Helping Kiwis change their relationship with alcohol

New mobile app will help Kiwis change their relationship with alcohol

A new mobile app will help Kiwi members of the popular Hello Sunday Morning (HSM) movement change their relationship with alcohol, thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Medibank Community Fund (MCF) for its development.

Thousands of New Zealanders have signed up for HSM since it was launched here in late 2011.

General Manager Jamie Moore says the HSM programme is the only one of its kind in the world providing individuals with an opportunity to change their relationship with alcohol and influence the drinking culture around them.

“About 50 percent of our users access the program via mobile technology, but it’s currently not as effective or accessible on mobile. The MCF grant will be used to build an advanced smartphone app that will enable HSM to support New Zealanders to have a healthier relationship with alcohol by providing them with support in the moments that the pressure to drink causes them to slip-up. It will also support them to achieve their other HSM goals around weight loss, fitness and improved mental health.”

HSM users sign up to go for three months or more without alcohol and blog about their journey. They also undertake regular questionnaires that help them assess their alcohol harm risk.

Mr Moore says the HSM app, which should be ready by April 2015, will make this experience more open and accessible.

“We have identified that three months is too long for some people, therefore the mobile app will gradually nudge people towards their goals. It will integrate with other health apps HSM users like to use such as RunKeeper, Jawbone and MyFitnessPal and with social networking sites like Facebook, if they choose.

“Users will be able to put their drinking data on top of their fitness and sleep data and see if, for example, when they drink more they sleep and exercise less – which can help reinforce their reasons for taking a break from drinking, or drinking less.

“If people can physically see that information on their screen it makes it more real, and it’s important for them to be able to access that data and support on their mobile devices when, for example, they’re out on Saturday night.”

The 2014 Medibank Community Fund Community Grants have provided $100,100 of funding for New Zealand projects that promote healthy lifestyles and community connectedness.

Grants have been provided to a Christchurch primary school’s leadership programme, an Auckland-based food rescue operation that collects and redistributes fresh produce that would otherwise go to waste, an Auckland and Waikato Maori trust that provides weekly healthy eating and exercise sessions for adults and a Wellington-based organisation that aims to improve the lives of mental health consumers and the homeless.

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