30 Days of Self Care with COVID Coach

During times of stress, it’s especially important to set time aside for self-care. With the COVID Coach mobile app, we walk you through 30 different self-care practices that can help you learn about:

• Self-help and coping
• Manage your well-being
• Set and track personal goals
• Get support when you need it 

How to get started?

To get started, download the COVID Coach app on iOS or Android, and download the 30 Days of Self-Care with COVID Coach guidebook (PDF) that has all of the suggestions for self-care practices.

How does it work?

Our COVID Coach mobile app offers a number of practices and tools to help you practice self-care. Many exercises can be completed in just a few minutes. Even if you aren’t feeling particularly stressed, it’s important to get into a good self-care routine to prevent stress.

All it takes is 30 days to establish a new habit, so visit Day 1 to get started on the path to self-care.

Who is it for?

This self-care guide is for everyone. The COVID Coach app was created by the Mobile Apps Team at the National Center for PTSD. As with most of our resources, this app includes some content and resources specifically for Veterans, but the majority of the information can be used by anyone.

Please feel free to share this guidebook with Veterans, family members, friends, and anyone else you think may benefit from making time for daily self-care.

When to start?

This guide contains a list of 30 self-care practices – one for each day of the month. However, there is no need to wait for the beginning of the month to get started. Feel free to try as many or as few of these exercises as you’d like, on a schedule that works for you.

This guide could be used Monday-Friday, or Sunday-Saturday. It is up to you when and how to work the activities into your routine. This isn’t about putting pressure on yourself to do the things you “should be” doing – it’s about making time to do things to relax and recharge.

• Download the COVID Coach app on iOS or Android

Read more about the COVID Coach app

PTSD Consultation Program Treating Veterans with PTSD? We can help. Any healthcare provider treating Veterans can ask our expert clinicians a question.  Meet our consultants and get started. PTSD Monthly Lecture Series February 17, 2021 at 2pm ET - PTSD and Racial Trauma by Monnica Williams, PhD Mark your calendar for the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 2pm ET Subscribe to monthly emails to find out how to join live lectures. Registration is required to receive free continuing education credit for attending the live lecture.

Resource of the Month: Free Continuing Education Course 

Integrating National Center for PTSD Mobile Apps into Veteran Mental Health Care

This training course demonstrates clinical integration of mobile apps into mental health care. Videos illustrate how to assess Veterans' access to and interest in using mobile apps as a part of care. The course discusses how to:

• Introduce mental health apps
• Discuss security and privacy
• Obtain informed consent
• Assign and review homework
• Supplement care with suicide safety planning
• Family member engagement

As well as:

• Best practices based upon clinical setting and provider discipline
• Veterans' presenting concerns and preferences

Taking the Message to the Rural Patient: Evidence Based PTSD Care

Rural Veterans have unique risks including more benzodiazepine prescriptions, which are not recommended for PTSD. Center researchers showed that a direct-to-patient educational booklet for patients to share with providers led to a significant decrease in benzodiazepine use in Veterans with PTSD.

Study of post-mortem brain tissue yields new insights on PTSD

The most rigorous study to date examining post-mortem brain tissue from those with PTSD has identified molecular changes in the brain that may lead to new ways to diagnose and treat the disorder.  Read more...*