MySELF: Mindfully Mitigating Stress Effects with PsychologicaL Flexibility Navy SBIR FY2015.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2015.1 Topic No.: N151-077 Topic Title: MySELF: Mindfully Mitigating Stress Effects with PsychologicaL Flexibility Proposal No.: N151-077-0969 Firm: Intelligent Automation, Inc. 15400 Calhoun Drive Suite 190 Rockville, Maryland 20855 Contact: Lisa Holt Phone: (301) 294-5212 Abstract: Intelligent Automation, Inc. proposes to develop an application called MySELF: Mindfully Mitigating Stress Effects with PsychologicaL Flexibility. MySELF will not only be an instructional program that fosters psychological flexibility and teaches warfighters effective stress management techniques, but also a personal tool to help warfighters integrate these powerful techniques into their daily lives. The instructional approach will work both bottom-up from the physical and top-down from the cognitive to achieve the desired mind-body connection. Key innovations of the proposed solution are:  Use of techniques that can be easily taught and employed without the need for a licensed instructor  Individualized integration with daily activities and schedules so that the practices become automatic and habitual  Use of a mobile platform for delivery of readily accessible instruction and performance supports to help users implement techniques whenever and wherever they are needed  Use of voice-based stress analysis models and other data to prompt timely employment of the techniques  Use of validated assessments of perceived stress, mindfulness, and psychological flexibility to monitor the user's state and provide individualized prompts to use techniques when needed Benefits: The key commercial value for MySELF is its ability to teach mindfulness-based stress management techniques and help users integrate them into their daily life practices. Managing the response to stress is a critical skill that is lacking in the general population, as evidenced by the fact that nearly 80% of doctor's visits are for stress-related illnesses. This stress management problem may be even more pronounced among our military servicemen and women as the psychological stress they face during military operations is having a significant impact not only on their health, but on their job performances, relationships, and overall quality of life. MySELF will help to address this problem in both populations by building users' psychological flexibility and giving them effective tools to cope with the stress they encounter. Return