The story behind Parent List app

Hi, I'm Chloe low.

I'm a strategy director and former head of Digital an

agency here in Sheffield.

I'm also the founder of parent list app.

So the parent of staff is designed with the single

aim to help manage the mental load of parenting as

a busy mom of a five year old and a

one year old.

I certainly live and breathe that daily struggle that comes

with the invisible load of parenting.

I set out a couple of years ago to validate

the idea with some research which unsurprisingly, I guess came

back with an overwhelming yes, I need some help and

I would love some help.

I think the difference in generations and the fact that

we are raising a new generation with different values really

has an impact on who we reach out to for

support. And actually research indicates that nowadays were more likely

to reach out to our digital community than we are

our own parents, one in 10 women or more than

one in 10 women developing mental illness during their pregnancy

or beyond.

And it affects dads to, you know, dads are susceptible

to mental illness in those early months after having a

baby. And the mental, you know, that kind of unseen,

invisible mental load that we all have to cope with

has a huge impact on our quality of life and

on our Children's quality of life too.

And fundamentally our enjoyment.

You know, we want to enjoy those inner liaise with

our Children because they do go really, really quickly.

I can certainly relate to this, but 75 of millennial

parents say that they continued to pursue their personal passions.

And one of the things that was really important to

me when I had Children was that I didn't lose

myself, my myself, my sense of identity.

I love my job, I love to travel and to

see friends and I didn't want to give that up.

I wanted I wanted my Children to enhance that and

you know, to do that.

We all need more time.

We need more head space and you know, kind of

coming out of the pandemic, we want to feel well.

So they're they're the currencies that we're working with with

the app.

We want to through providing really helpful bite sized content

on food, ideas what to pack when you're traveling, what

to pack and you swimming back for swimming lessons.

You know, that kind of constant barrage of things that

we need to remember and the checklist that are in

our mind, you know, that that ability to be able

to download them to create morehead State to save time

or to improve the quality of time that we are

spending with our Children, with our families, with our friends

or on ourselves.

So I can relate to a lot of this because

I've actually suffered with depression and anxiety since I was

17. So for over 20 years I have tried therapy.

I have tried medication.

I've found something that works for me now which is

great and mental health and mental health issues have certainly

become a part of who I am today, but it

did mean that I was susceptible to prenatal and post

natal depression.

So I have been there and it's, it can be

absolutely brutal and I think underpinning The app and um

you know, establishing this company is that purpose to really

help parents and during those, those months and beyond it

goes beyond post-Natal depression.

My daughter is 18 months old now and I am

on medication and completely comfortable with that, but it never,

it never escapes you.

And you know, this tool is really designed just to

be that helping hand and not exclusively for people that

have mental health issues.

Um, but hope, you know, hopefully they will find that

such an important tool kit in their self care coming

out of Covid.

It's been documented um you know quite widely that we

are in the grip of a mental health crisis.

I had a review of medical review with my doctor

recently, he asked how how are you?

Are you busy?

I was like, yes, I'm I'm double busy.

I've got my full time job.

I've also got the business that I'm developing.

And he asked me about that and when I told

him the concept, he turned around and said, right, I

want you to come and present it to our network

of surgeries because we are looking at resources to help

people with their mental health, but particularly segments that are

susceptible to additional pressures of which parents are.

You know, we are subject to increased pressure, not only

with the mental health of our own Children coming out

of a pandemic, having to home school, which from a

personal experience was incredibly hard and had a really big

impact on my mental health.

Actually, when my daughter went back to school, that was

a particularly low point for me.

Um and there will be parents experiencing this in lots

of different ways.

I don't truly believe that there is no kind of

one size fits all when it comes to parenting.

So there's a couple of examples on screen.

The app is currently in development, but this is what

shall be going live hopefully towards the end of this

year. Now there's lots of content across those different categories.

Um For the content has been designed for those that

are sleep deprived, that are just not feeling very creative,

you know, not feeling particularly motivated either.

So the checklist format for content, whether it be um

you know, questions to ask a child minder, if you're

trying to find a new child minder or activities that

you can do on a rainy day, The fact that

the content is in check, this format is really easy

to understand and easy to absorb.

But that mental accomplishment of ticking things off as you

go can be.

It can have such a huge impact on how you

feel about yourself and what you've achieved that day.

There's also some video content on the app and it's

all designed around mental health and there's 12 different categories

of content, Hopefully that will grow.

And there will be a mix of premium functionality and

the premium content as well.

So in the app we've recorded some breathing exercises, so,

you know, using your breath to feel energized or to

feel com or to feel more balanced if you're in

a stressful situation.

Also some movement exercises as well, you know, movement and

the impact it has on your physical and your mental

health. So having access to very short exercise videos or

movement videos, you know, they're not too intensive, but we've

got 5, 10 and 15 minute movement sessions.

We've also got 5, 10 and 15 minute meditation sessions

as well for anybody that just once that little escape

or kind of opportunity to um to get some balance

and to feel a bit more recharged.

Hopefully fingers crossed, we're launching in um kind of quarter

three, quarter four with this year.

Um It's um is a former head of digital and

all too familiar with the delays that come with tech

platforms, but I'm really excited to launch it.

We are better testing very soon.

Um, and the feedback that we've had from kind of

partners, expert contributors, um, you know, piers that we've tested

the initial concepts on has been overwhelmingly positive and, and

just kind of drives or continues to drive me on

this mission to help manage that mental load with with

other parents.

So thank you so much for listening to my story.

Any parents that are watching, keep your eyes peeled.

You can sign up to be a beta tester on

our website, but I am so excited to be able

to afford the time um, and have the support around

me to be able to pursue this project and just,

yeah, can't wait.

Thanks for listening.

The story behind Parent List app

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