Self-Help
These are a few of our favorite self-help resources
Before we get to some of our favorite Apps, websites, videos, and books, it is important to know that many individuals recover from critical incidents without formal treatment. They rely on family, friends, and personal strengths.
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Utilizing self-hep resources can significantly aid recovery by:
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Alleviating stress
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Restoring control
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Building resilience
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Strengthening coping skills
Click on the images below to try some of our favorite self-help resources.
Free Apps
A tool that helps users cope with stress through relaxation exercises, inspiration, and personalized coping strategies.
An app that provides education, coping tools, and resources to help manage PTSD symptoms.
PTSD Family Coach helps families of people with PTSD cope through education, stress-management tools, and support resources.
This mobil app guides people in providing Psychological First Aid with tools and resources.
Insight Timer has thousands of guided meditations and music for mindfulness and sleep.
Happify provides science-based games and activities to reduce stress and boost resilience.
iChill teaches skills to help manage stress and trauma for better well-being.
Websites
HelpGuide.org is a nonprofit website offering evidence-based mental health and wellness resources to support emotional well-being.
Psychology Today is a popular site with expert articles and a therapist directory for mental health support.
Verywell Mind is a trusted mental health site offering expert-reviewed articles on stress, anxiety, and emotional well-being.
SAMHSA provides helpful information, resources, and support services for mental health and substance use disorders.
This site offers support and resources to help people cope with loss and grief.
Research-based advice and resources to enhance relationships and foster better communication between parents and their teenagers.
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network website provides resources and tools to support children and families affected by trauma.
This initiative provides resources and support to help people cope with stress, grief, and other difficult emotions.
Videos
This disaster-ready YouTube channel features nine wellness and mental health videos that are both informative and helpful.
Bessel van der Kolk explains that trauma isn’t just a past event — it leaves lasting imprints on the mind, brain, and body that can continue to shape how a person feels, reacts, and lives long after the original incident.
​A concise overview of psychological first aid, explaining how to provide compassionate, humane support to individuals experiencing severe distress following traumatic events.
A licensed therapist breaks down evidence-based psychological and therapeutic techniques into short, clear, practical videos to help people manage anxiety, depression, trauma, relationships and other mental and social health challenges.
“Internal Struggles (The Chessboard Metaphor)” uses a simple animation to show how our thoughts and feelings can battle inside us — but that we can learn to observe them instead of being controlled by them.
This video underscores the crucial importance of maintaining and delivering mental health and psychosocial support during crises to safeguard people’s well-being.
Anxiety symptoms are outlined along with possible causes, as well as methods used for diagnosis and treatment.
Books
A collection of effective, bite‑sized, evidence‑based strategies to help readers manage anxiety, depression, and everyday emotional challenges with simple, actionable tools.
Science-backed actions, like exercise, gratitude, and better sleep, can trigger positive neurological feedback loops that gradually lift mood and reduce depression.
This book reframes emotional and behavioral struggles through the lens of trauma—asking “What happened to you?” rather than “What’s wrong with you?” and explores how early experiences shape the brain.
True resilience comes from owning our stories, reckoning with difficult emotions, and transforming failure or struggle into growth through vulnerability and courage.
Explores the root causes of loneliness, such as trauma, shame, and social disconnection, and offers practical steps for healing through self-awareness, emotional integration, and authentic connection with others.
A profound memoir and psychological exploration that reveals how finding purpose, even in the face of unimaginable suffering, can be the key to resilience and survival.
Offers compassionate guidance for navigating grief and emotional pain, emphasizing that healing begins by accepting your feelings rather than trying to “fix” them, and finding support that honors your experience.
Learn how trauma reshapes both the brain and body, and shows that healing requires approaches beyond talk therapy—such as mindfulness, movement, and somatic practices—to restore a sense of safety and control.
An honest, hopeful memoir that blends personal experience and practical advice to show that life with depression can still be meaningful and worth living.
A reassuring, practical guide to overcoming anxiety and panic by teaching acceptance of symptoms and breaking the cycle of fear through patience and understanding.
A guide to mastering your inner world—teaching that true success and peak performance come from cultivating clarity, purpose, and mental resilience rather than chasing external results.
Explains how resilience is built through factors like optimism, social support, and meaning-making, offering research-based strategies to adapt and thrive in the face of adversity.
