If you suffer from depression and have been looking into online NLP courses to help you learn techniques to change your way of thinking and make positive life changes, you might want to have a look at a new social network and app that has been developed to help people living with stress and mental health conditions.

Koko makes use of a form of crowdsourced cognitive therapy, developed in a media lab at MIT, and offers its service based on one idea – that people can be stronger when they’re together.

According to the developers, “together, we can tame our thoughts, build resilience and learn to stay calm and collected in the face of any stress”.

Once you’ve signed up to the network, all you do is post a message online about what it is that’s concerning you and include a worst case scenario. You can share your stress anonymously and then other users will come up with ideas and suggestions as to how you could view the issue more positively, while also suggesting why your worst case scenario is unlikely to happen.

Of course, it’s not a substitute for seeking professional help if that is what you ultimately need but if you are feeling alone and aren’t sure where to turn, it could be a good starting off point to helping yourself feel better.

If, however, you do continue to feel as though your problems are insurmountable, make sure that you do seek out help from a qualified specialist. Do not go it alone.