Blog posts with the tag "Service Members"

Staff Perspective: Updated VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of PTSD (Part One)

In late 2017, the Department of Veterans Affairs in conjunction with the Department of Defense published an update to their practice guidelines for the management of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This two-part blog will highlight the major recommendations of the new practice guideline: part one will focus on recommendations for screening and assessment and part two will focus on treatment considerations. Although we hope that these blogs help to clarify the major elements of the new guideline, we strongly suggest that all clinicians review the guideline for themselves.

Staff Perspective: The Importance of Veterans Sharing Their Stories

April Thompson, LCSW

I began thinking about the issue of Veterans talking about their military experiences after watching a 2014 TED talk titled “How to talk to Veterans about war.” In this talk, Wes Moore (an Army Veteran) suggested that when he returned from an overseas combat tour, he wanted people to ask him about his experiences and ask how he was doing and what his transition back to the US was like for him. He said many people were hesitant to ask questions which led him to feel that his service wasn’t acknowledged and that people didn’t care.

Staff Perspective: Resources for Wounded Warriors

Kelly Chrestman, Ph.D.

I like to be helpful. It’s one of the reasons I became a psychologist. You could say it’s my mission. Sometimes I get a phone call or an email from a distant relation, a friend, an acquaintance, or even a resourceful stranger who found my name on a website or blog. These people often have questions about psychotherapy.

Staff Perspective: Veterans and Surfing

Laura Cho-Stutler, Psy.D.

Depledge & Bird (2009) described the “blue gym” as an approach to promote well-being through being active in water environments such as surfing, kayaking, swimming, or walking along the beach. Being active can be stimulated by being near natural water. Stronger communities, stress reduction, and increased physical activity are three benefits from regular contact with natural environments. The blue gym helps us to connect to each other and the value of nature and our aquatic environments. There are some recent reports looking at the positive impact of surfing on PTSD symptoms for Veterans.

By the Numbers: 2 October 2017

By the Numbers Graphic

73%

The percentage of active duty Service men and women who reported experiencing a sexual assault in 2016 who said that the assault happened at a "military location," according to a new report from the Congressional Research Service, Military Sexual Assault: A Framework for Congressional Oversight. Additionally, 12% of women and 18% of men said the assault occurred "while at an official military function."

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