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Check out our newest products made by VA mental health care providers and researchers. These products address topics that impact the mental health needs of Veterans and their families. Access our full collection of products.
A Good Fit: Making CPAP Work for You
This user-friendly guide helps Veterans get started and relaxed with using a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) mask for obstructive sleep apnea. The guide:
Defines obstructive sleep apnea and how it is diagnosed and treated.
Gives tips for troubleshooting equipment-related problems with a CPAP therapist.
Helps Veterans identify helpful and unhelpful thoughts about CPAP to improve their experience.
Includes relaxation exercises that can be used when wearing a CPAP mask and tips for healthy sleep.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Strategies Guide for Anxiety and Trauma-Related Problems in Living
This guide supplements the current VA Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) for ACT for Depression (ACT-D) protocol. It includes information and treatment materials relevant to anxiety and trauma-related disorders. It is meant for clinicians with training and experience in the ACT model, such as ACT-D EBP or similar training. This is not a treatment protocol.
The guide starts with a discussion of clinical anxiety and exposure therapy from an ACT perspective. It includes case examples.
It is organized into sections according to the core ACT processes.
The introductory sections:
Give clinicians a brief overview of each process as it relates to anxiety and trauma.
Suggest uses for the handouts and exercises.
List exercises and activities from the VA’s ACT Coach and Mindfulness Coach mobile/tablet applications to support work relevant to process areas.
The handouts and exercises for Veterans:
Were developed by the authors or adapted from various empirically supported ACT protocols for anxiety, trauma, and depression.
May be selected and used by clinicians as needed for individual case conceptualization with Veterans.
ACCESS: Adjusting to Chronic Conditions with Education, Support, and Skills
ACCESS is a psychosocial intervention specifically designed to address the physical and emotional issues faced by chronically ill patients. The goals of the intervention are to empower individuals via patient-centered education, teach self-management strategies, and use goals and action plans to increase skill use and success.
Involves six active treatment sessions (weekly meetings of 45-60 minutes for session 1, and 30-45 minutes for sessions 2-6).
Content in sessions 3-6 is flexible, allowing the flexibility to spend more than one session on focused skills, as needed.
Follow-up booster sessions (10-to 15-minute phone calls) are used to help solidify changes over time.
The length of the total treatment (active treatment and boosters) is 16 weeks.
The ACT on Health Toolkit helps VA medical center mental health leadership and clinicians implement 1-day acceptance and commitment training (ACT) workshops in community-based settings.
Supports collaboration between VA staff and partners at community-based organizations.
Provides brief overview of ACT and the ACT evidence base.
Toolkit organized into the workshop’s implementation phases:
Establishing community partnerships
Obtaining training and skills for workshop clinicians
Organizing and conducting workshops
Options for offering virtual online workshops and follow-up ‘drop-in’ sessions for Veterans who complete a workshop
Methods for gathering evaluation data if desired
Resources section details products that can be used to engage VA/community stakeholders and workshop participants.
Includes links to online trainings and cyber-seminars. Also has links to brief videos to publicize the workshops and train ACT clinicians.
NOT a “how-to” guide on becoming an ACT therapist.
An Active Approach to Recovering from Trauma: Breaking the Cycle of Safety Aids and Avoidance
This guide helps Veterans understand how trauma affects their lives. It will help them recover from any lasting reactions to trauma that are keeping them from living life to the fullest. They will learn to identify behaviors that are keeping them stuck in their recovery and learn a step-by-step method for changing them. This guide gives hope for recovery and the confidence to accomplish goals.
Learn about common reactions to trauma and specific ways it impacts life.
Understand how problematic avoidance behaviors (called “safety aids”) keep Veterans stuck in their recovery from trauma.
Discover what safety aids are being used to deal with distress and plan ways to learn how to live without them.
Review other resources that can assist recovery from trauma.
Bariatric surgery can have a positive impact on Veterans’ health and well-being. This self-help guide is for Veterans who are thinking about bariatric surgery and want to gain mental health skills and make their environments healthier. Their behaviors and mental health will directly affect outcomes of bariatric surgery. Making changes to their daily lives will help them succeed in their recovery after surgery. The guide:
Explains important considerations for bariatric surgery and the types of professional support Veterans can receive from their VA healthcare team before and after surgery.
Provides tools for setting goals to make bariatric surgery a success.
Reviews pre- and post-concerns to consider before having bariatric surgery.
Details the relationship between mental health and bariatric surgery.
The Great Outdoors: Engaging with Nature for Mental Health
These materials support Veterans by helping them engage in positive and healthy nature-based activities. The materials integrate the science of the benefits of engaging with nature, with the well-established approaches of behavioral activation, mindfulness, and other positive psychology exercises. The clinician manual supports the delivery of a very brief (1-2 session) or brief (3-5) session intervention in a variety of settings. The Veteran guide can be used as part of a clinician-delivered intervention, or as a self-help intervention. The material:.
Provides an overview of the science on the benefits of nature engagement and greenspace exposure.
Includes an activity to review one's past and current engagement in nature.
Integrates principles of motivational interviewing to resolve ambivalence.
Encourages value identification/prioritization and discovering nature-based activities that can support living out those values.
Uses goal setting, activity scheduling, and behavior monitoring to help Veterans increase their nature engagement.
Provides links to guided audio exercises, including 5 mindfulness exercises, 1 savoring exercise, and 2 guided imagery exercises.
Please note that the health care information provided in these materials is for educational purposes only. It does not replace the role of a medical practitioner for advice on care and treatment. If you are looking for professional medical care, find your local VA healthcare center by using the VA Facilities Locator & Directory.
