Calm Harm – manage self-harm
June 09, 2025
More About Calm Harm – manage self-harm
There is also a breathing technique to help be mindful and stay in the moment, regulate difficult emotions and reduce tension.
When you ride the wave, the urge to self-harm will fade.
Calm Harm is an award-winning app developed for teenage mental health charity stem4 by Clinical Psychologist Dr. Nihara Krause, in collaboration with young people, using principles from the evidence-based Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). It is built to NHS standards and approved by ORCHA.
Calm Harm provides some immediate techniques to help break the cycle of self-harm behaviours and explore underlying trigger factors; build a ‘safety net’ of helpful thoughts, behaviours and access to supportive people; and provides the opportunity to journal and self-reflect. It also provides signposts to help.
The Calm Harm app is private, anonymous and safe.
Please note that the Calm Harm app is not a substitute for the assessment and individualised treatment by a health/mental health professional.
Please also note that if you forget both your passcode and security answer, these cannot be reset as we do not create user accounts. You will need to reinstall the app, losing any previous data.
Calm Harm has been given a new look and updated to the latest technology. We’ve listened to users and enhanced the app’s functionality, adding the ability to make journal entries at any time and the option to select multiple reasons for your urge to self-harm after completing an activity. We’ve also updated and expanded the choice of activities based on user suggestions.
What else is new?
• Users can add activities to a ‘Favourites’ list.
• The mascots are now enhanced by animations throughout the app.
• Choose from a wider selection of colour schemes.
• Easier access to immediate help via the breathe activity, both during onboarding and in the footer of the app itself.
• We’ve removed the option to set a passcode to access the whole app and, instead, the self-monitoring section can now be passcode-protected or accessed via facial recognition / Touch ID.
• Tours explaining key features of the app.
What is staying the same?
• The app is clinically-developed by a Consultant Clinical Psychologist in collaboration with young people.
• Optional passcode-protection (though now only for the self-monitoring section).
• Users choose 5-minute or 15-minute activities (from the same categories as before), counted down by a timer, that are based on the principles of a treatment technique called Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT).
• Users can still record experiences in the log section (now called My Records) and see information such as weekly average urge strength, most common urges, and most active time of day.
• The app is completely free, with no in-app purchases required.
• Users are shown signposts to further help.
• Our commitment to data privacy and user anonymity.
• No need for data or WiFi access to use the app.
• Built to UK National Health Service standards and approved by ORCHA.
• Users can still personalise their experience.
• The option to hide trigger activities.
Latest Version
6.0.4
June 09, 2025
stem4
Tools
Android
861,035
Free
uk.org.stem4.calmharm
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User Reviews
A Google user
6 years ago
So far I love the app. I like that you can change the colours and personalise it. I do have one suggestion, after riding a wave could you make it possible to pick more than one reason for wanting to self harm? Sometimes it's more than just one thing, it could be feeling sad and stressed.. Thanks. This app is really nice, I'm glad I found it.
Videos Of Me Singing Green Day To My Cat
3 years ago
The concept is great and the UI is very calming and easy to navigate but I can't give a fair assessment of whether it works as it is inaccessible for me. I am non verbal during an episode and I was disappointed to realise that the app involves speaking aloud into your phone, which I was unable to do. Hopefully the devs will take this on board and consider adding an option for you to type answers to the questions.
Daphne Dioufas
2 years ago
I love the app, my school is doing the charity "first give" competition, where we would be able to win £1,000 for the charity we chose. A lovely lady came in and explained the apps stem 4 makes - and I thought it would be a good idea to download it because I suffer from self harm unfortunately. This app gives me a lot of ways to distract myself, and I can use it to give my friends advice when they need it, too. It's easy to navigate and lets you customise colours. Thank you a lot!
Ma Do
2 years ago
Thank you for developing this application! I absolutely recommend it; no ads, easy to use and really IS helpful when you want to get better. The only improvement I'd ask for is that we can see a daily motivation quote/message, because in my case, it helps me find hope and motivation to succeed in my healing process/journey. Other than that, it is perfect and still worth to be a 5 stars app.
Calen Eledh
3 months ago
It's hard to explain how useful this app has been to me. Some of the activities really help control urges. A few of them are not for me, but being able to favourite ones that have helped is good. I have found that sticking to the same few favourite has less of an effect, and trying new ones can be a little more distracting when urges are very strong. The breathe activity is perfect. Not only have I found it useful for urges, but also it can help stop panic attacks before they take hold.
Gabrielle George
3 months ago
I do really love this app, it's very helpful, has tons of ideas, it's great. but I don't like that you can't add or start a new streak. there's a "My Streaks" button, but you can only have one streak, which kinda sucks. but that is my ONLY issue with the app. Aside from that small thing, it's absolutely lovely
Spud
3 years ago
The bright backgrounds are hard to look at for even short periods of time (and from an app that has activities that request you focus on the screen I can only recommend inverting your screen color until the devs add a dark mode) The app disables the back button in favor of their own which doesn't appear all the time The majority of the activities are terrible for a setting that requires you to be quiet, or when you're around others (such as a shared room with family at night)
A Google user
6 years ago
I can't access because I forget my password and "memorable word" when I'm in place where I have the urge to self harm. No way to bypass that. Can't regain access. No instructions to help. Useless for me because of this. Edit: I've tried clearing the cache and data, and uninstalling and reinstalling the app, nothing is different. Really wish I could have disabled a password requirement for this app, my phone has a passcode, so I don't need it. It actually makes things harder because I need my self harm resource FAST when I have the urge.
Eev
4 years ago
The app has an amazing selection of helpful activities, however for some reason it struggles to load up initially, as well as loading up things like the log. I've restarted my phone, force closed the app and reopened it, my next option is reinstalling it but if that doesn't work then I'm forced to try other apps, which may not give me nearly as many options for calming myself down so I don't self harm.
Julie
3 years ago
This can be really great for some people. I have tried some of this stuff on my own before discovering this app some things work for minor anxiety but nothing really works when I'm having a major episode and some of the things saying to draw designs and other stuff on the site would just make me crave cutting more. Other activities like trying to think of certain things or find words in phrases would increase my anxiety
A Google user
5 years ago
I just started this app and it had me choose a password and a memorable word. I turned my phone off for a second and when I go back it says my information is incorrect. I am 100% sure that it is correct. I wouldn't have chosen another word or password. Can you imagine how frustrating this can be if I was having a suicidal thought at the moment and was counting on this app for help?
mouse
7 months ago
I've been using this app across different phones for about 2 years and all I can say is I really like the idea of this app. I've tried almost all of the suggestions they have to distract me from my self harm but it very rarely works for me. I think it's still worth a try as it doesn't have any annoying subscriptions to use it unlike a lot of other similar apps, but for me personally it doesn't help to subside self harm urges at all. It's useful ness entirely depends on the person using it.
A Google user
6 years ago
It's quite helpful, and I really like the feature where it requires your password after just leaving the app for even just a moment. It can be a bit annoying to find a specific activity but it's usually quite fast and the ability to hide certain activities is extremely useful. I do wish the timers would continue even after exiting the app, and that when they finished the timer would have an alarm.
A Google user
6 years ago
This is an absolutely amazing app and has kept my streak going for several weeks now, and I only have a few nitpicks and suggestions. First would be the ability to manually add urges in case you dont use that app but still want to track it (idk if you can already do that) and secondly would be to have the timer run in the background in case for example, you pick an activity like play chess or coloring or something so you can play a chess app which is much more convenient than actual chess.
onebree
3 years ago
Easy to start but could be improved. I wish there was dark mode, especially for night time. From there, on my phone (pixel 5a), the Android status and bottom nav bars are hidden, unless I swipe gesture. This should at very least be an option, and not the default. Finally, maybe custom moods which cause urges (my reason wasn't listed, even in a more general sense)
Alexis Bradford
1 year ago
I love it, works very good, there is a journal you can write your feelings in (I don't use it) But overall it really is a great app, only complaint is that it doesn't automatically count the days you have been clean for, well for me atleast not sure if it does that for anyone else, but if you're struggling with sh, I do think it would be an amazing app to get!
A Google user
6 years ago
Cute app that actually helps me manage anxiety; however, the password option seems like it should be optional. I assume that it's there in case you don't want people to know what it is, but they could already tell something is strange by the name, I feel? And it's hard to remember when you're in a heightened state of emotion. Other than that, a really superb app with a great design!
A Google user
5 years ago
I really like this app, it's been really helpful for me so far. The only thing that frustrates me are that the dates are crazy. I started using the app in late July, and it has my journal entries dated from February to May! I can't find anywhere to fix this, and it's a problem because I'll want to look back and see how I've been doing along my healing journey and its not accurate. Also, i would suggest adding the option to add custom reasons. Sometimes, my reason isn't any of those listed.
Maryam E
5 months ago
This app has been an amazing, even life-saving resource for me. A suggestion for the devs: could you add more medals for unbroken streaks? I don't want to lose my motivation to keep going after one year, which I've done before. Could there be an achievement for nine months, eighteen months, and two years?
Anushka Basu
4 months ago
I recently got diagnosed with BPD and this app has been unbelievably helpful. I often use the app when I sense the start of a negative thought spiral (even before an active urge comes) and it works! My suggestion would be to add check-in notifications of some sort (like in other stem4 apps) because I sometimes forget to use the app otherwise, and to make reasons more customizable (sometimes I get triggered by something very specific that doesn't need a new category) but overall this is great
