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To build bridges between
local community resources and the needs of over 360,000 Reserve
Component service members who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq as
part of the Global War on Terror and their families, Congress
established the Citizen-Soldier Support Program (CSSP) at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Odum Institute for
Research in Social Science.
These combat veterans
may not return to military installations, where health providers
understand military experiences and appropriate behavioral health
services are available. Instead, many veterans return to communities
that may be unfamiliar with military service, and the closest
behavioral health services for combat veterans and their families
may be several hours away.
Through its Behavioral
Health Initiative, CSSP seeks to improve access to services for
Reserve Component combat veterans and their families, specifically
for those with combat-related behavioral health issues such as
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI).
CSSP works closely with the Veterans Integrated Service Network 6,
Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center (VISN 6 MIRECC),
which focuses on post-deployment mental illness; and the North
Carolina Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program. Working
together, a number of research-based and best practice professional
learning opportunities have been created for behavioral health and
primary care service providers to:
• Provide urgently needed training on such topics as post-traumatic
stress disorder and traumatic brain injury to more than 1,000 mental
health providers and primary care practitioners annually
• Provide comprehensive,
specialized, replicable and sustainable health and mental health
services to returning citizen soldiers using the integrated care
model at primary care practices in rural Western North Carolina.
• Create and distribute
online tutorials targeted to the needs of primary care health
providers for education on mental health and adjustment needs of
returning veterans and their families.
Questions related to the
content and distribution of this course may be directed to the
Bob Goodale.
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