It was spending time with a friend undergoing chemotherapy treatment that first gave Mindsettle founder Lisa Behan the idea for creating calming digital content.
“The anxiety in the waiting room was palpable,” she said. “It was a shock to me, you can’t help but take the anxiety on yourself. It made me start thinking that there must be ways to change this kind of atmosphere.”
With a background as an artist, she had an idea that beautiful video content of nature could have a place to play. Research had a part to play.
Dr Andrew Lothian reviewed 120 studies in this area and concluded: “…that exposure to nature through viewing and experiencing it provides substantial emotional and psychological benefits…The preference for nature scenes is nearly twice that for urban scenes, while the restorative benefits of nature are at least three times as much as viewing urban scenes.”
A catalogue of Australian ambient videos of nature
Lisa went on to found Mindsettle, creating mindful, calming, ambient video content for use in settings such as waiting rooms and lounge areas in health, aged care, government, education and retail. Mindsettle’s content is primarily Australian and largely features soothing scenes of oceans and rivers with harmonious soundscapes.
Take a look at a small sample:
The content is available as long form videos such as a 3-hour relaxing loop, or shorter videos featuring gorges, water walks, underwater reef scenes, flying views of natural landscapes, waterfalls and more.
Short form videos of 2-5 minutes are also available features scenes such as butterflies, eagle rays, flying foxes at sunset, turtles and more.
Proven results: Case studies
Mindsettle content has been used across Australia since 2017 and the feedback speaks for itself:
From a secure dementia ward in Melbourne:
“It does change people’s day, they are captivated by the content, it draws them in and they are calmer and gently mesmerised. The nature scenes evoke memories and conversation helping to dispel loneliness.”
A trial in aged care measured PRNs, behaviours and falls found a reduction in all three measures, which was attributed to staff training and the introduction of Mindsettle.
“I urge all staff to maintain the use of Mindsettle as a clinical option in the management of environment and resident behaviours.”
Queensland primary schools found that the content restored attention, reduced anxiety and enabled social-emotional learning. It was used individually as an anxiety-reducing break on an iPad in the break out room, as a whole class restoration after lunch or as part of daily meditation, and to soothe the transition to an academic task for individual special needs students.
A palliative care patient in a private hospital had this to say:
“I’ve been here for four months. Sometimes I just need to stare at something, especially late at night. When you’re in pain, you need something to go into.”
Now available from Five Faces
Five Faces has formed a partnership with Mindsettle to package calming content with its digital signage software. “We are really pleased to offer this value-add to our clients,” said Five Faces CEO Nicole Nixon.
“It takes the hard work out of finding beautiful, Australian content to play on digital screens that is proven to soothe and settle viewers,” she said.
“Five Faces clients who wish to use Mindsettle content can simply have it packaged and delivered with their cloud-based software.”
Pricing is per-screen or can also be provided per-bed for hospital clients. Five Faces’ digital signage software can be used to remotely schedule the content to any number of screens in advance, as well as tracking proof of play with reporting.
For more information, contact Five Faces on 1300 550 267 or via our contact form.
