional apps with clients, but I find that they can provide a useful, creative, right-brain way of tapping into self-exploration. Human Design is a system developed by Alan Robert Krakower that combines astrology, the I Ching, Kabbalah, quantum physics, and Vedic astrology. Similar to the Enneagram, it can help clients recognize both the helpful and unhelpful ways they relate to themselves, others, and the world, and come into deeper levels of self-acceptance.
The TimePassages app offers a breakdown of your natal chart—where and when you were born as well as various themes surrounding your personality, strengths, challenges, and potentials for your life path—which can help clients challenge negative self-talk and limiting beliefs. I like using it with couples because they can enter a partner’s chart in the app as a starting point to discuss how they experience the world, which can bring surprising insights and deeper levels of empathy.
Dené Logan, MFT
Los Angeles, CA
Talks and Meditations
I recommend the Insight Timer App to clients looking for ways to support themselves between sessions. It has 20,000+ talks and meditations by mental health experts and spiritual teachers on mindfulness, grounding, sleep, stress, burnout, pain and anger management, and more.
The range of shorter and longer meditations within this app gives clients the flexibility to listen to a one-off guided audio on a single topic, or to commit to a longer, ongoing series. I often recommend Jennifer Piercy’s Yoga Nidra meditations for people with sleep issues. And for clients struggling with anxiety and rumination, I recommend Sarah Blondin’s meditation Permission to Be, Loch Kelly’s Three Stillnesses and Welcoming and Liberating Fear, and Lalah Delia’s A Journey Home.
The Waking Up app is another great option for clients willing to invest in a subscription (one year is about the cost of a single therapy session). It offers complete meditation courses as well as in-depth conversations and interviews on neuroscience and related topics. Author and spiritual teacher Adyashanti has several series here that I recommend to clients: Recognition, The Awakened Life, and Sitting in Silence.
Carrie Hatcher-Kay, PhD
Ann Arbor, MI
Bridging the Gap for Kids
By using engaging, child-friendly characters from Sesame Street, the Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame app provides a safe and relatable platform for children to learn essential self-regulation skills while aligning with key emotion regulation and problem-solving principles foundational in play therapy. The interactive activities encourage kids to slow down, take deep breaths, and think through solutions to everyday challenges. This process helps them develop executive functioning skills, such as impulse control and cognitive flexibility, in a nonthreatening way. From my perspective, the app bridges the gap between therapy and real-life application in a developmentally appropriate manner, serving as a valuable tool to reinforce therapeutic goals outside sessions.
The bilingual feature reflects a culturally responsive approach, ensuring accessibility for children from diverse linguistic backgrounds, particularly those in bilingual or Spanish-speaking households. Play therapists can recommend the app as a supplemental resource for parents, empowering them to reinforce therapeutic concepts and foster self-efficacy and emotional resilience in young clients at home. I’ve found that this collaborative aspect strengthens children’s support system and enhances the therapeutic process.
Carmen Jimenez-Pride, LCSW
Augusta, GA
Research-Backed Apps
As a therapist who supports integrating technology into therapy, it surprises me that I don’t use individual apps more often. I think this is largely because I find many apps to be overly “gamified” and not always suitable for mental health. But regardless of what kind of intervention someone is seeking, clients interested in apps can always check out the ratings at Mind Apps, where reviewers regularly evaluate hundreds of mental health apps across five key domains: therapeutic goal, engagement style, clinical foundation, privacy and security, and accessibility. The reviews on this platform can help us become more informed consumers by making it easier to figure out which apps are worth trying.
That said, there are a couple of mental health apps I trust, use myself, and frequently recommend to clients—particularly those looking for mindfulness apps. The one I suggest most often is Healthy Minds Innovations, a free, user-friendly app backed by solid scientific research. Another one with a strong evidence base is the UCLA Mindful App, which my partner uses regularly. Whenever I overhear one of their guided meditations, I often think, “That sounds like something I’d say during meditation instruction.” This reminds me of how critical style and fit are when choosing an app—it’s important that an app resonate with you personally!
Heather Hessel, PhD, LMFT
Golden Valley, MN
Dené Logan
Dené Logan is a Marriage and Family Therapist, a group facilitator, and an author based in Los Angeles. She specializes in supporting couples with finding more fulfillment in their relationships. Dené utilizes her background in depth psychology to infuse archetypes, ritual, and metaphysics into the exploration of how each of us can reclaim the aspects of our authentic selves we’ve been culturally conditioned to turn away from in an attempt to maintain attachments. Her first book, Sovereign Love: A Guide to Healing Relationships by Reclaiming the Masculine and Feminine Within, is available now!
Carrie Hatcher-Kay
Carrie Hatcher-Kay, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist, consultant, and community organizer with expertise in the areas of psychedelic integration, trauma, anxiety, and depression. In her work with clients, students, supervisees, and community groups, she integrates Internal Family Systems and family therapy perspectives with ecosystem and social systems healing, along with a commitment to address systemic injustice as inseparable from healing work. Carrie holds a certificate from the California Institute of Integral Studies in psychedelic therapy and research and is a certified EMDR consultant and a Level 2 Sensorimotor psychotherapy practitioner. Her practice, leadership, and service are founded in affirming individuals’, families’ and communities’ inherent wisdom, resources, and strengths.
Carmen Jimenez-Pride
Carmen Jimenez-Pride, LCSW, is a registered play therapist supervisor, internationally credentialed sandtray therapist, certified EMDR therapist and consultant, and Internal Family Systems therapist and lead trainer, and a best-selling author and internationally sought-after speaker. She’s the founder and executive director of Outspoken Counseling and Consulting, LLC and the visionary behind Diversity in Play Therapy, Inc. and the Diversity in Play Therapy Summit—a conference dedicated to empowering clinicians with tools and curricula that foster growth, healing, and inclusivity to enrich the lives of children. She created Focus on Feelings®, an emotional literacy program centered on diversity and emotional intelligence. In addition to her clinical work, Carmen serves as a therapeutic business coach, supporting fellow clinicians in building impactful, thriving practices.
Heather Hessel
Heather Hessel, PhD, LMFT, is an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling, Rehabilitation, and Human Services at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. She has an active research agenda focusing on emerging adulthood, extended family relationships, and the intersection of technology and clinical work. Her clinical practice includes working with individuals, couples, and families.