CIR News
Upcoming Seminar: Community Resiliency for Veterans & Military Families
9 May 2013 | posted by Center for Innovation and Research | in CIR News, CIR News Archive, Upcoming Events
Join us for an upcoming seminar with Elaine Miller-Karas, the Director and co-founder of the Trauma Resource Institute (TRI). Elaine Miller-Karas’ presentation will highlight the key concepts of the Community Resiliency Model (CRM), named a “promising practice” by the DoD. She will also share recent research findings about the effectiveness of biologically-based models of intervention and her experience teaching CRM to veterans, active duty military and their family members through the Trauma Resiliency Model – Veteran and Warrior project.
The fundamental goals of the Community Resiliency Model are to help adults and children learn to track their own nervous systems, to bring the body, mind and spirit back into greater balance and to encourage people to pass the skills along to family, friends and their wider community. CRM can be taught as a peer-to-peer program, training community members to help themselves and others. CRM can also be used for self-care for those community members who are the front line workers, responding to crisis situations or who live in highly traumatized communities.
Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Time: 11:30am-1:00pm
Location: USC UPC Campus
Montgomery Ross Fisher (MRF) Hamovitch
669 West 34th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90089
CEUs: 1.5 for LCSWs & LMFTs
Click here to register for this event.
This event will also be streamed live. Click here for the live stream link.
Taken an MSW Military course? Win an iPad!
7 May 2013 | posted by Center for Innovation and Research | in CIR News, CIR News Archive, Upcoming Events
To all current MSW students at the USC School of Social Work -
Have you taken a Military sub-concentration course this past Spring? Please complete this 5-10 minute survey about your experience! We would like to create the best possible curriculum, and you can help us by providing your feedback.
Your participation is voluntary. Please only complete the survey for courses you took in the Spring 2013 semester.
CIR will hold a raffle for a 16 GB iPad with Retina Display, as well as 5 $15 gift cards to Amazon for those who complete the survey by Tuesday, May 21, 2013 @ 12:00 PM PST. Thank you for your feedback!
Click here to take the survey!
Calling all USC Student Veterans!
3 May 2013 | posted by Center for Innovation and Research | in CIR News, CIR News Archive, Upcoming Events
If you are a USC student and have served in the military, you are invited to participate in a research study. The study is being conducted in order to identify unmet needs and required services for student veterans at USC. To participate, click here to complete the 15 minute survey.
MILES is finally here!
19 Apr 2013 | posted by Center for Innovation and Research | in CIR News, CIR News Archive
After months and months of hard work, MILES has finally made it to the classroom!
The Motivational Interviewing Learning Environment and Simulation (MILES) is a virtual reality project developed by the USC Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families (CIR), in partnership with the USC Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT).
Now embedded in the USC School of Social Work, MILES provides future therapists the opportunity to advance their skills in treating service members, veterans, or military-impacted family members through practice with a simulated patient. This exciting teaching tool allows instructors to guide social work students through a therapist-client interaction with a simulated veteran using a multiple choice-style progression through a therapy session.
To see how MILES works in the classroom, check out the video below:
Field Note: A National Veterans Covenant
18 Apr 2013 | posted by Center for Innovation and Research | in CIR News, CIR News Archive
On September 28, 2012, the University of Southern California School of Social Work’s Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families convened a national roundtable of 17 representatives from universities, government agencies, national policy institutes, and major community‐based institutions, as well as experts on veterans issues from Canada and Great Britain. The focus of this roundtable was to develop a clearer understanding of the challenges related to constructing a more coordinated and consistent system to meet the needs of the nation’s veterans and their families.
From this meeting, the group produced A NATIONAL VETERANS COVENANT: COMMUNITY AS THE CATALYST AND RESOURCE, a position paper which provides overview of the group’s deliberations, input, and recommendations on how to develop an immediate initiative that can better meet the nation’s sacred duty to those who have served the country at times of peace and war. Click here to read the National Veterans Covenant.
General Petraeus Honors Student Veterans During USC Visit
27 Mar 2013 | posted by Center for Innovation and Research | in CIR News, CIR News Archive, Past Events
Click here to read about General Petraeus’s visit to USC and CIR.
CIR Hosts Luncheon for CA National Guard Unit
22 Mar 2013 | posted by Center for Innovation and Research | in CIR News, CIR News Archive
Last month the CIR team celebrated the end of the Reintegration Partnership Project with the 1-140th Aviation Battalion of the California National Guard. With the assistance of the LA Jewish Federation, CIR provided lunch to 300 service members that we have been working with since July of 2011. The event was the culmination of the 20-month project consisting of a training and research study designed to support soldiers and their family members after a 1 year deployment to Iraq. The luncheon included a short program featuring Captain Matthew Jackson and Colonel David Hall who shared their appreciation for the services and opportunities provided by the USC team. Colonel Hall also presented Dr. Anthony Hassan, the Director of CIR, with a plaque in recognition of CIR’s dedication to the unit.
Dr. Hassan shared his enthusiasm over the unit embracing the USC-CIR team as part of their reintegration support system. During his speech, he shared some of the lessons learned from both the training and research aspects of the project. For instance, CIR learned that 40% of the unit was unemployed, PTSD levels were low, and that mental health challenges tended to emerge at the 6-9 month post-deployment mark.
Dr. Hassan was happy to share that the unit had an overall positive and healthy transition, despite some challenges. He informed unit that their feedback led to creation of the RPP Telehealth counseling program, which offers free online therapy to all unit members who are interested. Finally, he also informed the unit that their feedback shaped CIR’s new focus on addressing veteran unemployment, inspiring a partnership with Warner Brothers Inc. and the 1st Annual USC Veteran Hiring Fair.
The RPP project was able to break ground in new areas. To date, very few studies have evaluated unit-level interventions in the post-deployment phase, especially those focusing on the California National Guard. We anticipate that once the data is analyzed, the findings from the study will lead to new policies and help inform future reintegration programs for service members and their families.