Stand Down vs WellWithin Coach

If you are a U.S. Veteran and would like help in either cutting back or quitting alcohol altogether, Stand Down is here to help. Stand Down was created with extensive input from Veterans and VA psychologists. It brings the tools to make a positive change in your drinking easily and privately to your smartphone. Stand Down will be your personal assistant as you go through the process of changing your drinking. It provides the structure you need to help you stop altogether or to reduce your drinking to safe levels. It will provide you with the tools and the accountability to make a positive change and stay with it. With Stand Down, there is no need to wait until your next meeting with a counselor to receive helpful strategies and feedback on your progress while on your journey to a new relationship with alcohol. Immediate help will be right there on your smartphone. Stand Down has been in development since 2018. Research has shown that it has helped people reduce their drinking by as much as 60% and that users indicated that it was very helpful in giving them helpful tools and keeping them on track. Stand Down is an empirically supported system that can help you take control of your drinking. Stand Down will help you to privately and effectively: • Become more aware of your drinking patterns and triggers. • Set an overall drinking objective (to either stop drinking OR moderate your drinking) as well as smaller intermediate goals to help you succeed in stages. • Keep yourself accountable through continual feedback on your progress. • Stay in control when you are feeling tempted to drink by providing immediately available tools. • Learn new and helpful strategies for dealing with cravings, bad moods and boredom. • Keep you on track during your personally defined “high risk times” for drinking. • Remind yourself about your reasons for making a change when you are feeling like drinking or are in a tempting situation. • Share your progress with others (family, friends or health care provider). • Help you prepare for “high risk events” in the coming week - and strategically avoid alcohol triggers. • Identify alternate (non-drinking) activities and schedule them directly into your calendar. If you choose to utilize Stand Down, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you allow the app to send you alerts and notifications. These are designed to keep you on track, particularly during times when you need help the most.

WellWithin Coach was designed for women with PTSD. This highly customizable app includes a daily check in with suggested activities, a daily trivia question related to women veterans and women’s history, and over 60 interactive tools to help promote mental health and address challenges related to common concerns like posttraumatic stress, insomnia, depression, and anxiety. The app can also be used to track and manage overall mental health and well-being, pregnancy and postpartum health, perimenopause and menopause, sexual and reproductive health, mind-body connections, caregiving stress, and relationship health. Veterans can immediately access hotlines and resources for mental health crises or urgent needs and can learn about a wide range of topics relevant to women who have served. WellWithin Coach is free, doesn’t take or share any of your personal information, and doesn’t require add-on purchases. This app is not a replacement for treatment from a professional. Seek advice from your doctor in addition to using this app and before making any medical decisions. WellWithin Coach was created by VA’s National Center for PTSD.