Mobile App Helps Families with Military Life

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash., July 24, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Defense has a new smartphone mobile application to help service members and their families manage the challenges of military life. LifeArmor has seventeen behavioral topics with information, assessments, videos with personal stories and interactive exercises to develop coping skills.  LifeArmor can be downloaded for free at the App Store, Google Play and soon on the Amazon Marketplace. 

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LifeArmor is a comprehensive learning and self-management tool to assist members of the military community with common mental health concerns. It was developed by psychologists at the Defense Department's National Center for Technology and Technology, known as T2, as a companion application to their AfterDeployment website. The new mobile application brings behavioral health topics from the website to smartphones and tablets, used by most service members. AfterDeployment was launched in 2008 to help service members returning from combat deployments.

"Since our website was launched, we had had many requests for a mobile app," said Dr. Robert Ciulla, T2 psychologist. "The success of our website naturally led us to this app which makes sense for a very mobile military population. Although the public can benefit from these applications, we had the needs of the military community in mind when developing this app."

The assessments in LifeArmor can help raise the user's awareness of potential problem areas. Ciulla said the assessments are useful but are not intended to be the sole basis for conclusions about a user's mental health status and should not replace professional counseling.

LifeArmor's behavioral topics are: Alcohol & Drugs, Anger, Anxiety, Depression, Families & Friendships, Families with Kids, Life Stress, Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Military Sexual Trauma, Physical Injury, Post-Traumatic Stress, Resilience, Sleep, Spirituality, Stigma, Tobacco, and Work Adjustment.

The National Center for Telehealth and Technology, located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA, serves as the primary Department of Defense office for cutting-edge approaches in applying technology to psychological health. More information about T2 is available at www.t2health.org. Further information about LifeArmor can be found at www.t2health.org/apps/lifearmor.

SOURCE National Center for Telehealth and Technology