Help teens prepare for a good night’s rest with Sleep Ninja®

In February 2023, the Black Dog Institute formally launched Sleep Ninja®, a free, evidence-based smartphone app shown to be effective in helping young people with sleep problems. Over six weeks, Sleep Ninja teaches skills based on cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), which promotes sleep quality and healthy sleep habits and reduces signs of depression. 

It is exciting to see the Black Dog Institute’s development and testing of this sleep program, to improve access to self-guided CBT-I resources for teens.

Sleep Ninja is supported by a comprehensive body of evidence and was designed and developed by Black Dog Institute in collaboration with young people, their parents/carers, psychologists, counsellors and sleep experts. Initially, a pilot study with 50 adolescents was conducted to assess its feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes. It showed that the app was feasible to deliver and associated with improved sleep and reduced depression and anxiety. Based on this, a randomized controlled trial was conducted in 2020-2021, involving 264 young people with sleep difficulties, which showed that adolescents who used the app experienced an improvement in sleep and reductions in symptoms of depression when compared to the control group.

For further information, links to the app, and to access the Sleep Ninja Delivery Partner Kit and resources, visit the Sleep Ninja website.
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