PFA Mobile vs Renew Support

PFA Mobile was designed to assist responders who provide psychological first aid (PFA) to adults, families, and children as part of an organized response effort. This app provides responders with summaries of PFA fundamentals, PFA interventions matched to specific concerns and needs of survivors, mentor tips for applying PFA in the field, a self-assessment tool for readiness to conduct PFA, and a survivors' needs form for simplified data collection and easy referral. PFA Mobile was created by VA's National Center for PTSD in partnership with the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) and DoD's National Center for Telehealth & Technology.

Renew Support is a companion app to Renew, which is a self-guided program to help people recover from posttraumatic stress. Renew helps people who have experienced trauma practice evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy skills that can reduce the symptoms of posttraumatic stress and help people get back to living a full life. In Renew, points are earned for completing activities designed to decrease avoidance of safe situations, process trauma memories, and boost positive moods. Recovering from trauma can be challenging, and research has shown that having support from trusted family or friends can help with recovery. If someone you care about has sent you an invitation to download Renew support, they have added you to their Renew Support team. This means that they are counting on you to help support them as they work through the Renew program. Renew Support makes it easy to show your support and encouragement. You’ll receive notifications about the points that are earned in Renew as the person you care about works on their recovery. You’ll also be notified if the person using Renew hasn’t logged into the program in a while. You can reply to Renew notifications to send your congratulations, tell them to keep up the good work, or even give them the little nudge they need through Renew Support’s messaging function. Renew Support also includes information about trauma reactions and helpful tips based on the latest research in trauma and posttraumatic stress to help you better understand how to best help your loved one.