If we know one thing about frontline workers during the time of COVID-19, it’s that their jobs are dangerous. With danger comes stress–about their work, their health, and their future. In fact, a new study by 24 mental health experts in the Lancet Psychiatry Journal revealed that those exposed to heightened levels of stress and trauma due to COVID-19 could experience “pervasive” and “profound” impacts on their long-term mental health.

“Peace on Purpose,” a partnership between the UN Foundation and lululemon, was originally developed to provide mindfulness training for humanitarians working in some of the world’s most dangerous places. Over the next three years, Peace on Purpose aims to train 3,000 more UN development and humanitarian workers in-person, build a hub of digital resources, and develop condensed trainings to reach an additional 30,000 UN staff. Peace on Purpose has been committed to providing UN development and humanitarian workers with tools to counteract stress, strengthen leadership, and build resiliency through yoga and mindfulness training.

woman closes her eyes during yoga

Now, everyone within the UN system and on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic can experience the benefits of mindfulness training: through new resources on an app.

The UN Foundation’s Peace on Purpose Initiative has partnered with Insight Timer, the #1 free meditation app and world’s largest library of guided meditations, to provide additional trauma-sensitive resources to help alleviate the stress levels of frontline workers who are battling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, Peace on Purpose is joining forces with Insight Timer to launch six new tools within the app to help build resilience, reduce anxiety, address insomnia, and alleviate stress levels. As Peace on Purpose partner Calvin McDonald, CEO of lululemon, stated, “Created to assist global humanitarian workers, these mindfulness and meditation practices could be helpful to anyone who is facing challenges, adversity, or uncertainty right now.” These trauma-sensitive, evidence-based mindfulness tools will be available for free in 12 languages.

Through this collaboration, Peace on Purpose and Insight Timer hope to provide frontline workers with tools to care for their own mental and physical well-being so they can effectively care for others:

“With COVID-19 causing stress, grief, and anxiety for many right now, it’s important to look after the mental health of ourselves and others. Peace on Purpose tools provide a new way to help communities build resilience during this crisis,” Elizabeth Cousens, President of the UN Foundation, said. “From Pakistan to South Sudan, Peace on Purpose has ​been equipping ​UN humanitarian ​and development workers with the mindfulness tools they need to respond to the world’s toughest crises. Now, these same tools are available to anyone​ who needs support as we collectively take on COVID-19.”

You can access these Peace on Purpose resources by downloading the Insight Timer app on your phone via the app store. Prefer to use your computer instead? Use this desktop version. Search “Peace on Purpose” to find the profile with all six practices in all 12 languages, or by clicking directly on the Peace on Purpose practice that’s featured on the homepage when you first land on the app.

If you can, please donate to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund to support WHO’s lifesaving work on this pandemic. 

We need all hands on deck and every dollar counts.

Donate to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund