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Conference Focuses Ways To Better Help Veterans
August 14, 2008
As we’ve wrote here often, behavioral health difficulties are one of the “injuries” we’re seeing come out of Iraq and Afghanistan. In a three day conference in Bethesda, Maryland, that began Tuesday, mental health issues were center stage. The conference, called “Paving the Road Home: The National Behavioral Health Conference and Policy Academy on Returning Veterans and Their Families,” is a collaborative effort of Defense and Veterans Affairs, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
“This … conference and policy academy is really designed, overall, to help states and territories and the District of Columbia think about new approaches, particularly approaches that blend expertise and resources from multiple contributors,” said Kathryn Power, director of SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services. “It’s going to provide framework to consider different approaches, dialogue with colleagues, and work toward a unified plan that they can take to their states to ensure that veterans have the [mental health] services they need and want.”1
This type of care is much needed. Military, VA and civilian care providers have been overwhelmed at the numbers of cases of PTSD and other behavioral issues coming out of the combat zones, with most of the agencies not having the staff numbers available to deal with those numbers. That has resulted in Soldiers sometimes having to wait several months for much needed care. However, it is something that the Department of Defense is very aware of and is taking measures to remedy.
One of the ways that they’re approaching the problems is by creating the Defense Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, which is headed by former Fort Hood Darnall Army Medical Center commander, Army Brig. Gen. (Dr.) Loree Sutton. Ground was broken for the new center in June of this year. It’s Army Brig. Gen. (Dr.) Loree Sutton’s goal to ensure that returning Soldiers, suffering from PTSD and TBI’s receive the best care that is humanly possible. Knowing her track record at Fort Hood, I’m sure that she’ll succeed in her mission.
“We’ve come up with a ‘center of centers’ concept because we’ve realized that none of us have all of the answers,” Sutton said. “We brought in four existing centers that have been doing great work for a long time.”2
The Center For Excellence will incorporate expertise from several existing centers, which are, Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, the Center for Deployment Psychology, the Deployment Health Clinical Center and the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress.
One thing discussed at the conference, which has long been a roadblock in ensuring that Soldiers receive the mental health care that they need, is the stigma that has always been attached to a Soldier seeking mental health help. In the past, Soldiers who did so, were ostracized and were treated as if they were weak. Changing the mindset, is probably one of the most difficult tasks ahead. It’s one of the things that military leaders are working on constantly, encouraging Troops to seek the help they need and continuing to do so, to hopefully help reduce that stigma.
The conference continues through today. Additional topics will include financing the costs of care, and additional issues surrounding this complex problem. Hopefully leaders will walk away from the conference with some very real solutions and be able to implement those solutions as soon as possible.
- http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50782 [↩]
- http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50782 [↩]
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[...] JobBot wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAs we’ve wrote here often, behavioral health difficulties are one of the “injuries” we’re seeing come out of Iraq and Afghanistan. In a three day conference in Bethesda, Maryland, that began Tuesday, mental health issues were center … [...]