Deployment Psychology Blog

Staff Perspective: Combatting Suicide After Suicide Prevention Awareness Month

Jennifer Nevers, LCSW

Suicide Prevention Awareness Month may have officially ended but the efforts being taken by the DoD continue to take shape. In March of 2022, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the establishment of the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee (SPRIRC). The final report from the committee was released in February of this year and outlined specific recommendations on how the DoD can improve suicide prevention efforts in areas such as treatment access, training and education, public awareness campaigns, behavioral health staffing, research, and DoD policy and regulatory issues as a whole (Iwamasa et al., 2023).

Research Update: 5 October 2023

The weekly Research Update contains the latest news, journal articles, and useful links from around the web. Some of this week's topics include:
● Associations of active-duty mental health trajectories with post-military adjustment: Results from the STARRS Longitudinal Study.
● Suicide Risks of Health Care Workers in the US.
● Impairment and Disability Identity and Perceptions of Trust, Respect, and Fairness.

Practically Speaking: Behind the Episode - Group UP! Transdiagnostic Group Treatment Using Unified Protocol

Dr. Kevin Holloway

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about significant challenges for healthcare systems worldwide, with behavioral health services being particularly overwhelmed by the increased demand for mental health support. Even before the pandemic, many behavioral health clinics throughout the Military Healthcare System (MHS) and in the civilian sector were contending with increased demand for services beyond the capacity of the system to provide them. Traditional models of therapy rooted in 45- or 50-min individual therapy sessions, while appropriate in many situations and presentations, are not what everyone needs.

Research Update: 28 September 2023

The weekly Research Update contains the latest news, journal articles, and useful links from around the web. Some of this week's topics include:

  • Military-Connected Children With Special Health Care Needs and Their Families: A Literature Review.
  • Decreasing alcohol use among young adults presenting for service in the U.S. Air Force: An epidemiological surveillance study.
  • Widening the scope of intensive treatment for PTSD in the military health system.
  • Leadership perspectives on facilitators and barriers to sustaining evidence-based prevention interventions in the United States Military.

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