The Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) trains military and civilian behavioral health professionals to provide high-quality, culturally-sensitive, evidence-based behavioral health services to military personnel, veterans and their families.
Click here to download an informational flier about CDP
To date, there have been over 2.2 million deployments in support of the global war on terrorism and overseas contingency operations. To better fulfill the unmet deployment-related behavioral health needs of service members and their families, CDP, an innovative Department of Defense psychology training consortium, was established in 2006.
CDP is designed in a “hub-and-spoke” framework with the headquarters at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) in Bethesda, Maryland and satellite sites at each of the eleven military treatment facilities that house established American Psychological Association (APA)-accredited psychology internship programs. Under the direction of David Riggs, Ph.D., a nationally recognized expert in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), CDP has developed a series of training experiences to prepare mental health professionals to work with service members and families on deployment- related issues.
History
CDP was established in November, 2006 with a $3.4 million congressional appropriation spearheaded by Congressman C.W. Bill Young (R-FL). This initiative was greatly aided by Army, Navy and Air Force psychologists who drafted an agenda for the proposed center.
CDP was launched with a staff of six members and a broad mission to conduct training workshops and lectures to prepare professionals to effectively address the psychological stress and trauma that military service members and families face during deployment and when reintegrating service members after the deployment. CDP staff began developing training materials based on recommendations from the curriculum planning conference in September, 2006, and the initial two-week CDP training course was conducted at USUHS in January, 2007.
Training Programs
The training programs offered by CDP address psychological reactions throughout the deployment cycle. Courses generally include topics in four broad areas identified by military and civilian mental health professionals as particularly key to the care of service members and their families. The first of these core topics is the culture, expectations and experience of military deployment, including the reintegration with family and community upon return. The second area addresses issues of psychological trauma and resilience to include treatment of PTSD and other problematic responses to trauma and deployment. Third, training material pertaining to the provision of behavioral health care to individuals suffering from serious medical injuries and traumatic brain injury is presented. The fourth area addresses the unique impact of military deployment on family members, including children.
In an effort to adequately expand the availability of behavioral health clinicians who have been trained to address the needs of military personnel and their families, CDP training courses are made available to both military and civilian behavioral health professionals.
CDP staff members known as Deployment Behavioral Health Psychologists (DBHPs) are assigned to each of the 11 APA accredited, military psychology internship sites. These DBHPs function as an integral part of the internship training staff and have the mission of training tomorrow’s military psychologists and social workers in deployment- related psychological health and traumatic brain injury TBI issues. These staff members also work in the local communities to promote community involvement in service member reintegration and train local providers to work with service members and their families, enhancing the behavioral health services offered by the military treatment facility. The DBHPs act as regional subject matter experts and are often called upon to advise commanders and local leaders on deployment related behavioral health issues.
TRAINING PROGRAMS
Training for Military Providers
CDP offers a course entitled “Topics in Deployment Psychology” geared toward uniformed behavioral health care providers from all military branches. Attendees include military psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, physician assistants and clinical nurse practitioners. While many participants are established uniformed providers, attendees also include those performing internships or residencies.
The eight-day course is taught multiple tims a year by CDP staff and distinguished guest speakers with expertise in military behavioral health and deployment medicine. The program provides in-depth training on deployment- related psychological health issues facing service members, families and providers.
Training for Civilian Providers
In 2008, CDP staff developed a mobile, one-week course, “Addressing the Psychological Health of Warriors and their Families”, geared toward training civilian providers and bringing professionals working with service members together to build strong helping networks across the country.
The program is designed for civilian licensed mental health providers including psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists and marriage family therapists who treat military personnel, veterans and their families or plan to treat them in the near future. The course is offered up to eight times a year in various locations throughout the country and is designed to increase clinical competency to treat service members with behavioral health concerns through a better understanding of military culture and terminology; deployment risk factors and evidence-based approaches to assess and treat combat operational stress, PTSD, TBI, suicidal behavior, depression and sleep problems.
Training in Evidence-based Psychotherapies
CDP also offers two- and three-day mobile workshops that focus on training providers on specific empirically supported treatments to address some of the psychological health issues facing service members. These workshops include training in Prolonged Exposure Therapy and Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia. CDP recently introduced a workshop to train evidence-based psychotherapy protocols to treat suicide and is developing workshops to treat depression and substance abuse.
University Counseling Center Core Competency
University Counseling Center Core Competency (UC4) is a full-day workshop designed to address social, cultural, clinical and campus-specific concerns of service members and veterans. The program presents a comprehensive overview of the experience of military-connected individuals and includes day-to-day challenges, protective and risk factors and treatment of behavioral health concerns on campus. It includes specific discussion of campus outreach and planning and is designed for clinical mental health personnel including campus and regional community college providers. The program also includes information useful to non-clinical campus personnel who will interact with service members and veterans.
In 2013, CDP introduced the University Counseling Center Core Competency Extended Training (UC4e). This two-day workshop extends the offerings of the UC4 program to include in-depth training of Prolonged Exposure (PE) or Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT).
Star Behavioral Health Providers
The Indiana National Guard, National Guard Psychological Health Program, Military Family Research Institute and Indiana Family and Social Services Administration have joined together to create Star Behavioral Health Providers (SBHP), a registry that helps service members and those who care about them locate civilian behavioral health professionals with special training to understand and deal with military issues. The registry is also a comprehensive resource through which clinicians can gain the training to serve those who serve our country. In partnership with these organizations, CDP has developed and conducts training specific to the needs of military members and their families. Upon completion of the training program, clinicians will be listed on the SBHP provider registry. Since its pilot creation in Indiana, the program has expanded to Michigan and Georgia.
Military and Veteran Behavioral Health Post-Master’s Certificate Program
In collaboration with Widener University, CDP has established the Military and Veteran Behavioral Health Certificate Program to teach best clinical practices to mental health professionals who will address the psychological health needs of military personnel, veterans and their families.
This intensive program covers key topics identified by mental health experts in the field, such as military culture, the deployment cycle, combat trauma, suicidal risk, sleep problems, and blast-related TBI. The program is for civilian mental health professionals with at least a master’s degree who are actively treating, or plan to treat, the military and veteran population. Participants who successfully complete the program receive a certificate of completion directly from Widener University.
Law Enforcement Training
CDP conducts a training program specifically for law enforcement personnel. Titled Managing Crisis Situations with Veterans, the training is designed to educate law enforcement personnel about military culture, deployment, and reintegration and clinical challenges that veterans face including PTSD, traumatic brain injury, suicidal behavior and readjustment back into the family. The goal is to provide law enforcement personnel with increased awareness of the military mindset and experience, as well as to discuss unique considerations and strategies for assisting veterans so officers can resolve crisis situations positively.
Speakers Bureau
Often, CDP is approached by organizations to provide training, keynote addresses or consultations that are within CDP’s scope of expertise, but outside the organization’s grant-funded mission. These requests are handled through the Speakers Bureau. The Speakers Bureau partners with external agencies to provide training to civilian mental health providers who are not eligible to attend other CDP workshops. These presentations provide civilian providers the opportunity to become culturally competent in providing behavioral health care to service members, veterans and their families. The presentations also increase awareness and familiarity with evidence-based psychotherapy protocols to treat military and veteran populations.
ONLINE SERVICES
Online Learning
CDP offers online courses on military culture; deployment stress on families; provider self-care; PTSD; evidence-based treatment approaches for PTSD; TBI and other deployment related topics. These courses can be taken for free or for continuing education credits for a fee. In addition to online courses, CDP offers webinars and podcasts related to deployment psychology.
Provider Support
The CDP website includes a “provider portal,” a password-protected area available to clinicians who have completed CDP training in evidence-based psychotherapies. This area of the website offers clinicians the opportunity to receive consultation from CDP experts on the treatment of one or more of the following behavioral conditions: depression; suicide; marital or family problems; insomnia; and substance abuse. The provider portal also allows clinicians to collaborate with their peers on the treatment of service members, veterans and families.
Resources and Outreach
CDP provides an online platform for disseminating deployment-related information of interest to behavioral health care providers. This includes information pages about topics of interest; book descriptions; articles of potential use to clinicians; tools for providers trained to use CDP treatments; and links to other useful tools such as the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense (VA/DoD) Clinical Practice Guidelines.
PROVIDER CONSULTATION
Online Consultation
CDP offers online consultation for clinicians trained in evidence-based psychotherapies. Online consultation is offered on the CDP website through the provider portal. The CDP-moderated message board allows clinicians to share questions regarding their use of evidence-based practices and to collaborate with their peers globally. Also, CDP offers an email consultation service where subject matter experts respond to questions posed by clinicians.
Telephone Consultation
Scheduled telephone consultation is offered by CDP subject matter experts. Clinicians are invited to discuss their use of evidence-based treatment approaches and gain additional support and guidance.
Consultation Workshops
CDP also offers workshops where providers trained in evidence-based treatment approaches learn skills to provide consultation to others learning these treatments including strategies to promote skill mastery and the implementation of evidence-based psychotherapies.