Sources
The trauma-informed care, DBT, and design research that shaped Wymber's approach. Wymber is a self-help tool for reflection, not therapy or a treatment protocol. These works informed how it's built and how it speaks; they are not a substitute for professional care.
Trauma-informed foundations
- SAMHSA: the 6 Guiding Principles of a Trauma-Informed Approach
The six principles (safety; trust and transparency; peer support; collaboration; empowerment, voice and choice; cultural humility) that anchor the whole design.
- The Window of Tolerance
Go at your own pace, never pushing disclosure. Grounding helps pull you back toward a regulated state.
- Trauma-Informed Content and UX Design
Translating the clinical principles into gentle language, predictable UI, and no guilt mechanics.
Skills and modalities
- DBT: the four skill modules
Mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness. The "skills to try" we lean on (skills, not therapy).
- The trauma egg / trauma timeline (Murray Method)
Mapping experiences and their connections on paper. Essentially Wymber's direct ancestor.
- Narrative therapy and externalizing
"The problem is the problem; the person is not the problem." Re-authoring your own story.
- Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Naming "parts" as nodes, kept deliberately light and optional (no guided processing).
- Polyvagal practices (and the open debate)
Nervous-system check-in framings. We use the practices, not the contested neuroscience claims.
Crisis and safety
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US)
Always reachable. Wymber is not a crisis service.
- Crisis Text Line
Text HOME to 741741.
- Find A Helpline
Free, confidential support in 175+ countries.
These sources informed Wymber's design. They are not endorsements of it, and Wymber is not a substitute for professional care.