Give your teen the ultimate health app

luna views the community as experiencing adolescence in stages - not ages - and so all content is created with this in mind; appropriate warnings are added at the beginning of content so no one in the community needs to engage with more sensitive topics if they don't want, or if they are not yet ready to.

To educate, empower and support teens so that no teen has to go through this time of their lives feeling confused or alone.

luna’s created for young people aged 11-18 as a resource for anyone who wants to use it – however we cover topics like menstruation & hormones, plus have a period tracker which is particularly relevant to people with periods; nothing stopping anyone from learning though!

Jasmine Schembri-Stothart and Jo Goodall are the co-founders of luna – together with a team of medical experts and teens from across the UK they have co-created the content and the design of luna.

The answers to ‘Ask luna’ questions are verified by medics and/or safeguarding experts, depending on the focus of the question – of course, some questions will not have a simple answer and in these cases luna will present a balanced assessment that is appropriate for the age group of the community.

luna is a closed platform so there is no peer to peer interaction – this ensures members are protected from...

• bullying or ridicule for sharing
• feeling singled out

We take anonymity very seriously – any details that may give away a question asker are removed or if a question reveals too much it is rejected, and we ask the member to try again with less detail.

Members also can only ask luna – not each other – and responses are checked by...

• a safeguarding expert
• a GP
• a dermatologist

No, luna can't do this; the app isn't a diagnostic tool but rather informational and so can't offer personalised medical advice – any questions seeking specific medical help that are sent in to the app can't be answered, instead the asker will be pointed to their healthcare provider, GP, 111 or A&E.

luna is for everyone who wants to use it; some of the content refers to things that only people going through AFAB (assigned female at birth) puberty will experience, eg. periods, female hormonal cycles, but other content will be more relevant to everyone experiencing puberty, e.g. toxic friendships, greasy hair.

We take an educational but fun approach, like a medical older sister – we aim to give our community the facts, but we leave opinions as well as any actions needed up to the individual.

Our content is created and verified by luna's team of medics and safeguarding experts, who you can meet on the "about us" page via the website or in app.

Schools often provide anonymous question boxes as part of their PSHE workshops, to enable young people to ask questions.

luna is a digitised version of this, with a fully anonymous in-built questions system – this provides even more anonymity than a classroom setting could ever offer, where students’ reactions may often...

• betray their own questions (and so their anonymity)
• or their judgements of others’ questions

luna has a 24 hour average response time and in this time a team can research and consider responses with the guidance of our community experts.

In the same way that schools are unable to identify students when they ask questions using anonymous question boxes in PSHE lessons, luna is entirely anonymous so cannot identify the asker or report this back to parents.

It’s how students feel comfortable approaching us with their questions in the first place.

However, we take any safeguarding risks extremely seriously and work closely with Dr. Katie Malbon at the helm as Chief Medical Advisor on our process – Dr. Katie is a General Paediatric Consultant and Lead for Acute CYP Mental Health at Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust.

• Firstly, when it comes to asking questions we provide our teen community with guidelines – these outline how luna cannot diagnose any conditions, and is not a crisis service.
• Secondly, when luna’s search is used for worrying queries, we use AI software to immediately sign post to organisations that can support with this topic.
• And finally, when we receive a question that does not fit within luna’s scope – requiring a diagnosis or a personalised conversation – we send a private response signposting to a relevant organisation and urging the asker to seek help.

luna provides foundational explanations on topics that are also covered in the PSHE curriculum to help cement a student’s understandings of these.

This makes up approximately 3% of all content on luna.

All members of luna have a right to pass – this means they can choose to engage with sensitive content and do not have a checklist or learning pathway to fulfil any quotas.

All sensitive content also has a warning applied, to caution anyone on the platform before they engage with the topic.

No, this is a pressure-free learning environment!

Teens have a total right to pass – the means that no app member is ever required to participate in all content available; there isn’t a checklist or a specific pathway to learn their way through every piece of content available for this very reason (as you might find on a language app, for example) to avoid any young person feeling pressured to learn about something before they are ready.

They learn at a time that suits them, when they need it.

We do cement learnings through quizzes and interactive content, but teens can freely choose to participate, and no member is yet to exhaust what is available.

luna is apolitical and represents medical/scientific fact where available, and where this is not possible for a question gives the teen options and pathways to work with – we do not offer definitive solutions for this reason unless there is a clear case of truth, for example:

• medical research
• discrimination
• bullying

luna has no personal point of view, but where a teen needs to learn how to do the right thing for their safety we steer them in the right direction.

luna has a direct line into the mind of teens, we have our fingers on the pulse and we are keen to share our insights with parents.

You can find dedicated advice for parents on our website, and parents can sign up for a newsletter using the form on our website as well which offers insights, events (like webinars) and news for parents and caregivers.