The Governor’s Summit on Returning Combat Veterans and their Families is the beginning of a partnership between State and Federal Government, community providers, and programs. It is also the beginning of an ongoing process in which mental health and substance abuse service needs of veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) will be identified and addressed through specific recommendations and concrete plans and time lines. By exchanging information about their respective agencies’ assets and goals and identifying strategic partnerships, Summit attendees began the work of articulating an integrated continuum of care that emphasizes access, quality, effectiveness, efficiency, and compassion. Principles of resilience, prevention, and recovery were emphasized along with state-of-the-art clinical services as part of a balanced public health approach. The product envisioned is a referral network of informational, supportive, clinical, and administrative services that will comprise a system through which citizens of North Carolina will have access to postdeployment readjustment assistance for veterans and their families.

While content presentations were the focus of the morning, four discussion groups were conducted simultaneously in the afternoon. Each discussion group issued specific recommendations, which are outlined below:

Discussion Group #1: Identifying available resources for combat veterans and their families

• Train STR (Screening, Triage, and Referral) staff, CARE-LINE staff, and potential providers throughout the state.
• Develop a visual road map for each service system.
• Identify a named point-of-contact within each service system [e.g., Department of Veterans Administration (VA), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Department of Labor (DOL), and Department of Public Instruction (DPI)] so that combat veterans and their families may easily access the system (concept of “no wrong door”).

Discussion Group #2: Ensuring engagement and support of combat veterans and their families

• Develop a seamless transition plan across agencies to enable service providers’ provision of the right information to the right person at the right time.
• Proactively conduct outreach, where simple, clear messages in multiple formats are provided to combat veterans and their families.
• Suggest Public Relations campaign to alert veterans to resources available in the system (e.g., billboards, posters).

Discussion Group #3: Enhancing resiliency and improving readjustment

• Request that the Governor write personalized letters to veterans and their family members expressing appreciation for their service to our country, identifying a select set of access information and charging them with a new mission in the service of the state and their local communities.
• Develop and disseminate informational pocket cards for veterans and their families and for health and behavioral health care providers.
• Effectively utilize care managers to work with service members and their families over time.

Discussion Group #4: Accessing formal mental health services

• Provide training at all levels coordinated with the best practice models identified by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and in the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) systems. Use resources identified in the DoD and VA systems for training in the public system.
• Work with all stakeholders, connecting existing resources.
• Expand the Citizen-Soldier Support Program throughout the state.
• Work with the university system, Area Health Education Centers, and other partners to develop and disseminate products and educate primary care and behavioral health care personnel.
• Work with the University of North Carolina (UNC) Health Information (Medical Library Services) to disseminate relevant information to veterans and their families as well as to health and behavioral health providers.

  Veteran's Summit Final Report (778.1 KiB, 260 hits)