'I was battling my own mind': The Tauranga teen using his mental health battle for good

Will Waters, 14, developed an app to help people suffering anxiety and depression. Photo / George Novak

The daily drag of going to school can be the bane of almost every teenager's life. But imagine you were battling a mental illness that made this experience a million times harder. Reporter Caroline Fleming spoke with one teen who went through just that but has found a way to use it for good.

At just 13 years old, Will Waters' mental health was at a point where he could not leave the house.

It was only his first year of high school, yet every day was filled with horrendous anxiety attacks, panicked by the feeling everyone was watching him.

"Every day was a huge struggle ... I was battling my own mind."

After a few months, the Tauranga teenager had stopped going to school. His mind refused to let him leave the house.

Will was referred to a mental health service at Tauranga Hospital. There he was diagnosed with social anxiety and autism.

It was there he was able to get help.

Will Waters, 14, developed an app to help people suffering anxiety and depression. Photo / George Novak

He started taking medication, meeting with doctors and counsellors and practising mindfulness. All things he says changed his life for the good.

He puts his success down to reaching out and as a keen self-taught software developer, he developed an app to try to make sure everyone had this opportunity.

Now, he is back at school every day, has a robust routine and has taken out a top national award for the technology he created.

The app, called Lifeboat, is a programme that simulates conversations and offers advice for people suffering from anxiety and depression.

The main objective was for it to encourage and talk people through asking for help in their own language. Something Will believed was vital.

Getting help from someone who understood was "so beneficial for me", he says, and he hopes the app will help get rid of the stigma around getting help for mental illness.

"I felt isolated and lonely with my anxiety . . . My goal is to make sure no one else feels like that."

The app also consistently checks in with the user at random times to make sure they are feeling okay.

It has a range of exercises in mindfulness and calming techniques to distract the user.

These aimed to slow the mind and most of the time they were so discreet, no one could tell a person was doing them, he says.

The app would help people suffering a range of mental illnesses with hopes it could decrease the city's staggering suicide rates too.

Just last week Will took away a Skills Bright Spark national award for Health and Wellbeing for the app.

He says the win was "amazing" and "overwhelming in a good way".

Now Will's next project is to get the app put out on a national scale.

He has begun crowdfunding to be able to do this, already raising $1300 of his $5000 goal.

He says $3000 would help him get it off the ground, whereas $5000 would allow him to keep it updated and running for years to come.

Will has set up a Givealittle page called Help me launch my mental health chatbot.