-
Black Veterans’ Silent Battle with Mental Health and Addiction Is Costing Lives
When I returned from serving my country, I was a different person. My kids noticed I was distant, and I turned to alcohol and the party life to cope. Years of service had taken a toll on my mental health, and I no longer recognized the man in the mirror. For many veterans like me, the trauma and...
-
Community Mental Health Promotion and Support Team Helps Older Adults Thrive
CEC Health Care operates a Community Mental Health Promotion and Support (COMHPS) team that provides emotional support, wellness activities, screenings, and referrals to treatment in Western Nassau County. A multi-disciplinary team of licensed mental health professionals and paraprofessionals seeks...
-
New Tool Deployed to Help Veterans: Supported Recovery Training and Certification
The prevalence of suicide, addiction to alcohol and other drugs, homelessness, unemployment, incarceration, physical and mental health challenges, and the need for health and social services is disproportionate among Veterans compared to the general population. Among Veterans, one in six who served...
-
Supporting Veterans and Families in Conquering PTSD
As the echoes of war fade, a different kind of battle wages on for many courageous veterans who return home. An estimated 6% of US adults, or 6 out every 100 people, will be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), at some point in their lifetime. In veterans, it increases to 7 out of...
-
The Hidden Effects of Combat-Related PTSD on Spouses
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (2014) reported that approximately 20% of service members who served in Iraq or Afghanistan developed combat-related PTSD. Mental health issues following combat tours are not exclusive to service members. de Burgh et al. (2011) stated that spouses of service...
-
The Silent Battlefront of Veteran Suicide and the Measures Being Taken to Help Them
On Friday, May 30th, 2014, I woke up to one of the most devastating phone calls I’ve ever received. My best friend for almost a decade, Joshua Drury, who was in his mid-thirties at the time, had taken his life. Joshua had served many years in the U.S. Army prior to our meeting. While he told us...
-
From Hopeless and Homeless to Hopeful and HomeBound
The term “Homeless Veteran” should be an oxymoron. No Veteran of our armed services should return to a civilian life that doesn’t include a permanent home and the appropriate supports needed to successfully reintegrate back into society, but some do. According to the 2014 Annual Homeless...
-
Returning Veterans and Readjustment
While most individuals successfully transition from military to civilian life, a certain number do not – often leading to confrontations with clinicians, law enforcement and the criminal justice system. Understanding these individuals goes a long way towards preventing encounters from...
-
Fighting for Our Nation’s Veterans
Family members have a unique role to play in the mental health of our nation’s veterans. With the current system overwhelmed by mental health service needs and unable to provide adequate access, family members serve at the critical front line of our veteran’s mental health needs and are the...
-
Innovative Treatment Choices for the Military Family
The military family system deserves to be given easy access to the most outstanding clinical treatments that we now have to offer. We are in the process of developing novel psychotherapeutic interventions for the heroes that have taken on the duty of defending our country with honor, commitment and...
