Caring for Veterans at the End of Life

Program Description:
Combat soldiers have frequently seen the worst mankind has to offer. War changes them in fundamental ways, inflicting
emotional, spiritual, social, and moral injuries that impact them throughout their lives, sometimes making it difficult
to come to terms with impending death. Specialized care is often needed in addressing the unique challenges that
confront veterans at end of life. This workshop educates professional caregivers about the end-of-life needs of veterans
and provides tools and techniques for working with this population. The presentation is divided into three sessions:
• Wounded Warriors: Their Last Battle
• Heroes Among Us
• Prognosis: The Good, the Bad and the Irrelevant

Date: Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Where: SEAHEC
2511 Delaney Avenue
Wilmington NC
Time: 9:00am-4:30pm (Registration- 8:30-9:00am)

For the full brochure and registration form, please click below.

  Caring for Veterans at the End of Life (50.2 KiB, 13 hits)

The North Carolina AHEC and Citizen Soldier Support Program presents:
ISSUES OF WOMEN RETURNING FROM COMBAT

Program Description:
Women military service members returning from deployment to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan face gender-specific readjustment issues as they transition back to their local communities. This full-day workshop will provide an overview of the health/mental health concerns of women veterans within the context of military culture, gender-specific roles, available support resources and effective treatments.
Wilmington    February 20
Asheville    March 24                                         Speakers:
Greensboro    March 31
Wilson    April 19                                               Harold Kudler, MD
Fayetteville    April 22                                        Elizabeth Marks
Raleigh    May 6                                                 Lt. CDR. Erin Simmons, PhD
Winston-Salem    May 14                                  Kristy Straits-Troster, PhD, ABPP
Greenville    May 27
Charlotte    June 2

Target Audience: Psychologists, therapists, counselors, social workers, substance abuse counselors, marriage and family therapists, psychiatric nurses, case managers, clergy, child care coordinators, school personnel, other healthcare professionals who provide services to female service members and their families.

For the full brochure and registration form, please click below:

  Issues of Women Returning from Combat (262.0 KiB, 24 hits)

Cognitive Processing Therapy: Two-day Training for Treating PTSD
Led by Patricia A. Resick, Ph.D
March 25 and 26, 2010
Institute for Disaster Mental Health at SUNY New Paltz
Sponsored by the New York State Office of Mental Health

One of the most effective evidence-based treatments for PTSD is Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), a 12-session cognitive behavioral treatment. CPT is predominantly a cognitive therapy that can be implemented with or without a smaller exposure component than imaginal exposure therapy and is therefore more acceptable to many clients and practitioners seeking alternatives to purely exposure-focused treatments. It also directly targets associated problems such as depression, guilt, and anger. Originally developed for rape and sexual assault, CPT has been successfully applied to veterans, refugees, and survivors of other traumas.

This two-day professional training in CPT will be led by its developer, Patricia A. Resick, Ph.D. Dr. Resick is the Director of the Women’s Health Sciences Division of the National Center for PTSD at the VA Boston Healthcare System, a Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at Boston University, and the 2009 President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Completion of this training will prepare practitioners to implement CPT with trauma survivors, and will provide attendees with practical and useful materials and resources on using CPT with survivors of specific types of trauma, such as those who experienced combat, sexual assault, or the suicide of a loved one.

Click here for the Webcast Training Information:  http://www.newpaltz.edu/idmh/webcast_hosting.pdf

Online Training in CBT Skills for PTSD Treatment: Research Project Launching in September 2009

Useful Training!

• CEUs
• Self-paced
• Interactive
• Focused on 3 key components of CBT

To be eligible you must be:

• A Mental Health Clinician
• A Full time VHA or Vet Center employee
• A Clinician who treats veterans with PTSD
• Able to use the web at work or at home
• Willing to consent to the research study

*Your employement will not be affected in any way regardless of wheather or not you participate.
*Your individual information will be kept strictly confidential.

For more information contact:         Project PI:
Donn Garvert                                      Josef Ruzek
Clinical Project Coordinator                 Director, Dissemination and Training Division
National Center for PTSD                    National Center for PTSD
VA Paolo Alto Health Care System      VA Palo Alto Health Care System
donn.garvet@va.gov

For general information about participants rights, contact 866-680-2960.

Visit http://study.neriscience.com/ptsd/intro to sign up.

Information for Counselors at Institutions of Higher Education
(http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/College/index.asp):

• Recommended training:
  • Operation S.A.V.E. (suicide prevention education):  http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/College/index.asp
  • PTSD 101, a web-based educational resource developed by the National Center for PTSD: http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/ptsd101/

• New training
  • Helping Students who Drink Too Much, online course developed by the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse: http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/Publications/EducationTrainingMaterials/CME_CE.htm

• Resources
  • Student resources:  http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/MENTALHEALTH/College/students.asp
  • Veterans Resource Guide for Student Veterans:  http://www.studentveterans.org/resourcelibrary/documents/Veteran_Resource_Guide.pdf
  • Student Veterans of America:  http://www.studentveterans.org/

Treating the Invisible Wounds of War – FREE ONLINE TRAINING!!
www.aheconnect.com/citizensolider
Veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) in Iraq may seek help from civilian primary care and mental health providers.

This course assists practitioners to provide better care for these patients by understanding the specific needs of returning veterans, their families, and the services available to them.

• Identify strategies for establishing and maintaining a therapeutic alliance with combat veterans and their families by examining military structure and culture and the combat experience.
• Examine the current knowledge of trauma and PTSD and how it is unique to military personnel.
• Identify frames of mental health assessment and treatment options for military personnel.
• Identify how family relationships are impacted by mobilization, deployment, and redeployment.
• Identify services available for veterans and their families, including those provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and TRICARE

Operation S.A.V.E. (Suicide Prevention Education)
There is a recommended training by the Department of Veterans Affairs.  www.mentalhealth.va.gov/College/

PTSD 101
A web based educational resource developed by the National Center for PTSD.  www.ncptsd.va.gov/ptsd101/

Guide for Returning Service Personnel:
Developed by the Alabama Returning Veterans Committee, the
Reintegration Action Plan provides information on readjusting to civilian life and a tool for returning service personnel to map out a personal action plan (http://www.alabamareturningveterans.org/).