7News Young Achiever Awards: Bunbury-born mental health app founder Lexy McDonald excited by nod

After learning how to make an app through YouTube, a young Bunbury woman is set to be recognised on the State stage for her work in creating a safe space for women and girls to talk about their mental health. Lexy McDonald, 19, was recently named as a finalist in the 7News Young Achiever Awards for WA, receiving a nomination for the First National Real Estate Innovation Award. Speaking to the Bunbury Herald, Miss McDonald said she was “excited” about being named a finalist and having the opportunity to be in the same room as like-minded youths. “I think innovation is something that isn’t really talked about a lot but it’s such an important award to be recognised for,” she said. “I’m really excited about it and was really shocked to find out I was nominated. “It can be really easy to focus on what people in the city are doing but people in the regions do some incredible stuff and highlighting that is super important. “I think it will be really cool to just be in a room with other incredible young people and be able to connect with them as well.” After learning how to make a smartphone application through YouTube, Miss McDonald created HerHelp, an app offering a safe online space to encourage and support women and girls through daily challenges. Miss McDonald said she wanted to create that safe space after struggling with being the victim of bullying growing up. “I feel like nobody goes through high school unharmed, everyone struggles with different aspects of growing up and I felt really lost and alone until I moved schools for Year 11 and 12,” she said. “I had that realisation of not being the only person that felt the way I did and I wanted to create a space where people can go for support.” Since HerHelp’s launch in July 2019, the app has been downloaded more than 10,000 times with users all over the world. “It’s crazy to look at the graphics and see people from all over the world downloading the app,” she said. “The users are mainly in Australia which is where we sort of targeted it but we’ve got people in the US, Canada, Russia using the app as well. “I only created the app to help kids at school to start with and I’ve had five girls tell me they wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for the app. “It’s really cool to hear that feedback and see so many people engage with HerHelp.” This year, Miss McDonald is aiming to launch a new version of the app which will have more functions and resources to do with fitness, nutrition and videos from professional psychologists and relationship coaches. “I’ve been working on this for about three years and it turns out app developing is really expensive and a crazy process,” she said. “Fast forward to now, I am a few months away from launching the new version and it’s really exciting.” The 7News Young Achiever Award WA winners will be announced at a gala dinner at Pan Pacific Perth on May 27, with one of the nine category winners being in the running to take home the 2022 Western Australian Young Achiever of the Year award. People will also have an opportunity to vote for the winner of the Catholic Education Western Australia People’s Choice Award, run through the 7NEWS Young Achiever Awards WA Facebook page.