“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up,” legendary football coach Vince Lombardi once said. When you think about it, Coach Lombardi was really talking about coping skills and resilience. Trauma can knock you down; yet there are now online tools to help you develop valuable coping and problem-solving skills following trauma.

With the release of PTSD Coach Online, you can now go to your desktop or laptop computer anytime to work on skills that can be helpful following trauma. You can use its tools in the privacy and comfort of your own home—or anywhere with Internet access. These are the same type of skills you learn in professional therapy.

PTSD Coach Online extends the reach of the PTSD Coach mobile app’s groundbreaking symptom management tools to those who do not have access to smartphones. The PTSD Coach mobile app has already been downloaded more than 100,000 times in 74 countries around the world.

PTSD Coach Online is a free, online suite of tools designed to help people cope with sleep problems, trauma reminders, anxiety and other problems that can develop after trauma. It includes versions of many of the tools that are found in the PTSD Coach mobile app, plus more. One of its unique features is the inclusion of videos from coaches who provide video introductions and help throughout each tool.

To give you an idea of the skills you can learn, take the symptom trauma reminders. Coach Jessica Hamblen, PhD, walks you through how to change feelings by changing thoughts. How are our thoughts and feelings connected? Sometimes it is hard to see another way of looking at things, but doing so can really change how we feel and act. Other video coaches focus on tools to help users be in the moment or learn relaxation techniques, among other things. You can choose to work on a particular problem or symptom or choose from the full array of 17 tools.

PTSD Coach Online can help you with symptom management, problem solving, and skill building. It is not, however, a substitute for professional mental health treatment and care.

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2 Comments

  1. Tommy October 30, 2013 at 20:09

    Got white screen after tap music. Photos went fine but couldn’t go back, how ironic can’t go back and fix it. Let me know when it works, might be useful.

    • Cybele Merrick November 13, 2013 at 10:28

      Tommy, sorry you had trouble. Were you on the PTSD Coach Online site itself? After you go to the Self Help and Coping page, which is the link shown in the article (http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/pages/fslist-self-help-cope.asp) you need to click “Get Started” to launch the program. I hope this helps you access the program.

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