What is REZL?
REZL is a smartphone app to build resilience though mindfulness. REZL delivers an 8 week “mindfulness based cognitive therapy” (MBCT) foundation course and an ongoing maintenance programme. The REZL app is a corporate solution to enable employers to build the resilience of their employees.
REZL is provided through employers, colleges and medical services –if your organisation does not provide access to REZL then please contact Carina Sciences.
How does REZL build resilience?
Resilience involves behaviours, thoughts and actions that can be learned and developed by anyone. Research shows that mindfulness will build up the resilience within all of us – in a lasting way.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness employs meditation and practice to enable each of us to become more aware of our thoughts our reactions and feelings… in an objective, non-judgemental way… so that we are better able to manage our feelings and emotions. And this empowers us so that we build self-confidence and self-esteem; and we reduce negative thoughts and reactions. Mindfulness enables us to become more resilient; more able to respond to the challenges and pressures that life brings.
How will becoming more mindful change me?
Through becoming more mindful you will:
- become more able to respond to pressure and to stress.
- embrace change and respond to challenges.
- increase your self-esteem; and become more open… more empathetic
- improve your job satisfaction and life satisfaction
- have better focus and concentration to reduce errors caused by distractions or interruptions
- increase your productivity
- reduce the possibility of depression and anxiety
- reduce “absenteeism and presentism”
What is MBCT?
Jon Kabat-Zinn, professor at University of Massachusetts, together with Mark Williams & Danny Penman from Oxford have set out the formal mindfulness foundation method known as “Mindfulness Based Conative Therapy” – MBCT. Research has shown that a “Mindfulness approach” really can improve the resilience within all of us; enabling us to be better at dealing with stresses and responding to challenges; it can also make a significant difference to those having problems responding to stress or to those with anxiety or depression. MBCT has been shown to make people more open to new ideas, more positive, more objective and more empathetic
REZL delivers an 8 week “mindfulness based cognitive therapy” (MBCT) foundation course and an ongoing maintenance programme. The research shows that MBCT helps people to deal with stress and pressure; It reduces absenteeism and staff turnover; it improves concentration…reducing mistakes and increasing productivity; makes people more open and more empathetic; improves self-esteem and job satisfaction; reduces anxiety and depression; and in a change management situation, it enables people to embrace change….positively
How do I install REZL?
REZL is available for both android and iOS smart phones. You simply download the REZL app (published by Carina Sciences) from the App Store or the Play Store and install it on your phone. You will then need to activate the app.
How do I activate the REZL app?
Your organisation REZL administrator will provide you with a cohort name and a passcode – these are not unique to you and you cannot be identified from their use. When you first run the REZL app you will be prompted to enter the cohort and the passcode to authorise your use of the APP.
The App will then download the media (including audio files) for your programmes – these can be quite large and so it is recommended that you should activate REZL when you have a WiFi connection.
Is my use of REZL confidential?
We believe that data privacy is a fundamental human right.Your use of REZL is completely anonymous – no one knows who you are, what your phone number, email address or device id is – or what you are doing in the app. We do not collect ANY data on your responses or how your use of the REZL functions – and since we do not collect any data, there is no data to share with any third party organisations including your employer. Access to the REZL app on your phone is protected by a PIN that you set up – so that no one else can access you REZL app even if they have your phone. We do not store your PIN so we cannot provide anyone with it to allow them to unlock the app even if they had your phone. As a result of this, please do not forget your PIN as we are unable to help recover it.
What confidential Information does Carina Sciences hold about me?
In some cases we are provided with email address so that we may invite people to download and use the REZL app. We may also send you anonymous surveys about your use of the APP. Such email information will not be used for any other purpose than to invite you to use REZL or to ask you for feedback – this information will never be shared with any third party. The surveys do not collect any information about you other than the answers you give. We do not know who you are and cannot connect an email address to any survey answers.
How do I get started using REZL?
REZL provides a set of audio tutorials and guided mediations. REZL has a “QuickStart control” that will walk you through each of the sessions that you should follow.
Firstly, you will listen to the “Welcome to REZL” tutorial that explains how to use the REZL app. You will then go on to listen to a “Get up to speed – Resilience and Mindfulness” tutorial that explains all about resilience, mindfulness and how REZL will build up your resilience. You will then be guided through the Foundation programme.
The Foundation programme has eight topics – we recommend that you do one topic per week. Each topic comprises a tutorial for week day one and a guided mediation that we recommend you listen to on each of the subsequent six days. At the end of the week you will move onto the next topic. If you wish to move on faster; or have been unable to complete all seven sessions, but still wish to move on, then you can use the “forward button” on the controls to do so providing that you have listened to the tutorial and meditation at least once. Similarly you may skip back at any time if you wish to listen to a previous session.
On completion of the foundation programme REZL will guide you through a maintenance programme to keep your resilience topped up.
How do I change my PIN?
The “option menu” includes an option to change your pin. Please follow the instructions.
What are notifications?
Once every few weeks you will get a notification asking you to complete a simple “mood survey” – you can do this directly from the notification or by tapping the “mood survey icon” on the “navigation bar” at the foot of each REZL screen.
Similarly, once every few weeks you will be notified to complete a “progress review” – or you can do this at any time by tapping the “progress review icon” on the navigation bar.
You may also receive a notification if you have missed some REZL sessions.
What are “Mood Surveys”?
Mood survey ask you some question to gauge you current levels of wellbeing. You can do a mood survey directly from a notification or by tapping the “mood survey icon” on the “navigation bar” at the foot of each REZL screen. You can do more mood surveys if you like – and REZL will keep a track of your scores and how you are doing. The Mood Survey Graph page will let you see your previous results. If you do not want to complete any mood surveys or you wish to do the mood surveys less frequently… then there is an option in your preferences to adjust the frequency of notifications. You can access this from the options menu.
What are “Progress Reviews”?
Progress reviews enable you to assess you own progress from your time with REZL. Once every few weeks you will be notified to complete a “progress review” – or you can do this at any time by tapping the “progress review icon” on the navigation bar.
The first time you do a “progress review”, REZL will ask you to set an “intention”– and to help, REZL will suggest some “intentions” that might suit you…. or, you can write your own. An “intention” isn’t a goal as such, it is more a “direction of travel” – ….say: “I would like to improve this” or “I would like to become more such and such”. At subsequent “Progress reviews” REZL will ask you to rate your progress toward this intention. If you want do this less frequently then there is an option within your preference settings.
What are the “QuickStart Controls”?
The “QuickStart Controls” provide an easy way for you to run the “next session that is due”,so you always know where you are. To play the “next session that is due“ you just press the green play button.
The QuickStart Controls will work through the “Welcome Tutorial” and then through the “Get up to speed – Mindfulness for Resilience” tutorial and then go on through each of the 8 topics within the “Foundation programme”. It will play each topic tutorial once; and then go through the associated Meditation six times… just as we recommend. It will then move on to the next topic and so on.
If you should wish to re-listen to the week’s tutorial then you can do so by tapping the play button next to the tutorial. Or if you want to skip forward, for instance, to go on the next topic even if you haven’t done all six sessions this week then you can use the “forward” button to move on; and if wish, you may use the “rewind” button to go back to previous topics. You must have listened to the Tutorial and Meditation at least once to be allowed to skip to the next topic.
What is the My Programmes function?
The My Programmes Tab allows you to drill down in to the programmes loaded on your REZL app so that you can view a list of all the sessions within each programmes and select any session you would like to play.
How do I uninstall REZL?
Simply go to the app management function on your phone and select the REZL app for uninstalling.
How can I update the REZL app?
The app store will manage updates on the Rezl app. Please install updates as soon as your phone suggests it to make sure you are using the latest and best version.
How do I update the media loaded with my REZL app?
From time to time we will update the audio files in Rezl without changing anything else in the app. You can load the latest versions by going to the Options screen, selecting the Update option and selecting Reload Audio [really there should be a notification that there are updated audio files. To do this the app would need to keep an audio date file on the phone and then check whether this has changed in firebase. It is not currently part of the spec].
How can I reset the session counts so that I can restart my use of the REZL app?
To reset REZL so that all step counts are set to zero and so QuickStart Control will begin at the very first tutorial, go to the Options menu and select “Updates” followed by “Reset to factory Settings”. Press Yes to go ahead. This cannot be undone once Yes has been selected.
Where can I find the terms of use and the privacy terms for REZL?
Please find the terms here; and the privacy terms here.
Can anyone use REZL?
REZL is designed for users who are 16 years old and above – the terms of use make it clear that if you suffer from a personality disorder, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder than you should consult your doctor before using REZL.
How do I contract Carina Sciences if I have any question about REZL?
Please email info@ carinasciences.com.