PTSD/Substance Abuse Committee
The PTSD/SA Committee has been hard at work during the past 12 months. What follows is a partial list of the committee's accomplishments and initiatives.
The committee's "Policy and Procedures" document was approved unanimously at the April VVA Board of Directors meeting.
The committee sponsored a nationwide PTSD poster contest in which 13 people submitted entries. The winning entry will be selected by the end of October.
Since February, 55,000 copies of the PTSD tri-fold brochure have been printed. More than 50,000 have been distributed around the country with the help of VVA's Council of State Council Presidents, VVA Service Officers, and the national VVA office staff. The most innovative distribution effort was initiated by Mokie Porter, national office Committee Liaison, who gave a box of the brochures to airline attendants staying at the Sheraton Hotel in Nashville during the VVA National Leadership Conference in August. She asked the flight attendants to distribute the brochures to our returning Iraq and Afghan troops.
The committee sponsored a presentation at the Leadership Conference. More than a hundred conference participants attended Dr. Joe Boscarino's presentation, "Exposure to Combat, PTSD, & Future Medical Problems: The Health Impact of Military Service for Vietnam Veterans." In addition to giving a great seminar, Boscarino was honored with a VVA life membership in recognition of his 20-year history of groundbreaking health care research focusing on Vietnam veterans.
With the assistance of national office staff member Carol Engle, the committee's web page is now up and running as part of the VVA web site at www.vva.org The web page contains minutes and reports from PTSD/SA Committee meetings; links to important articles such as the study reported in the July 1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine about PTSD and our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan; announcements of events; the committee's "mission statement"; and links to other organizations and agencies that specialize in PTSD, mental-health, and substance-abuse issues. In addition, VVA's "Self-help Guide on PTSD" and the "You're Not Crazy" tri-fold brochure can now be downloaded directly from the web page.
The committee also continued its efforts to build partnerships with other organizations to identify the priority mental-health and substance-abuse issues affecting America's veterans. For example, the chair participated in a panel discussion at the 25th Anniversary Conference of the National Association on Mental Illness in early September where he addressed the decline in VA funding for these issues. In July, the chair presented a program, "Domestic Violence and PTSD," to counselors attending the Vet Centers' annual Region 3A Counselors Training session in Atlanta.
The chair also was recently appointed to serve as the veterans' representative to the VA's Substance Use Disorder Group of the Quality Enhancement Research Initiative Executive Committee, which provides input on VA substance-abuse programs directly to Secretary Principi and his deputies. In addition, the committee is investigating funding opportunities and collaborative research projects with several other agencies and individuals on suicide prevention, crisis management, and other mental health- related programs that incorporate the concept of training veterans to care for veterans.
These accomplishments are due to the commitment, support, and teamwork of committee members. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of them for their dedication and hard work.
Chair: Tom Berger. Members: Dottie Barickman, Liz Cannon, Tony Catapano, Bob
Corsa, Marsha Four, Larry Goucher, Bob Maras, Sandy Miller, Johnny Pancrazio, Fr. Phil Salois, Jim Shott, and Dave Whaley. Special Advisers: Dee Hagge, Mary Miller, Anne Pancrazio, and Nancy Switzer. Staff Liaison: Mokie Porter.
The committee's "Policy and Procedures" document was approved unanimously at the April VVA Board of Directors meeting.
The committee sponsored a nationwide PTSD poster contest in which 13 people submitted entries. The winning entry will be selected by the end of October.
Since February, 55,000 copies of the PTSD tri-fold brochure have been printed. More than 50,000 have been distributed around the country with the help of VVA's Council of State Council Presidents, VVA Service Officers, and the national VVA office staff. The most innovative distribution effort was initiated by Mokie Porter, national office Committee Liaison, who gave a box of the brochures to airline attendants staying at the Sheraton Hotel in Nashville during the VVA National Leadership Conference in August. She asked the flight attendants to distribute the brochures to our returning Iraq and Afghan troops.
The committee sponsored a presentation at the Leadership Conference. More than a hundred conference participants attended Dr. Joe Boscarino's presentation, "Exposure to Combat, PTSD, & Future Medical Problems: The Health Impact of Military Service for Vietnam Veterans." In addition to giving a great seminar, Boscarino was honored with a VVA life membership in recognition of his 20-year history of groundbreaking health care research focusing on Vietnam veterans.
With the assistance of national office staff member Carol Engle, the committee's web page is now up and running as part of the VVA web site at www.vva.org The web page contains minutes and reports from PTSD/SA Committee meetings; links to important articles such as the study reported in the July 1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine about PTSD and our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan; announcements of events; the committee's "mission statement"; and links to other organizations and agencies that specialize in PTSD, mental-health, and substance-abuse issues. In addition, VVA's "Self-help Guide on PTSD" and the "You're Not Crazy" tri-fold brochure can now be downloaded directly from the web page.
The committee also continued its efforts to build partnerships with other organizations to identify the priority mental-health and substance-abuse issues affecting America's veterans. For example, the chair participated in a panel discussion at the 25th Anniversary Conference of the National Association on Mental Illness in early September where he addressed the decline in VA funding for these issues. In July, the chair presented a program, "Domestic Violence and PTSD," to counselors attending the Vet Centers' annual Region 3A Counselors Training session in Atlanta.
The chair also was recently appointed to serve as the veterans' representative to the VA's Substance Use Disorder Group of the Quality Enhancement Research Initiative Executive Committee, which provides input on VA substance-abuse programs directly to Secretary Principi and his deputies. In addition, the committee is investigating funding opportunities and collaborative research projects with several other agencies and individuals on suicide prevention, crisis management, and other mental health- related programs that incorporate the concept of training veterans to care for veterans.
These accomplishments are due to the commitment, support, and teamwork of committee members. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of them for their dedication and hard work.
Chair: Tom Berger. Members: Dottie Barickman, Liz Cannon, Tony Catapano, Bob
Corsa, Marsha Four, Larry Goucher, Bob Maras, Sandy Miller, Johnny Pancrazio, Fr. Phil Salois, Jim Shott, and Dave Whaley. Special Advisers: Dee Hagge, Mary Miller, Anne Pancrazio, and Nancy Switzer. Staff Liaison: Mokie Porter.
posted by Vietnam Veterans of America at 7:22 PM
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