David Wilcox

Last night I dropped into a West End gallery, tripped lightly over freshly-laid turf towards a barful of delicious Courvoisier cocktails, greeted on the way by engaging young women (and men) with offers of cake, hugs, massage … and sex and intimacy conversations.
Just another PR event in the life of a socialreporter? No, it was promotion of the Mindapples mental health project … so let’s move from tab-style to (slightly) serious.
Not very serious, because the greeter at The Future Gallery was Mindapples co-founder Andy Gibson, who I know from co-authoring our social tech book SocialbySocial could make Drupal configs fun. Almost.
Anyway, the event was the launch of The Big Treat, which you will find at 5 Newport Street today and tomorrow: programme here.
The idea behind Mindapples is really simple. We are familiar with an apple a day keeps the doctor away and the more recent campaign for five portions of fruit or veg a day. Good for bodily health … but what about our mental health? How about thinking of five things that would help maintain our mental well-being – and also be fun.
As Andy explained, mental health doesn’t have to be all about doctors, illness, schizophrenia, depression – it can also be about treats.
The Mindapples web site invites you to share your five treats … and last night we did that by filled in some apple-shaped cards. Andy says his favourite so far is “pet something furry – dog or boyfriend”.
Andy’s co-founder Hege Saebjornen – along with Tessy Britton – told me she hopes “mindapple” will find its way into the dictionary as a term people use a conversation starter: a bit more creative than “how are you feeling today – fine” end of story, when it probably isn’t. The mindapple prompts you to say, “well OK, (or not) and what I’m going to do is treat myself with …”
Mindapples sparked a creative thought for me – perhaps aided by the Courvoisier revolutionary spirit. I’m currently developing ideas for a Big Society Social Apps Store, as I explained here. It will be a place where people looking to do something to benefit their group or neighbourhood will get good ideas and help, made as easy to use as a mobile phone app. Some will be tech, many not – just smart, simple, yet powerful. Andy readily agreed Mindapples is a social app. And looking down the list of Mindapple gardeners I know where to find some more; first stop Tessy and Social Spaces.