Staff Perspective: Same Mission. Stronger Partnerships. A New Chapter for CDP.
On 1 June 2026, the Center for Deployment Psychology officially becomes the Consortium for Defense Psychology, continuing to use the acronym CDP while embracing a name that better reflects who we are today and where we are headed tomorrow.
While our name is evolving, our mission remains unchanged.
For nearly 20 years, CDP has worked to strengthen the readiness, resilience, and well-being of Service members, veterans, and their families by preparing the mental health professionals, technicians, and leaders who support them. Through training, education, implementation support, consultation, and innovation, we have remained committed to ensuring that military-connected populations receive high-quality, evidence-informed mental health care that reflects the unique realities of military service.
The transition from Center to Consortium recognizes something that has always been true about CDP: our work has never been accomplished alone.
Over the years, CDP has built enduring alliances across the Department of War, the Department of Veterans Affairs, academia, healthcare systems, and nonprofit organizations. Today, these collaborations are more important than ever as military mental health challenges grow increasingly complex and interconnected.
Our work continues in close partnership with organizations including the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Defense Health Agency (DHA), the National Guard Bureau, and the Department of War’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO). We are also proud to collaborate with our Military Child and Family Collaboratory partners, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Georgetown University, the University of Minnesota, Virtua Health, and the Uniformed Services University’s Departments of Pediatrics and Family Medicine, to improve care and support for military-connected children and families.
At the same time, CDP is strengthening its collaboration with the Uniformed Services University’s Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology. This partnership will further enhance our ability to evaluate outcomes, support implementation efforts, translate research into practice, and ensure our training remains grounded in both operational relevance and scientific rigor.
In many ways, the new name reflects both continuity and growth.
Same initials.
Same commitment.
Stronger partnerships.
As we look toward the future, CDP is renewing and expanding its focus on preparing the military mental health workforce to meet emerging operational demands. This includes identifying, developing, and delivering targeted training and implementation support related to operational stress, wartime mental health needs, suicide prevention, resilience, and Combat and Operational Stress Control (COSC).
Military readiness depends not only on the readiness of the warfighter, but also on the readiness of the professionals and leaders who support them. Mental health providers, technicians, chaplains, medics, commanders, and prevention personnel all play a critical role in sustaining force health and operational effectiveness. CDP remains committed to supporting that broader readiness mission through practical, evidence-informed education and collaboration.
As we celebrate 20 years of service in 2026, we are proud of what has been built alongside our many partners and colleagues. From our earliest days as a tri-service training initiative to our current role as a national hub for military mental health education, CDP has consistently evolved to meet the changing needs of the military community.
The next chapter will require innovation, partnership, adaptability, and resolve and we are ready for it.
The Consortium for Defense Psychology represents more than a new name. It reflects a renewed commitment to collaboration, to scientific and operational excellence, and to the people we ultimately serve: Service members, veterans, and their families.
We are grateful to everyone who has been part of the first 20 years of CDP, and we look forward to building the future together.
The opinions in CDP Staff Perspective blogs are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science or the Department of Defense.
William Brim, Psy.D., is the executive director of the Consortium for Defense Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. He joined CDP in 2007, initially as a deployment behavioral health psychologist at Malcolm Grow Medical Center and served as deputy director until 2017. Prior to joining CDP, Dr. Brim served on active duty as a psychologist in the United States Air Force from 1997 to 2007.
On 1 June 2026, the Center for Deployment Psychology officially becomes the Consortium for Defense Psychology, continuing to use the acronym CDP while embracing a name that better reflects who we are today and where we are headed tomorrow.
While our name is evolving, our mission remains unchanged.
For nearly 20 years, CDP has worked to strengthen the readiness, resilience, and well-being of Service members, veterans, and their families by preparing the mental health professionals, technicians, and leaders who support them. Through training, education, implementation support, consultation, and innovation, we have remained committed to ensuring that military-connected populations receive high-quality, evidence-informed mental health care that reflects the unique realities of military service.
The transition from Center to Consortium recognizes something that has always been true about CDP: our work has never been accomplished alone.
Over the years, CDP has built enduring alliances across the Department of War, the Department of Veterans Affairs, academia, healthcare systems, and nonprofit organizations. Today, these collaborations are more important than ever as military mental health challenges grow increasingly complex and interconnected.
Our work continues in close partnership with organizations including the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Defense Health Agency (DHA), the National Guard Bureau, and the Department of War’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO). We are also proud to collaborate with our Military Child and Family Collaboratory partners, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Georgetown University, the University of Minnesota, Virtua Health, and the Uniformed Services University’s Departments of Pediatrics and Family Medicine, to improve care and support for military-connected children and families.
At the same time, CDP is strengthening its collaboration with the Uniformed Services University’s Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology. This partnership will further enhance our ability to evaluate outcomes, support implementation efforts, translate research into practice, and ensure our training remains grounded in both operational relevance and scientific rigor.
In many ways, the new name reflects both continuity and growth.
Same initials.
Same commitment.
Stronger partnerships.
As we look toward the future, CDP is renewing and expanding its focus on preparing the military mental health workforce to meet emerging operational demands. This includes identifying, developing, and delivering targeted training and implementation support related to operational stress, wartime mental health needs, suicide prevention, resilience, and Combat and Operational Stress Control (COSC).
Military readiness depends not only on the readiness of the warfighter, but also on the readiness of the professionals and leaders who support them. Mental health providers, technicians, chaplains, medics, commanders, and prevention personnel all play a critical role in sustaining force health and operational effectiveness. CDP remains committed to supporting that broader readiness mission through practical, evidence-informed education and collaboration.
As we celebrate 20 years of service in 2026, we are proud of what has been built alongside our many partners and colleagues. From our earliest days as a tri-service training initiative to our current role as a national hub for military mental health education, CDP has consistently evolved to meet the changing needs of the military community.
The next chapter will require innovation, partnership, adaptability, and resolve and we are ready for it.
The Consortium for Defense Psychology represents more than a new name. It reflects a renewed commitment to collaboration, to scientific and operational excellence, and to the people we ultimately serve: Service members, veterans, and their families.
We are grateful to everyone who has been part of the first 20 years of CDP, and we look forward to building the future together.
The opinions in CDP Staff Perspective blogs are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science or the Department of Defense.
William Brim, Psy.D., is the executive director of the Consortium for Defense Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. He joined CDP in 2007, initially as a deployment behavioral health psychologist at Malcolm Grow Medical Center and served as deputy director until 2017. Prior to joining CDP, Dr. Brim served on active duty as a psychologist in the United States Air Force from 1997 to 2007.