For charity and community leaders·Your team × Box of feels

Leader, welcome in.

You look after people for a living, and so does your team. Box of feels is a free app for naming what you’re carrying and putting it down, one box at a time. I can also come and run the Box of feels course for your staff, volunteers or the people you serve.

Dave Bolt
Why I made it

I’ve spent years on a charity board, in school chaplaincy and alongside community leaders. The people doing the most good are often the ones running on empty. They box things up so they can get through the day, and the boxes pile up.

Box of feels helps people notice the boxes, name what’s in them, and open them on purpose, one at a time. It’s free, there are no ads, and nobody is watching it. Their boxes stay on their own phone.

It has a plain Clinician look too, quiet and simple, for using at work or showing someone across a desk.

See it first

Box of feels in two minutes

A two-minute tour on a real phone: naming a feeling, putting it in a box and coming back to it later.

More short videos

Kids, teens and client sessions

Each one about a minute, on a real phone.

Kid modeFor under 11s, best done side by side with a grown-up.
Teen modeFor 11 to 15 year olds. Straighter talk, skills for real teen stuff.
Client modeFor chaplains, psychologists, counsellors and youth workers using it with the people they support.
How it fits

One tool, three groups of people.

The people you lead, the people who help, and the people you serve.

Your team

Staff wellbeing

  • A quick check-in: name it, rate it, see where it sits
  • Boxes for the stuff you take home from work
  • Close up shop at the end of the day and leave it there
Your volunteers

Staying the distance

  • Skill cards for the hard conversations and hard moments
  • A daily rhythm, sleep and mood tracker
  • A simple way to notice when it’s getting too much
The people you serve

Something to take home

  • Free, no ads, and nothing shared
  • Teen and kids modes with a parent lock
  • Lifeline and Kids Helpline one tap away
The Box of feels course

Run by Dave, for your people.

A one-day course, or shorter sessions across a few weeks. For staff teams, volunteers, or the people your service works with. Everyone leaves with the app on their phone and knows how to use it.

Why we box things up

How we cope by packing things away, and what happens when the boxes pile up.

Name it

Finding the exact word for a feeling, and where it sits in the body.

Put it down

Opening one box on purpose, working through it, and knowing where it goes next.

When it goes BAM

Practical skills for the moment everything lands at once.

Rhythm

Sleep, routine and the small habits that keep people going for the long haul.

Looking after each other

Noticing when a colleague is struggling, and what to say.

Ideas for working together

A few starting points. Pull them apart.

A staff day

The course as a team day or professional development, with time to actually try the tools.

Volunteer training

A shorter session built into your induction, so new volunteers start with a way to look after themselves.

For the people you serve

Sessions for your clients or program participants, pitched at where they’re at.

For you, as the leader

Start with the free leader health check. It shows where you’re running well and where you’re running on empty.

Your organisation’s health

The NFP health check looks at the whole organisation, not just the people in it.

More than wellbeing

Strategy, fundraising, story and team health through TenXed, if you want to go further.

Next step

Coffee’s on me.

Have a play first, then let’s find an hour to talk about your team and whether the course is a good fit.