New ‘LifeArmor’ Mobile App Helps Families with Military Life
By National Center for Telehealth and Technology Public Affairs
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 17 behavioral topics with information, assessments, videos with personal stories and interactive exercises to develop coping skills.
“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.org website, launched in 2008 to help service members returning from combat deployments. The new mobile application brings behavioral health topics from the website to smartphones and tablets, used by most service members.
“Since our website was launched, we have 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” behavioral topics are: alcohol and drugs, anger, anxiety, depression, families and friendships, families with kids, life stress, mild traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma, physical injury, posttraumatic stress, resilience, sleep, spirituality, stigma, tobacco and work adjustment.
“LifeArmor” is available for Apple and Android mobile devices. More information about the app is available at t2health.org/apps/lifearmor.
The National Center for Telehealth and Technology, located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., serves as the primary Department of Defense office for cutting-edge approaches in applying technology to psychological health. More information about T2 is at t2health.org.
T2, a Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury center, 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. To learn more, read “About T2.”