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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Creating Home in a Community-Based Art Therapy Program
Recently a veteran referred to our studio as a “second home.” He was referring to an art therapy program I had an opportunity to develop 4 years ago at a community-based organization for veterans in Rochester, NY, Veterans Outreach Center, Inc. During its first year the program more than...
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Accepting Recovery and Coming Home: Integrated Practices for Addiction Treatment with Veterans
Since September 11th, 2001, about 2.5 million members of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard and related Reserve and National Guard units have been deployed in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Of those, more than a third were deployed more than once; nearly 37,000 Americans had been...
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A Bridge to Employment for Veterans
While SUS was recruiting for the pilot ‘Tug and Barge’ program run through SUNY Maritime College, John Lang was referred for screening as a candidate. Mr. Lang, a former Army Avionic Mechanic honorably discharged after 6 years of service, had fallen on difficult times which forced him to...
