How to stick with it

We know starting and maintaining a treatment is challenging. Below is a collection of tips and tricks from our users and the team at Flow to support you in your journey.

Find your time, find your spot, find your Flow:

We recommend finding a time in the day, a spot in your house, and activity that you do regularly. Studies have shown adding a new habit to an existing one may make it easier to continue. Flow can easily be added to many daily routines. Once completing the Flow therapy course, many users stimulate whilst reading, relaxing, or watching their favourite TV show.

“Find somewhere comfy and something nice to do while you Flow. I crochet and put something nice on TV. Stimulate in the morning or early afternoon if it wakes you up. I do mine as a wind-down evening activity but not too close to bedtime or I’m way too awake!”

“I’ve tried to make a habit of having a quiet 30 minutes every single day, so that Flow just fits into it.”

“Keep a consistent schedule of Flow. It’ll help you get in a habit and remember to do it. When I forget, I definitely feel it.”

Tell a friend and make an accountability buddy:

Depression is difficult but you are not alone. Be sure to join the Flow Facebook community to hear from others that understand depression, how difficult the bad times can be and are currently using Flow to fight depression. Share your experiences, make an accountability buddy, or just say hi. Support systems have been shown to help lower stress levels and even help reduce depression. We would be honored to have you.

“Tell your supportive family and friends about it. It helps with keeping a consistent schedule because they’ll remind you, and encourage you 🙂 plus it’s much nicer not to be hiding that you’re having a hard time.”

Embrace your Flow and give yourself grace:

Everyone is different and will experience Flow differently. It is important to give yourself the time and commitment needed to see if Flow is right for you. See here what many users experience in their first few days and weeks.

“Give it time to work. Don’t worry if there aren’t results overnight. It takes a little time and there might not be dramatic results straight away.

“Remember you are bravely trying to deal with an illness that most people don’t understand. Everyone is different but just go ahead and try using flow, try and give it a bit of time and don’t be discouraged if you don’t notice any difference in the first week. In the meantime, be kind to yourself, spoil yourself and look after yourself, you definitely will get better.”

Know what to expect:

As the treatment progresses, you’ll move from 5 sessions to 2, which some users can find difficult. We recommend spreading the sessions out during your week and reaching out for support if you are struggling.

“Don’t be afraid to use it. The anxiety is something a few people (including me) have experienced, but it’s far from universal. The therapy sessions on the app really help with it, and it passes quite quickly. The same goes for the drop in mood some people experience…You’ve got nothing to lose by giving it a go.”

Find your balance:

Depression may be caused by a variety of stressors. The Flow treatment addresses both the biological and behavioural components of depression with the combined brain stimulation headset and the therapy app. Helping to stimulate underactive brain areas due to depression and build healthy habits for long term recovery.

“I think Flow is one (very effective) part of the puzzle… But it’s about finding lots of ways to deal with those stressors that are right for you… It could be talking therapy, meditation, medication, exercise… A combination of lots of different things to help you feel better.”

“Give the therapybot stuff a go. Some of the lessons are genuinely useful even if you’ve done CBT-type therapy before. I found the sleep ones especially useful but I was ready to completely dismiss it all because I’d already done therapy before.”

We hope these tips will help on your journey with Flow. We are always looking for different ways to support our users. If you have any other tips, please feel free to share and send them our way!