Getting Started

Onboarding

What is Ake? How will it help my work facilitating a behaviour change program?

Welcome to Ake, a safety and behaviour support app designed for integration with Family Violence Intervention Programs. The purpose of Ake is to support facilitators and their programs as they work with participants to disrupt abusive behaviours. It is available to download on iOS and Android devices.

With the Ake app, participants of a family violence program have access to videos, worksheets, safety tips and more, covering a wide range of intervention and safety topics. The goal is to prime participants for your program sessions by introducing them to ideas supporting their journey towards positive change while keeping the pressure on reducing risk and disrupting abusive patterns.

Program staff can utilise the in-app tools to maximise outcomes for their program participants. For example, Staff are given accounts with special permissions called ‘Coach’ accounts, which can send notifications directly to a participant’s device, create group or coach-to-user discussions using the in-app messaging feature (Discussions), and monitor User activity in the app.

The primary content in Ake’s library is delivered in an article format. We have provided various ways for participants to consume an article in Ake, listed below:

Watching

This is the recommended way for a User to engage with the article's content.

At the top of an article, there will be a video player containing a video summary of the whole article. Closed captioning is available for all videos and can be turned on by pressing the CC button on the play bar.

Reading

You can read the full article in the video below. The articles are written concisely, with only slight differences from the wording used in the video.

Listening

Below the video and above the written article is an audio play bar. This will provide a word-for-word audio readout of the article below it.

<aside> <img src="/icons/light-bulb_gray.svg" alt="/icons/light-bulb_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Engagement is key: Ake has been designed with the intention that participants check into the app daily and choose one article from the list suggested by the app. The average length of time required to consume an article is 5 minutes. We recommend that staff develop strategies to help encourage participants to open the app every day between program sessions. Think of it this way - a simple 35 minutes a week could be the most significant investment your participant could make into family safety and well-being.

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Account Roles Explained: Coaches and Users

When onboarding an organisation into Ake, program staff will be given login information with the Coach role assigned for them to access, and participants of your program will be given login information with the User role assigned.

The Coach role has the same level of access within Ake as a User role but with additional permissions, such as creating groups, creating discussions, creating push notifications, and accessing a page where they can view User activity.

Regarding privacy and security, Coaches cannot see the usernames, activities, or discussions of Users who are not assigned to them. Coaches are assigned to a User when the User accounts for your organisation were generated by Ake staff.

Accessing Ake

Users and Coaches can download the Ake app from their device's app store (App Store for iPhone, Google Play for Android) by opening the store and searching for Ake.

Anyone can download the Ake app to their device from the app store. However, valid login credentials are required to gain access to the app.

Any modern web browser can also access the Ake login screen by going to the following address: https://www.akeapp.com

<aside> <img src="/icons/light-bulb_gray.svg" alt="/icons/light-bulb_gray.svg" width="40px" /> For places with restricted or firewalled internet access, you may need your I.T. administration to allow access to the website for Ake to function.

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The login screen for both the Ake app and website.

How should my participants use the app?

The following is a step-by-step process of Ake's intended daily usage by family violence program participants. We recommend that program staff become familiar with this process to introduce participants to the app and teach them how to use it.

When logging into Ake for the first time, the User will see the What is Ake? page - This video & article contains a brief introduction to Ake and how the app will support the User's work toward family well-being. If a User wishes to revisit this page, it can be found under the About Us category on the side menu (the three-line icon at the top-right of the page).
Once logged in, Encourage your program participants to open the app daily and tap on the Emotions Compass. If the User does not wish to use the compass, content can be accessed with the side menu (the three-line icon at the top-right of the page). The compass recommends content in the app, which is influenced by where you press.
Users can choose content from the results presented by selecting the Watch Video... link. This will open the full article.
At the top of the Article, Users can watch the video about the topic selected. Closed captioning in English is provided on every video and can be toggled by pressing the CC button on the video's play bar. Users can choose to watch the video or, if preferred, read the article themselves below the video.
Below the video is a written article on the topic covered. Users can listen to an audio-only readout of the article by pressing the play button on the audio play bar under "Listen to this article:".
To get the best from the app, encourage Users to engage with one piece of content daily. The content in Ake has been designed to integrate with program delivery and improve session readiness of participants. However, this can only be achieved if they use the app!
Users can access any active or ongoing discussions created by their Coach by opening the side menu (3 lines icon top-right) and pressing Discussions. Users can also make a discussion and invite the entire group (Coach included) or create a direct one-on-one conversation with their Coach.
Users will receive any push notifications sent by their Coach. Coaches can send push notifications to groups or individual Users. This can be useful for sending reminders, changing schedules, or prompting engagement. Read more about Push Notifications on the Notifications page.

Tips for program staff

The coach role can access all of the content a user can access! Feel free to get familiar with the content your participants will be consuming.
Get familiar with the discussions feature and create regular group discussions on the Discussions page. Use this to reflect on session material, set homework, and prompt help-seeking behaviours with group participants.
A User's compass and content viewed history are logged and can be viewed by Program Staff under User Activity, found on the side menu. Use this information to measure engagement and assess risk.
Check out our engagement guide for tips on how to drive better engagement with the app and program.
Use Push Notifications sparingly. If a user chooses to do so, they can opt out of Push Notifications at a device level. Push notifications are sent as soon as they are created, so consider an appropriate time of day to use the feature.
Have a question or issue with the app? Use the form on the Contact Us page if you have any queries or problems with the app; we will do our best to help resolve the matter.
Refer to the Quick Start PDF sent during your organisation’s onboarding with Ake, or download a copy here.

Finally, check out the rest of the articles on this website for more information about features accessible by the Coach role.