mResilience First Responder Mental Resilience & Peer Support Program

What is mRes? The Information Applications Group (TIAG) has developed a training program and companion mobile application called “mResilience” (mRes) that is purpose-built for first responders. mRes is available in both law enforcement and firefighter versions. mRes pairs secure access to agency peer support resources with evidence-based stress management tools. TIAG’s mRes product (law enforcement version) is a National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Vetted and Approved Wellness Provider/Program. Using a tool such as mRes can significantly enhance an agency’s Wellness and Resiliency Program. For federal law enforcement agencies, the recent passage of the Confidentiality Opportunities for Peer Support (COPS) Counseling Act places an increased emphasis on the important role peer support plays in health and wellness. Why did we create it?

From 2011 to 2018, TIAG was the prime contractor for the Department of Defense’s (DoD) National Center for Telehealth and Technology. TIAG was responsible for the design, development, testing, and deployment of over 20 mobile apps focused on assisting Veterans and Service Member with dealing with the symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury and PTSD. In our support role for DoD we learned that law enforcement faced many of the same stressors and PTSD challenges as active duty personnel, but had few resources available to them. None of these resources were specifically designed for the unique cultural aspects of civilian law enforcement. In 2015, the San Bernardino mass shooting served as a call to action for TIAG’s CEO. She felt confident that our team knew how to create an effective product specifically for civilian law enforcement to help them manage stress and improve health. Over the course of the next 3 years our multi-disciplinary product development team of clinical psychologists, user-experience (UX) researchers/designers, application developers, testers, and project managers undertook a comprehensive research and development process. The end result of this effort was the mResilience™ (mRes) mobile application and training program.

How does it work? The mRes mobile app includes a core set of tools and resources for mindfulness, breathing regulation, guided meditation, etc. that provide the user with evidence-based tools for reducing stress. These are combined with a peer support module that allows users to anonymously reach out for help. The real power is in the ability for an organization to easily tailor the content and keep it dynamically updated so that changes are reflected in near real time for end users. While mRes is intended for use on personal devices, this is done in a secure environment where only authorized users have access to the content. The organizational content is hosted in the Amazon Web Services “GovCloud” environment. We gather no specific user data, no Personally Identifiable Information (PII), no Personal Health Information (PHI). Other than knowing who the authorized pool of users is, the only other analytics are de-identified, aggregate user metrics. These metrics allow the customer agency to assess which tools are being used most frequently and for how long. We believe mRes is most effective when paired with a comprehensive resilience curriculum that emphasizes the evidence-based practices such as Mindfulness. The mobile app becomes a “freezing mechanism” that supplements content delivered in classes, by coaches, or pre-recorded content available via the app. The individual user is able to anonymously access the full range of organizational content in a manner that empowers them to explore new techniques and engage content without concern of being monitored. Our DoD and law enforcement experience has shown that if users think they are being monitored, they will not use the tool.