Psychological First Aid? There’s An App For That

Written by Dr. Julie Kinn

I’m not alone in saying my heart goes out to those impacted by Hurricane Isaac. As a clinical psychologist, I have treated many children and adults who carry trauma symptoms long after danger has passed from natural or man-made disasters. We health care providers are keenly aware that disasters happen many times a year, and that those treating the survivors rarely have a surplus of resources.

To help support providers on the frontlines of care in emergencies, the VA’s National Center for PTSD and the DoD’s National Center for Telehealth & Technology (T2) have released PFA Mobile . This free mobile application assists providers in putting Psychological First Aid (PFA) into practice in the field. The app includes a brief refresher on the main components of PFA, assists with mentorship of other providers, and allows providers to self-assess and develop insight into readiness to provide PFA.

Some primary features that make the app so appropriate for disaster situations include:

 ■Easy forms for collecting data in difficult circumstances

 ■Intervention strategies tailored to unique conditions

 ■No requirement for internet or phone connectivity to run

PFA Mobile is currently available for iOS (Apple) devices and will deploy for Android devices in 2013. If you are a first responder or frontline care provider, I suggest you take it for a test drive and become familiar with this excellent resource.

Dr. Julie Kinn is a clinical and research psychologist. She leads mobile health application development for the DoD’s National Center for Telehealth & Technology (T2).

New Mobile App Offers “Jackpot” of Stress-Relieving Activities

By Robyn Mincher, DCoE Strategic Communications

The newest mobile application from National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2) encourages you to get moving.

Designed for those experiencing post-combat stress, “Positive Activity Jackpot,” available for Android systems, helps users creatively plan fun activities using “pleasant events scheduling,” a behavioral health therapy used to help regulate emotions and cope with stress.

“If you have enough positive events in your week, you’re just going to feel better,” said Dr. Amanda Edwards Stewart, T2 clinical psychologist. “With this therapy, we say ‘what can you do today to make yourself feel better?’ and go through a list [of activities]. The cool thing about a mobile app is that your phone has so much more functionality than sitting with a clinician.”

The app offers many ways to find activities in your community using the phone’s GPS navigation feature. Users can use a step-by-step search function to choose an activity based on its distance, cost or one that just suits their current mood. They can also search through the app’s “Jackpot!” game-like feature where users can pull a lever on a slot-machine screen to flip through a random list of local activities in their area found by the GPS.

“If a user wants a water activity, it pairs them up with the location and contact information of a place that rents boats. They can also contact people to come with them, either through their phone contact list or social media,” said Stewart.

After they participate in an activity, one can rate it to record how it helped their mood. If they don’t want to partake in an activity at the moment, users can schedule a future event on the app’s calendar. The app also links directly to contact information for the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in case a user wants to talk to a trained professional.

While the app isn’t intended to replace provider treatment, it encourages positive thinking and promotes resilience by being proactive.

“When you don’t have enough that is positive in your day-to-day life, it can impact your mood,” Stewart said. “In order to help build resilience to face tough times and keep your mood up during stress, you need enough positive events in your week. It helps you cope with stress easier and keeps your mood up.”

The app is the latest mobile resource that T2, a Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury center, developed using unique technology to advance psychological health in the military community. These apps not only make resources more accessible, they encourage help-seeking behavior.

“We’re providing ways people can get mental health care that minimize stigma,” Stewart said. “Putting this app in a service member’s hands gives them tools to help themselves and helps connects them to providers when needed.”

T2 offers a clinician’s guide for the “Positive Activity Jackpot” mobile app that explains pleasant events scheduling therapy and helps navigate through the app’s features. Download the app and let us know what you think.

T2 Launches Online Community for Military Mental Health Professionals

National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2) invites military mental health professionals to join “Psychological Health Providers for the Military Community,” a new group the center manages on LinkedIn. This initiative creates additional opportunities for providers to share information and best practices for treating psychological health or traumatic brain injury.

 “Our vision for this group is to offer an engaging environment where mental health providers can share knowledge, exchange ideas and collaborate to help provide the highest level of support and care for service members, veterans and military families,” said Dr. Greg Gahm, executive director of T2.

Members of the group will have centralized access to deployment-related behavioral health resources from the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs as well as other government and civilian organizations. Additionally, they can access unique content and receive previews of new resources, tools and technologies focused on the provider community.

If you have questions about this new professional group, or would like more information, you can contact T2 via email at AskUs@T2Health.org. Please note that participation in the group requires that you have a LinkedIn account. You can learn more about LinkedIn and create an account by visiting their sign-up page.

A center of Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE), T2 designs, tests and evaluates available and emerging technologies in support of psychological health and traumatic brain injury recovery for service members, veterans and their families.

For more information about T2 and their provider resources, visit www.T2health.org. You can also connect with T2 on Facebook and Twitter.

By Corina Notyce for DCoE Strategic Communications

Military Health Experts Discuss Use of Life Saving Technology

By Sarah Heynen

We’ve all heard the messaging: “Look out for your battle buddy,” “There’s help out there,” “You are not alone.” All of this is true and should continue, but in today’s world reaching out for help isn’t always done in traditional ways.

Technology-based suicide prevention efforts was a topic of discussion at the 2011 Departments of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) Suicide Prevention Conference, “All the Way Home: Preventing Suicide Among Service Members and Veterans,” last week in Boston.

Dr. David Luxton, with the National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2), shared that the emergence and popularity of modern technology brings new opportunities in a variety of ways including prevention and intervention programs, self-care applications, risk assessment, access to care, outreach, social support and the ability to educate and raise awareness.

“Social networking is a way to distribute information and resources,” said Luxton. He also spoke on how the rise in social networking has provided a sense of community and connection for warriors. We at the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) use our own social media channels, like Facebook, Twitter, Blog and Scribd, to share materials and connect with our audiences. Did you see the video, “A Creed for a Comrade” released in September? The video reached an estimated 1.4 million people in September alone, and it was only distributed through social media channels.

Luxton also noted the increase in use of mobile devices and smartphones, stating that they will likely surpass the use of computers to access the Internet within two years. T2 recently released the mobile application Mood Tracker, which allows warriors to track their emotional health after deployments – by helping users monitor trends of emotions and behaviors from therapy, medication, daily experiences and changes in their environment. This application is currently available free for use on Androids and will be available for iPhone users soon.

Other innovative technologies mentioned include:

■Web-based video and podcasting

■Virtual Worlds: Visit Virtual PTSD Experience on Second Life to learn about post-traumatic stress disorder causes, symptoms and resources. Also, Survivors of Suicide Project allows survivors to light candles in remembrance of lost loved ones, interact with each other and find coping resources.

■Computer and web-based gaming

■Computerized text analysis

Reaching out is as simple as making a phone call or sending a text to your buddy to check-in. Preventing suicide is a responsibility we should all accept. Please take a minute to find out what you can do to help someone in need. And if you know someone in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK; veterans please press 1.

For more on this topic visit the T2 Website and the DCoE Information Sheet, T2 Virtual PTSD Experience.