Man's battle with mental health leads to new support app

Phil Rogerson, 53, came up with the concept for Calmer Sea after experiencing his own battle with mental health, following the loss of family members and his business two years ago.

Formerly head of Mudhouse Advertising, Phil took a keen interest in his diagnosis and trained as a therapist, leading him to design an app for people facing a variety of challenges.

“All sorts of things were going on at the same time,” Phil said.

“I did the typical thing of calling the doctor and saying I was basically ticking all the boxes for depression, but ended up cancelling the appointment.

“Shortly after, I got tonsillitis and went to the doctor for that. He sat me down and said, ‘before we get into that, how are you feeling?’ and we addressed it there.”

As a result of the well-documented strain on NHS mental health services, Phil was left waiting four months for an appointment which failed to fully address his personal issues. He decided to take it upon himself to make help more accessible and personalised.

He said: “I had always been really interested in subconscious marketing and the power of the brain, and I decided to train as a clinical hypnotherapist. As I did so I realised there were so many common issues.

“What works for some might not work for others, and I wanted to create a platform to expose people to a lot of different therapies.

“Even with a big push on mental healthcare, the waiting times and the suicide rates are through the roof.

“In Calmer Sea, there are more than 130 exercises and techniques, and when you log in you can specify how you are feeling and what you are dealing with.”

The app allows you to take things at your own pace, log your progress and ‘buddy up’ as the journey progresses.

Phil said: “There is still a massive stigma around mental health care. When you are at home you can get in, log on to the app and not necessarily have to tell anyone about it.”