Pvt Charles J Shutt Detachment VAVS

What do you do when you think a loved one or friend may be having difficulty readjusting to life on the home front following an overseas deployment? For TRICARE beneficiaries the answer to this, and many other behavioral health questions, is just a few mouse clicks away.

The Web-based TRICARE Assistance Program (TRIAP) uses today’s constantly evolving Web-based technologies to bring short-term professional counseling assistance closer to the people who often need it most: service members and veterans recently returned from overseas and their families who’ve persevered through the deployment.

The TRIAP demonstration program launched Aug. 1, 2009 and is available in the United States to active duty service members, those eligible for the Transition Assistance Management Program (TAMP) and members enrolled in TRICARE Reserve Select. It is also available to these beneficiaries’ spouses, no matter their age, and other eligible family members 18 years of age or older.

From the security of their homes, or anywhere else for that matter, beneficiaries with a computer, Webcam and the associated software can speak “face-to-face” with a licensed counselor over the Internet at any time of the day or night. Eligible beneficiaries can link to their regional contractor’s TRIAP site and get more information about the program at http://www.tricare.mil/TRIAP.

“As joyful as homecomings are for our sailors, Marines, airmen, soldiers and their family members, these can also be times of great stress for everyone in the family,” said Rear Adm. Christine Hunter, deputy director of the TRICARE Management Activity. “TRIAP counselors give our beneficiaries an opportunity to discuss matters such as relationship issues, sleep disturbances or readjustment difficulties from the comfort and security of their own homes.”

Eligible service members and family members can log on to TRIAP an unlimited number of times for supportive counseling or advice when dealing with short-term personal problems impacting their work performance, health and well-being. Services include assessments, short-term counseling and, if the TRIAP counselor determines more specialized care is necessary, a referral to a more comprehensive level of care. A referral or prior authorization is not needed to use TRIAP services.

Service members and their families have many other behavioral health resources available to them either online or by telephone. For more information about TRICARE and the Department of Defense’s many existing behavioral health resources, download A TRICARE Guide: Understanding Behavioral Health at http://www.tricare.mil/tricaresmart.