• Daylio

I use this one every day and I have for over 500 days (it counts). It lets me track my moods twice a day and pair it with different activities or conditions that I can customize. I can look back at the charts and see patterns in my moods, which has been really helpful.

• Spot On

This one is really good for people whose moods fluctuate with their hormones. I use this one to track that so I know when to expect changes. It also lets you track activities. And it’s created by Planned Parenthood!

• What’s Up

• CBT Thought Diary

CBT Thought Diary is a good one for fighting negative thoughts. You can record a variety of moods, gratitude journal, and use CBT skills to contradict your neg thoughts. You can’t really do much more than that, but not all apps need to have all the bells and whistles. 

• Woebot

• DBT Coach

A fair amount of DBT Coach is behind a paywall BUT I love the diary card function bc it looks good and it covers all the bases. It’s got mood, skills, activities, journal, urges, emotions, sleep, and a question about medication. You can even add photos to your journal! You have to explore the lessons and exercises to find those which are free but what’s there are p decent.

• DBT Travel Guide

DBT Travel Guide has basically all the DBT info for free (bless!). It’s got a diary card, a tab for your therapy or other agreements, techniques specifically tailored to certain crises, information on skills, AND audio exercises! This is definitely the most comprehensive DBT app I’ve found.

• Rise Up + Recover

Rise Up + Recover is an app for those with disordered eating created by the org Recovery Warriors. It’s an entirely free app that lets you log meals, work on body image, do other crisis and self-improvement exercises AND it lets you send that info to your therapist or whomever. It can link you to RW playlists, podcasts, and even help you find local treatment.

• Recovery Record

RR is an app I used during my first bout in recovery years ago that I liked bc it gave me lil rewards for logging my meals- like these puzzle pieces. It’s grown a lot since then and includes symptom tracking & questionnaires, the ability to ‘like’ the cute or inspirational images they reward you with so you can revisit, meditations, and a heart rate monitor for apple watches. Like Rise Up, you can share it all with your treatment team. 

• Calm Harm

There’s a great post going around with more info on Calm Harm but it’s a really cute and helpful app to use when you want to self-harm. It provides various activities in each category to do for either 5 or 15 minutes as you urge surf. 

• ShinyThing

ShinyThing is much the same but offers you YouTube videos instead. You can even add your own faves to distract you next time. It tracks your urge level before and after each session. 

• START

START stands for Stress Traumasymptoms Arousal Regulation Treatment. It focuses on activities you can do both during a crisis and in between to shore up your defenses. 

• My 3

My 3 is an app that is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. As you can see, it links to the Lifeline, 911, and three contacts you can choose that you’d be comfortable calling in crisis. It also lets you create a safety plan full of the components shown in the pic. 

• Headspace

Headspace is a mindfulness app a former therapist recommended to me. Most of the activities are for the premium version BUT there are a few that aren’t and most of the sleep casts are free which is a nice sleep aid. 

• Gratitude

This is a gratitude journal you can write nice things in to look back at the Good. It’s pretty widely accepted that keeping a gratitude journal can improve your mood. This one also lets you create affirmations that can be scheduled to pop up and remind you how great you are. 

• bookboon // for accounting, business, economics & finance, engineering, IT & programming, languages, marketing & law, natural sciences, statistics & mathematics (+ career & study advice, strategy & management)
• booksee // for arts & photography, biographies & memoirs, business & investing, computers & internet, cooking, entertainment, health, history, home, law, literature & fiction, medicine, references, religion, science, sports, travel, and other categories
• boundless // for accounting, algebra, art history, biology, business, calculus, chemistry, communications, computer science, economics, education, finance, management, marketing, microbiology, music, physics, physiology, political science, psychology, sociology, statistics, U.S. history, world history, writing
• california learning resource network // for mathematics, science, history
• ck-12 // for elementary math, arithmetic, measurement, algebra, geometry, probability, statistics, trigonometry, analysis, calculus, earth science, life science, physical science, biology, chemistry, physics, sat exam prep, engineering, technology, astronomy, english, history
• college open textbook // for anthropology & archeology, art, biology & genetics, business, chemistry, computer science, economics, engineering & electronics, english & composition, health & nursing, history, languages & communication, law, literature, math, music, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, science, sociology, statistics & probability
• ebooklobby // for arts & photography, biographies & memoirs, business, computers & internet, cooking, entertainment, health, home & garden, law, literature & fiction, sports, travel
• freemathbooks // for algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, applied math, probability, analysis, statistics, and other sub-categories of mathematics
• global text project // for business, computing, education, health, science, social sciences
• openstax cnx // for arts, business, humanities, mathematics & statistics, science & technology, social sciences
• open culture // for art history, biology, business & management, chemistry, classics, computer science & information systems, earth science, economics & finance, education, engineering, history, linguistics, law, mathematics, music, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, sociology
• open textbook library // for accounting and finance, business, management & marketing, computer science & information systems, economics, general education, humanities & language, law, mathematics & statistics, natural & physical sciences, social sciences
• textbook revolution // for biology, business & management, chemistry, computer science & technology, earth sciences, economics, engineering, environment, ESL, health sciences & medical, mathematics, physics, society and social sciences, sociology, world history

• bookstacks // popular classics

• Here’s an Emergency Compliment
• Here are some kind words you can personalize with your name 
• Here are 15 more emergency compliments 
• Here is a Self Esteem Boosting Confidence Machine 
• take a moment - video 
• believe in yourself - video 
• Inspiration from Jacksepticeye - PMA 
• encouragement from Mr. Rogers - video 
• you are ENOUGH - video 

• How about rain sounds you can customize? 
• You can listen to a cafe here  
• or how about a crackling fireplace?  

• Soap cutting ASMR - video 
• more soap ASMR - video 
• a 4 hour ASMR video to help with sleep 
• ASMR face and scalp massage - video
• ASMR slime - video 
• the most satisfying video in the world 
• more satisfying videos 
• Lora Zombie speed painting - video 
• Agnes Cecile speed painting - video  
• the fastest workers in the world - video 
• how candy canes are made - video 
• Mr. Rogers shows how crayons are made - video 

• Play 2048 here 
• A whole website of free games!  
• play chess against a computer 
• Here are some coloring pages you can do online!  
• Play Flow online here 
• here’s a game where you stretch a giraffe’s little neck to give kisses 
• Learn about the history of life on earth with PBS Eons 

• Control the pattern of rain here! (flashing colors warning)
• try doing nothing for two minutes 
• Vent to a stranger online for FREE!  
• weavesilk, where you can create a soothing pattern 
• have you ever been to the nicest place on the internet? 
• watch Bob Ross bring joy to painting - playlist 

• Vines you can show your grandparents 
• History of the entire world, I guess  
• History of Japan 
• Rhett and Link caption fails 
• Thomas Sanders Vines 
• The Demented Cartoon Movie (warning for flashing colors) 
• The ASDF movie 1-11 
• The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon by Richard Gale  (warnings for some bruises and some violence)
• Rhett and Link VS Hank Green - SHUT UP AND DANCE 

GIF by kitty

• Is the program accredited? 
• APA-accreditation is the minimum standard. You need this to get many jobs, and it will be very difficult to get licensed without it. 
• Is the program funded? If so, how?
• If the program is a doctoral program and it is not funded, that is a huge red flag. I would discount it immediately. Master’s programs are often unfunded. How a doctoral program is funded will give you an indication of what the program’s priorities are and how it’s connected- is it mostly teaching? research? clinical practicum? a mix? 
• Is the program attached to a university? If so, what kind?
• If the program is “free standing,” aka not attached to any regular university, that’s also a huge red flag. I would recommend not applying to any of those schools. Although the particular school a program is attached to will not necessarily tell you how good the program itself is (like- PGSP-Stanford is okay but not funded and not as good as you would assume given it’s quasi-association with Stanford) but it gives you a starting reference point, particularly regarding the faculty and resources available to the program. 
• How many students are admitted per year?
• A quality clinical/counseling program typically admits between 5-15 people a year (sometimes but rarely less). Greater than that would be a red flag to me for any doctoral program, I would not consider a program that regularly admits 20 or more. (My guess is that this would vary depending on the master’s program).
• What is the attrition rate?
• Attrition is the number of students leaving the program for any reason, and should be listed on the program’s website. It can be tough since we’re talking such small class sizes- like if the program admits 8 and 2 leave, that’s 25%, which sounds big but may not be meaningful. So look at patterns over time. Are people often leaving? Does at least one person, or particularly, multiple people, leaving from every class admitted? That could indicate several red flags- a) they are cutting people after year 1 or 2 (and plan to do so), which is bad for you (and I just disagree with that practice); 2) students are leaving because the program is bad or at least one of the faculty are bad to work with; 3) the program is not good at selecting students to admit (and so picks students with bad fit or who aren’t ready or some other thing) and then might be doing a bad job helping those students. High attrition is a yellow flag, for me- something to investigate.
• What’s the graduation rate?
• This is the flip-side of attrition- you want people who are admitted to be largely successfully getting through that program and getting to a job. 
• How many graduates get pass the EPPP and get licensed?
• Nearly every graduate of a doctoral clinical or counseling program should successfully get licensed. It’s really pretty rare that a clinical/counseling psychologist would not need or want to get licensed (even if they are researchers), and if the rate is low it usually means a) the program is bad in general or b) the program is very research focused and fails students in the clinical area. 
• What is the internship match rate? (For APA-accredited programs?) How does the program support students to get an internship?
• You want an APA-accredited match rate of at least 90%. I would throw out all the programs with less than 85% (and really be very cautious until you get to 90-95%- most of the good programs are at least the low 90s). You want students who are matching on their first round, to internships that meet their training goals. The program should be helping students to achieve this by helping them find good internships, put together their materials, practice for interviews, etc. 
• Where do graduates go after graduation- both short term (like postdoc) and long term? How does the program help students get where they want to go?
• Graduates of a good program should leave the program with a job, in their field, in their speciality, that they want. Do not accept a program where people end up in bullshit jobs after 3-7 (or more!) years of post-college education. Make sure some of these graduates are doing the kinds of things you think you might want to do. 
• How does mentorship work?
• There are multiple kinds of mentorship models in doctoral programs. Most quality clinical and counseling psychology doctoral programs have students matched to a mentor from the beginning, that they will work with throughout grad school. That’s a green flag. It’s not necessarily bad if the program has another mentorship model, but there needs to be some kind of model. Some of the low quality schools have basically no mentorship model, which makes it hard to conduct research, develop as a professional and make networking connections. 
• What does a typical week look like for a student?
• Talk to the program, and to individual students, about what typical weeks are like. This will give you an idea, again, about what the program’s priorities are for students. How much research time? How much clinical time? How diverse is it- do students get to create their own schedules to achieve their own goals? Is one teaching because they want to be a professor at a liberal arts school while the other is doing an extra practica at a school because they have a interest in development? That’s a green flag. If students are overworked and not getting to the things that matter to them- that’s a red flag. If they are spending a lot of time doing clinical work but not a lot of time getting clinical training- that’s a red flag. 
• What is the practica and who does the clinical training?
• In a quality school, clinical practica should be diverse. Students should train in multiple settings with multiple populations under multiple supervisors. They should learn multiple techniques, and those techniques should be evidence-based. They should be able to clearly explain how to they train their students and why. It’s a red flag if students are only in the department clinic. It’s a red flag if training is mostly or entirely disconnected from the department. It’s a yellow flag if faculty do none of the clinical training- it can sometimes indicate the faculty are totally research focused, which can impair the connection between science and practice. 
• What are the faculty’s theoretical orientations? What is their training background? Their interests?
• Who the faculty are will give you a sense of what they want the students to learn and to be as professionals. I tend to think a diversity of interests- research interests and clinical expertise -is important because it maximizes student access to resources. 
• What kind of research resources are there in the program? What kind of expectations do they have for students?
• A program that prioritizes research should have resources available to students to aid them in that, whether that’s personnel (stats experts, for example), materials (an fMRI or stats software) or money. 
• What are typical topics for master’s theses and dissertations? Where is data collected? What kinds of resources are there for students to aid them in research?
• By getting a sense of what’s usually done, you’ll know what the real resources are, and how prioritized research really is. If people are often doing undergrad surveys, then that’s a red flag. If people are doing complex research using a variety of procedures in a variety of populations- particularly clinical populations -that’s a huge green flag. But ask what’s available now, for you, given your interests, because access to resources and communities changes all the time. 
• What conferences do students typically go to? Is there any funding for conferences?
• Conferences that programs go to will give you a sense of their priorities and interests. Do they go to APA? ABCT? APS? Does each lab go to a speciality conference for their area? There isn’t necessarily a wrong answer, but a good program will be involved with at least one conference and it should line up with your interests. They should also pay you to go- that’s a green flag. 
• What other sorts of training experiences does the program offer? (Outside of regular classes) Seminars? Clinical training? Do they have speciality “tracks” or “minors”? Do they have connections with other departments? Do they bring in speakers from other schools? Do they do professional development seminars?  
• A quality program should offer other training and professional development experiences, although what those might be will vary. But sometimes low quality programs use things kinds of things- especially “minors” or similar things -to sell the idea that their program is better than others. Watch that carefully. Sometimes a program with a “minor” or whatever does a have special training experience, which is great- but a “minor” will not be recognized beyond a line on your CV, so take it as a training experience and not anything more. 

i haven’t made any content in forever, finally trying to get back in the game ngl. figured i’d work with photoshop bc i honestly haven’t bujo’d or written notes in a hot minute.