I’ve tried a lot of mental health apps, and most of them lose my attention quickly. Strua is different. Its practical tools, thoughtful design, and no-pressure approach make it feel genuinely useful—so much so that it has become a mental health app I actually love. Read on to learn about what attracts me to this unique app and a little about the experience of using it.
Note: I have not been compensated in any way for this review. I was provided access to the complete app, however.
What Is the Strua Mental Health App?
Strua is a self-guided mental health and wellness app that offers practical, evidence-based tools for anxiety, stress, emotional overwhelm, sleep difficulties, and other challenging moments. Its exercises draw from approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), mindfulness, grounding, and breathing techniques.
Created by licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Nicholas Gehle (he has a Doctor of Psychology and a Master of Business Administration), Strua is designed to make coping skills easier to access when you need them most. Most exercises take only a few minutes, and the app is intended to complement therapy and support independent skill-building—not diagnose conditions or replace professional mental health care.
This is not an app aimed at those with bipolar disorder. This is an app aimed at anyone looking to tackle mental health issues. That said, things like mood are directly addressed with specific tools.
This is a freemium app. This means that much of it is available for free, but you can pay an upgrade fee for access to everything.
Why I Decided to Try Strua
To be clear, no one has paid me to look at Strua or write this review. I decided to try it when I saw what Dr. Gehle was saying about it on LinkedIn. He sounded like an educated person who was making an app people could trust. I was right.
What Makes Strua Different from Other Mental Health Apps?
Many mental health apps focus on tracking moods, maintaining streaks, listening to long meditations, or chatting with artificial intelligence. Strua feels different because it gives you a collection of short, structured exercises you can use for a specific problem in the moment. Instead of asking you to commit to a lengthy program, it helps you choose a tool for what you are experiencing—whether that is anxiety, overwhelm, racing thoughts, trouble sleeping, or difficulty calming your body.
I also appreciate that Strua does not try to motivate users through pressure, guilt, or endless notifications. There are no streaks to break and no sense that you have failed if you do not open the app every day. Its simple, low-pressure design makes it feel less like another obligation and more like a practical mental health toolbox that is ready when you actually need it.
Strua is available through a website and even offline, which can be very useful.
Strua seems to really care about your privacy. Your data is yours. Your mood data stays on your device. It collects minimal data about you. It doesn’t track you. You can export your data or delete your account at any time. All that means that they are not trying to monetize every move you make, upsell you, or sell you other products. This is a huge relief. (Yes, of course they want you to pay for their app, but outside of that, there’s no nagging.)
Strua’s CBT, DBT, and Mindfulness Tools
Interestingly enough, I was not familiar with all the CBT, DBT, and mindfulness tools offered in the Strua app. This surprised me as I’m familiar with oh-so-many tools. And it’s true, the ones I know about are there, but so are many others.
Their tools can be grouped into these concerns:
- Anxiety and stress, including social anxiety and panic attacks
- Mood and emotional health, including depression and anger management
- Trauma and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Sleep
- Focus and energy, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- Physical health, including chronic pain
Tools fall into the categories of:
- Breathing
- Grounding
- Emotional regulation
- Cognitive
- Mindfulness
- Sensory
- Movement
- Sleep
- Rituals
- Meditations
There are over 60 tools, rituals, and meditations alongside a library of evidence-based health information. You can even program in custom options. A smattering of their options can be found here. You’ll see that many of their tools are available for free. Some of their most popular tools can be found here.
What It’s Actually Like to Use Strua
As some of you may know, I was in app development for a decade before I became a mental health advocate professionally. This means I know a lot about apps. And I love this one.
This one is a breath of fresh air. There are no annoying, cutesy animations or doodles. There are no poke-you-in-the-eye colors. There’s no confusing interface and hidden features. This app is calming to use, not frenetic. The interface feels like taking a deep breath. You can absolutely tell it was designed with therapy in mind and not made by average software developers.
When you enter the app, you’ll be asked a couple of questions and then be offered suggestions of tools that might help you in the present. You can also bypass this and just get to the tool you want. This is great, because with so many tools, it can be hard to know where to start.
Once you actually select a tool, you are given information about it, such as how long it will take, and then you are walked through the process. Many steps require a countdown on-screen, the speed of which you can customize. In other words, if you always feel like breathing exercises are too fast or too slow, this allows you to customize the speed so it feels right for you.
Once you complete that tool, you can use others, but you are not pushed to do so. There is no nagging to use this app once a day or even once a week. You use it when you need it. There are no streaks, no guilt: Strua’s has a refreshingly low-pressure approach.
In short, the app feels like the kind of thing you would turn to in between therapy sessions. (You might not be lucky enough to be in formal therapy, I know. Don’t let that dissuade you from trying.)
Why Strua’s Mental Health Tools Work for Me
One of the great things about the tools offered is that many of them are designed to be used in two-five minutes. In two minutes, you can work to calm yourself. In two minutes, you can focus on your mood. In two minutes, you can ground yourself and become more mindful. We all have two minutes to spend on our mental health.
Yes, there are more in-depth tools, too, but short is nice and easy to initiate and digest. It’s not overwhelming in the slightest. (The only overwhelming thing might be the sheer number of options. That’s why its suggestions are so critical and useful.)
Oh, and thank god there is no chatbot. While I know some people like artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, there is just no way to provide decent mental health guardrails on them. We don’t have the technology down. The fact that Strua has consciously decided not to include one speaks to their ethos. (Dr. Gehle is clearly against them.)
Strua is also very overtly evidence-based. You can review the evidence that each tool is based on yourself. It’s shown in the app. This is so critical to me. These aren’t just “good idea” tools. They are tools that have been proven to work. No, it doesn’t guarantee they will all work for you, but it’s an excellent starting place.
How Much Does Strua Cost?
Yes, you do need to pay for the full Strua experience.
As I said, many of the tools offered by Strua, can be accessed for free. In fact, there are 23 free tools and four free guided meditations available for free right now. I consider this to be generous and ethical. And it will give you a really good idea of what you’ll find behind the paywall, should you choose to go there.
To get full access, it’s $6.67/month. It’s a latte. For that, you get:
- All 60+ tools, rituals,, and meditations
- All 21 guided meditations
- Unlimited “favorite” tools for quick access
- Unlimited custom tools
- Advanced insights
- 10 guided sleep imagery pieces
And there are more features in the pipeline.
I get that not everyone can afford to pay anything for an app. That’s why the free tools are so great.
Get Your First Month Free
There’s also a free first month available. Dr. Gehle was good enough to share an access code with us. The code is: STRUAWELCOME for one month of complete access.
What I Don’t Love About Strua
As I said, Strua is a solid app. It doesn’t try to be everything to everyone, though, which means it can’t be your everything-mental-health app. For example, there’s no specific mood tracking feature (although it does track your mood before and after tool use), and no way to input things like your medications and side effects, like you might find elsewhere.
I would like to see a place to enter personalized notes on the individual tools. There are many tools, so I’d like to be able to note how I feel about some of them. I’d also like to see clickable links when they list specific references (that’s a small bug-a-boo; you can just copy and paste). Finally, I’d like to see additional tools aimed specifically at mood. The ones that are there just aren’t enough for me.
Additionally, keep in mind this isn’t designed with formal mental illness in mind, in most cases (some tools are aimed at prominent symptoms of certain conditions, however). It’s designed for mental health. This is good as we all have mental health. However, if you’re in the Pit of Despair because you’re in a months-long major depression, it might not be for you. (If this is you, you need formal treatment now.)
They are actively working on this app right now. That means things can shiggle a little as improvements are made. This is actually the good news, though, as they seem open to feedback, should you choose to offer it.
Who Is Strua Best For? Can Strua Replace Therapy?
Strua is an amazing mental health app that is designed for everyone, although I do believe that you’ll find the tools more easily relatable if you’ve had some therapy. (That’s not to suggest it’s necessary, though.) If you’ve had therapy, you’ll recognize some of the approaches. I also think your doctor or therapist could help you use these approaches even more successfully. Clinicians can get access to this app easily and see what it has to offer. Your own professional could suggest specific tools that would work best for you.
As a general mental health app, I think it can help anyone who is interested in their mental health. We all suffer from things like overwhelm, stress, anxiety, low mood, sleep problems, and so many other things. You do have to want the help, however. That’s always a necessary key.
All that being said, Strua is not therapy. Strue does not replace a therapist and doesn’t pretend to. If you need in-depth work on yourself, there is no substitute for a licensed professional. And, of course, all mental illnesses should be medically treated.
If you’re in acute distress, you should be talking to a human, not an app. Crisis resources are listed in the app.
Strua Mental Health App—My Final Verdict
Yes, I do think this app is the bee’s knees.
This app is well worth your time, at least to try. I really believe it can help you between appointments, or at any time you want a little mental health support. Those are huge things and, in my opinion, worth a latte a month for many people. You don’t need to use it every day to justify the price—although you very well could, as it can help you nod off to sleep every night.
And even if you don’t decide to pay for it, the free tools are always there.
Check it out and let me know what you think below. I’m very curious to read your opinions, and I bet so are the designers.
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