What’s changed
A record of changes to coping.tools and why we made them.
Significant changes are listed below, newest first. This history begins in October 2026 and includes selected recent updates.
— professional resources
Practical support in everyday care
Added an optional professional support resource with five expandable situations, individual printable sections and a combined PDF. It focuses on what a supporter can change, offer or do alongside someone. The original information for healthcare professionals and organisations remains available beneath the new resource link. The five main coping guides and their exercises were not changed.
Clarity, evidence limitations and printing
Clarified the distinction between the five main guides and the companion resource, refined navigation wording and aligned the companion footer. Updated the evidence note to state that source-by-source verification and setting-specific clinical review remain outstanding. Removed unused event-count requests from the companion's Print and Save PDF controls; the existing private statistics for the five main guides were not changed. The companion resource is not a clinical treatment protocol.
— practical guidance review
A small enjoyable option when feeling low
Added an optional example—listening to one song you like—to “I feel low or shut down,” and made clear that a small action may be chosen because it feels a little pleasant as well as because it meets a need or matters to the person. This reflects Finland’s Mental Hub practical guidance on including enjoyable activities in everyday life. It does not show that this exact example or route step is a treatment.
Selected Nordic and European public guidance added to route references
Added Finland’s Mental Hub to “I feel low or shut down,” Thuisarts stress guidance to “There’s too much at once,” and Helsenorge crisis guidance to “Something has happened.” These sources inform practical wording and context; they do not validate the routes’ exact short exercises. Broader advice about sleep, diet and longer-term self-care was not added to the immediate guides.
— accessibility
Homepage header at enlarged text sizes
Adjusted the homepage header so its organisation link can wrap beneath the site name when text is enlarged, rather than being cut off on narrow screens. Tested the proposed layout locally on a Samsung phone at 200% text enlargement before publication. Updated the stylesheet reference and offline cache version to deliver the change. The five coping guides and their exercises were not changed.
More room for experiences that do not fit a single guide
Revised the “None of these fit” section on the Not sure what is happening? page to acknowledge that experiences can be difficult to describe or may overlap. The five guides remain the central starting points, and choosing a guide is optional. Added two research links explaining the rationale, with a note that the studies did not test this page. This is an evidence-informed navigation and wording change, not a new clinically validated exercise. The revised wording was subsequently confirmed visible on the live website on 3 November.
Sitewide review and outstanding checks
Reviewed the publicly retrievable homepage, five coping guides, Not sure page, privacy explanation, evidence-selection page and organisation information against repository content. The five-guide structure and distinctions between broader evidence and exact short exercises remain visible. Outstanding checks include contact-link fallback usability, real-device accessibility, offline/print behaviour and owner-only analytics/security verification. These checks are not recorded as passed without direct testing.
Consistent names in the route chooser
Aligned the five choice labels on the Not sure what is happening? page with the homepage and simplified the instruction for choosing between overlapping experiences. Descriptions and coping exercises were not changed. This was a navigation and wording update, not a new evidence review.
Usefulness votes remembered on return visits
Changed the “Was this page useful?” control to remember a successful answer for each coping route in the same browser across visits, rather than only during one tab session. This uses a local completion flag and does not collect visitor identifiers or individual voting histories. Private or cleared browser storage can still allow repeat votes. Previously recorded totals were not changed.
A quicker start on the homepage
Shortened the opening reassurance, tightened the spacing, and made the instruction a little more prominent so visitors can reach the coping choices sooner. The five choices and the coping guidance remain unchanged.
Less reading after something has happened
Shortened Something has happened so practical choices appear sooner. Simplified the optional “Now / Later” exercise to one or two items, reduced repeated reassurance, and replaced the closing script with permission to stop without a complete plan. Safety guidance and evidence notes remain unchanged. This was a wording and usability update, not a new evidence review.
Clearer feedback retry and offline guidance
If a usefulness vote cannot be sent, the page now says so clearly and lets visitors retry. If a guide has not been saved for offline use, the app shows an explanation instead of substituting the homepage for that guide. No changes were made to the coping exercises, evidence claims or urgent-help wording.
Consistency and safety maintenance
Aligned the missing-page (404) support message with the rest of the site and updated its stylesheet. Corrected sitemap modification dates, brought the print/PDF documentation into line with anonymous action counting, and expanded security regression tests for the private statistics page, sign-in and counters. The five coping exercises were not changed.
Private statistics excluded from browser visitor tracking
Applied a route-specific browser security policy to the owner statistics page to block the automatically injected Cloudflare Web Analytics beacon, without changing analytics on the public coping pages. Private dashboard openings do not create usefulness or guide-action events. Cloudflare’s broader HTTP request metrics are separate from Web Analytics visitor figures.
Private print and usefulness statistics
Added a bookmarkable, owner-only statistics page that brings existing “Was this page useful?” votes together with new anonymous counts of Print and Save PDF button presses. Counts are grouped by coping route and date, without visitor profiles or an external analytics service. The page uses a secure 30-day sign-in cookie, remains out of the public navigation, and clarifies that a print request is not a confirmed print job.
Support beyond the exercise
Added a small, optional reminder to My body won’t settle that changing something nearby can be useful when it is safe and possible. In There’s too much at once, clarified that support can help reduce demands, not just complete tasks. The first exercises remain unchanged.
Support that does not depend on a formal service
Simplified support wording throughout the site. It now encourages reaching out to someone trusted or a health professional if possible, without assuming organised peer-support services are available in every country. Emergency guidance remains clear.
More ways to seek support
Updated the support message to recognise trusted people and health professionals while keeping emergency services clearly identified for immediate danger or a medical emergency. The wording remains brief so it does not distract from the coping tools.
Later steps are optional
Clarified across all five tools that the later sections are optional. A visitor can stop after the first small step rather than feeling they must complete every exercise.
News and online updates within the existing steps
Moved the screen-related guidance in Something has happened into the few-minutes section. This keeps the guidance available when relevant, while preserving the simpler progression from immediate needs to later in the day.
A shorter homepage
Removed the “How coping.tools works” section because it repeated the introduction and took up too much space on phones. Moved the explanation of the routes, timing and short-term purpose to About, replacing an existing paragraph. Kept a brief reminder on the homepage that the tools do not replace medical or psychological care.
Update history added
Added this page and an “Update history” link in the footer, so you can see what has changed and understand the reasons behind it.
Gentler, more concrete wording
Refined wording across the five tools and the pages that help you choose and use them. Instructions place less pressure on reaching a particular feeling and make the next small step clearer.
A way back from printed guides
Added a short web address to each printed guide, so readers can find the online page and its evidence and guidance.
More consistent offline appearance
Updated offline storage to include the homepage’s current stylesheet, helping the installed site keep its appearance when there is no connection.
About review dates
An update may improve wording, layout or functionality. The “Last reviewed” date on each tool records when its evidence and guidance were last checked.