Sunday, June 27, 2010

"Healing combat trauma" and "The Brain at War"

Okay, people are supporting the troops in ways that are deeply important, in ways that as a country, we got a lot of work to do. There are physical injuries that even I can understand, but beyond that, there's traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the invisible damage to troops, like post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD.)
Recently the NCIRE and The Veterans Health Research Institute, ran the "The Brain at War" conference, which I attended briefly. (I'm not very tough, and this stuff is hard to hear.) This was all about helping vets deal with these real problem. I don't really understand a lot, so I'll get out of the way, and hear from someone with real expertise.
Check out Healing Combat Trauma and specifically, "The Brain at War" Conference in San Francisco:
There were many highlights of the program, including hearing from the National Guard about what they're doing to secure better mental health for their servicemembers, who don't have the same access that other branches do. The California National Guard has a good "Combat Stress Control" program, with handouts like this tip sheet, "Helping a Soldier Buddy in Distress," linked here. They've also got a superlative poster, "Never Let Your Buddy Fight Alone (against PTSD)" that emphasizes the importance of Guardmembers in one another's lives. An U.S. Army National Guard leader, Major Paul E. Gonzales, from Kansas' National Guard, talked convincingly about the challenges Guardmembers face after deployment, accessing mental health services, when they're frequently hours away from the nearest facility.

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