More than 3000 Australian military veterans are currently using the Swiss 8 app to improve their mental health. Now, Swiss 8 is making this app available to all Australians.
Swiss 8 founder Adrian Sutter said the app has been built to prevent mental health decline in veterans experiencing isolation, unstructured lifestyle, loss of identity and loss of purpose. These are all issues veterans face when they leave the military. Now with COVID-19, they are issues which all Australians are facing.
“We launched Swiss 8 as a charity in 2019. The objective was to reduce the numbers of veterans taking their own lives as a result of anxiety and depression,” Sutter said. “Then Covid hit and we knew suicide and mental ill-health was going to be a crisis faced by all Australians. We had to offer this tool to everyone, we just didn't know how we would afford it.”
Australian mining company BHP, through the Vital Resources Fund, offered to provide the financial support required to get the app ready for a national launch.
Swiss 8 Chief People and Culture Officer, Anthony Meixner, said the charity now has an even stronger purpose: using veteran lived experience to provide interventions for all Australians.
“We have improved the app features, allowing users to create teams, stay connected while working remotely and keep teammates accountable as they workout, follow nutrition plans, meditate, and become better at life,” Meixner said.
The Swiss 8 app is available in the Appstore and Google Play store.