NATIONAL VETERANS FOUNDATION TO SPONSOR NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON COMBAT STRESS INJURY
Newswire Services
January 31, 2007
Shad Meshad to join Military Leaders, Academics and Veteran Service Providers at Florida State University to discuss innovations in mental healthcare for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans.
Los Angeles: The National Veterans Foundation has announced that it will co-sponsor the 2nd Annual “National Symposium on Combat Stress Injuries: Addressing the Challenges, Explaining the Solutions, and Managing the Injuries,” on February 16th at the campus of Florida State University in Tallahassee.
Hosted by the Florida State Traumatology Institute, the symposium is designed to encourage wider understanding about the barriers to care and proven treatment models for veterans dealing with emotional and psychological scars, and to foster greater collaboration between the military, private clinicians, academics, and veterans service providers----each of whom play a vital role in helping warfighters recover and thrive after their combat experiences.
Well over a dozen of the world’s leading researchers and practitioners in the field of military mental health will present research findings at this year’s event---including FSU Traumatology Institute Director Dr. Charles Figley, Marine Corps Operational Stress Control and Readiness (OSCAR) Program Director Captain William Nash, the University of Tel Aviv’s award winning PTSD researcher Dr. Zahava Solomon, and University of Southern California’s virtual reality innovator Professor Skip Rizzo.
Topics ranging from the military’s role in detection and management of mental health problems on the battlefield, who, why and when certain soldiers are affected, the use of innovative virtual reality tools in treating PTSD, Post-Deployment Health Assessment for military personnel, secondary trauma in the children of veterans, the effect of PTSD on veterans who commit criminal acts, treatment models for veterans suffering from combat stress injury , and the unique challenges facing deployed citizen soldiers—guardsman and reservists, will all be covered during this day long event.
NVF President Shad Meshad, who is a Vietnam Veteran, Licensed Social Worker, founder of the VA’s Vet Center Program, and one of the nation’s foremost experts in the diagnosis and treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, will serve on a reaction panel of experts that includes the Executive Director of the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs, COSC Coordinator of the U.S. Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, the former Director of all Mental Health Services in Al-Anbar Province for Multinational Forces-Iraq, and the Consulting Psychiatrist for the Canadian Forces Health Services Centre, among others.
As with their predecessors, we know that the newest generation of veterans, as well as their families, will be coping with the lasting scars of combat for many years to come,” noted Meshad. “Researchers and service providers, both inside and outside of government, must work together to share what we have learned, and direct our efforts towards creating the most effective triage and treatment methods possible. Ultimately, collaborations like this hold the key to better understanding of the problem, and better results for veterans and their families.”
Recent Pentagon and US Dept. of Veterans Affairs reports have shown that roughly one in three newly returning Iraq/Afghanistan veterans face some form of combat stress injury, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD and other combat stress injuries have been linked to a host of other readjustment problems for veterans as well as their families: including alarming rates of suicide, substance abuse, incarceration, homelessness, family and employment problems.
For more information on the symposium, scheduled presenters, and registration information, please click here.
Los Angeles: The National Veterans Foundation has announced that it will co-sponsor the 2nd Annual “National Symposium on Combat Stress Injuries: Addressing the Challenges, Explaining the Solutions, and Managing the Injuries,” on February 16th at the campus of Florida State University in Tallahassee.
Hosted by the Florida State Traumatology Institute, the symposium is designed to encourage wider understanding about the barriers to care and proven treatment models for veterans dealing with emotional and psychological scars, and to foster greater collaboration between the military, private clinicians, academics, and veterans service providers----each of whom play a vital role in helping warfighters recover and thrive after their combat experiences.
Well over a dozen of the world’s leading researchers and practitioners in the field of military mental health will present research findings at this year’s event---including FSU Traumatology Institute Director Dr. Charles Figley, Marine Corps Operational Stress Control and Readiness (OSCAR) Program Director Captain William Nash, the University of Tel Aviv’s award winning PTSD researcher Dr. Zahava Solomon, and University of Southern California’s virtual reality innovator Professor Skip Rizzo.
Topics ranging from the military’s role in detection and management of mental health problems on the battlefield, who, why and when certain soldiers are affected, the use of innovative virtual reality tools in treating PTSD, Post-Deployment Health Assessment for military personnel, secondary trauma in the children of veterans, the effect of PTSD on veterans who commit criminal acts, treatment models for veterans suffering from combat stress injury , and the unique challenges facing deployed citizen soldiers—guardsman and reservists, will all be covered during this day long event.
NVF President Shad Meshad, who is a Vietnam Veteran, Licensed Social Worker, founder of the VA’s Vet Center Program, and one of the nation’s foremost experts in the diagnosis and treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, will serve on a reaction panel of experts that includes the Executive Director of the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs, COSC Coordinator of the U.S. Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, the former Director of all Mental Health Services in Al-Anbar Province for Multinational Forces-Iraq, and the Consulting Psychiatrist for the Canadian Forces Health Services Centre, among others.
As with their predecessors, we know that the newest generation of veterans, as well as their families, will be coping with the lasting scars of combat for many years to come,” noted Meshad. “Researchers and service providers, both inside and outside of government, must work together to share what we have learned, and direct our efforts towards creating the most effective triage and treatment methods possible. Ultimately, collaborations like this hold the key to better understanding of the problem, and better results for veterans and their families.”
Recent Pentagon and US Dept. of Veterans Affairs reports have shown that roughly one in three newly returning Iraq/Afghanistan veterans face some form of combat stress injury, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD and other combat stress injuries have been linked to a host of other readjustment problems for veterans as well as their families: including alarming rates of suicide, substance abuse, incarceration, homelessness, family and employment problems.
For more information on the symposium, scheduled presenters, and registration information, please click here.
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