CIR News
CIR Sponsors Students & Faculty for CPT Training
2 Nov 2012 | posted by Center for Innovation and Research | in CIR News Archive, Past Events
CIR-sponsored USC School of Social Work students and faculty at the CPT training
CIR sponsored 30 MSW students in the Military Social Work sub-concentration and 5 faculty members from the USC School of Social Work to attend training on Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) at the October 31st International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) Annual Meeting.
The training – An Introduction to Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), with Dr. Patricia Resick – provided attendees with the basics of CPT, a well-documented evidence-based practice for veterans and servicemembers with PTSD. Patricia A. Resick (Ph.D, ABPP) is the Director of the Women’s Health Sciences Division of the National Center for PTSD at the Veterans Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare System. She is also a Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at Boston University.
CIR sponsored these students and faculty members– including 4 veterans, 1 servicemember, and 7 military/veteran spouses – in order to both enhance their awareness of veteran issues and treatment options as well as to enable them to treat military-impacted populations more effectively from their future positions as social workers in the community or teachers of the next generations of social workers.
If you are interested in receiving announcements about CIR continuing education (CE) courses or sponsorship opportunities like this, please join the mailing list
CIR Co-sponsors USC Students, Faculty, and Staff for Free Prolonged Exposure Therapy Training
18 Oct 2012 | posted by Center for Innovation and Research | in CIR News Archive, Past Events
USC CIR, the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP), the USC Clinical Social Work Caucus, and the USC Military Social Work Caucus have joined to sponsor 70 participants for free Prolonged Exposure (PE) Therapy training, including USC Student Counseling Services staff, and USC Social Work faculty and students. The training will take place at the Radisson Hotel Los Angeles on October 27-28, just blocks from the USC University Park Campus.
Prolonged Exposure (PE) Therapy is an evidence-based treatment for PTSD. During this intensive 2-day module, participants will receive step-by-step instructions for conducting Prolonged Exposure therapy sessions with a focus on treating clients with combat-related PTSD. Participants will learn strategies for working with over- and under-engaged patients and other difficult cases, and will practice their PE therapy skills through role-plays in class.
The two-day training course will be instructed by David Riggs, Ph.D. Dr. Riggs, Executive Director of the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP), is a clinical psychologist and Research Associate Professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Prior to taking the Director position at the CDP, Dr. Riggs held clinical research positions at the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety and the National Center for PTSD at the Boston VA Medical Center. He has previously held academic appointments at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, Tufts University, Boston University and the University of Pennsylvania.
As a clinical and research psychologist, much of Dr. Riggs’ work has focused on trauma, violence and anxiety with a particular interest in the impact of PTSD and other anxiety disorders on the families of those directly affected. He has trained numerous student and mental health professionals from the United States and other countries in techniques for treating PTSD, OCD and other anxiety disorders.
Military Culture Global Immersion Course: Student Perspective – Patricia Brick, UPC
25 Jun 2012 | posted by Center for Innovation and Research | in CIR News Archive, Past Events
Patricia Brick is a student in the USC School of Social Work’s Global Immersion course on Military Culture, Summer 2012. Below she writes about her experience visiting the U.S. Army Garrison (USAG) Baumholder:
At USAG Baumholder, we were told that we would see things as they really are, as opposed to the textbook version we might hear elsewhere – that other bases ‘dust the rocks’ when tours come through and portray a different environment. So far, we have been processed through rarely-visited locations, from hangers to donations closets, but today we went from rare to the raw, unabashed realities of two soldiers who gave us a glimpse into their multiple deployments to combat theaters. They shared their experience in a no-holds-barred fashion, including the reason that they fight – not for family or country, but for the soldier next to them, who is depending on them – as well as their requirements for engaging with mental health practitioners.
What they require is professionalism exhibited through respect, punctuality, congruity in word and action, listening skills, and an individualized treatment plan. Most of all, they require that their provider possess the professional competency to work with a military population. They emphasized that they have similar but distinctively different experiences and therefore do not tolerate the standard reassurance of “I know how you feel” from fellow soldiers, much less from mental health providers. Both men also expressed disdain for fellow soldiers who fake post-traumatic stress symptoms in order to acquire disability status, as it cheapens and diminishes their own experience and struggle.
Today was the capstone to an amazing set of exposures to the various facets of military social work. There is a plethora of venues and arenas, from birth in a neonatal ward to serving the geriatric military population, from pre-deployment to retirement – even to simply maintaining equilibrium on the homefront. There are no small issues, be it depression in military spouses or children, substance abuse, grief, or not adjusting to military life.
I have been vastly enriched by this course and the lessons that will continue to surface as the second year of classes shed additional light and insight into the content of this immersion. My experiences today re-confirmed the area of social work I wish to pursue and reminded me of the need to treat each client as an individual.
Patricia Brick, University Park Campus
Military Culture Global Immersion Course, Day 12: U.S. Army Garrison Baumholder, Germany
21 Jun 2012 | posted by Center for Innovation and Research | in CIR News Archive, Past Events
The following day, the class traveled to the U.S. Army Garrison Baumholder, located in the hills of western Germany, not far from the borders of France and Luxembourg. There, students had the opportunity to observe Army medics from Bravo Company, 40th Engineer Battalion, as they practiced administering intravenous fluid drips (IVs) on one another, and to speak to the soldiers about their military experience and perceptions of behavioral healthcare providers.
Spc. John Stefans (right), a mechanic with the 21st Theater Sustainment Command’s 515th Transportation Company, practices inserting an intravenous line on Sgt. Eric Brugger, a truck driver with the same company. The Soldiers attended the Combat Life Saver class taught by a Pennsylvania Army National Guard mobile training team March 23 to 26, 2009. (Photo credit: Angelika Lantz, 21st TSC Public Affairs)
Students then traveled to the Warrior Transition Unit (WTU) at Baumholder, a program which provides focused, continuous, and integrated care to soldiers who are injured and meet the medical criteria to be released from their unit and reassigned to a WTU. There, each soldier’s care is closely monitored and managed by behavioral healthcare and medical providers, until he/she is able to return to active duty or transitions from active duty.
Maj. Gen. Patricia McQuistion, the commanding general of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, speaks with Pvt. Aaron Brettbarth, a Baumholder Warrior Transition Unit member, and other Soldiers at the Baumholder WTU Feb. 15. McQuistion asked the WTU Soldiers how they felt about the WTU facility, what they thought about their medical treatment, and explained to them that while they are in the WTU their mission is to heal so that they may either return to duty or transition into civilian life. As the senior Army mission commander in the Kaiserslautern Military Community, Baumholder falls under McQuistion's area of responsibility. (Photo by Ignacio Rubalcava, USAG Baumholder Public Affairs)
Students heard from two soldiers who were transferred to the WTU for treatment of severe post-traumatic stress symptoms. Both men shared their personal experiences with combat and trauma, including the symptoms that made it difficult for them to sleep, function in daily life, perform their jobs, or interact with their families and friends. These soldiers also offered insight into what has helped them connect with certain behavioral healthcare workers or programs, and also shared behaviors and language that the students should avoid when treating a servicemember or veteran.
Due to base security regulations, no photos of the class visit to U.S. Army Garrison Baumholder are included here. However, Department of Defense photos have been included for reference. These photos include the DoD-provided caption and photographer credit information.
CIR Policy Brief: Navigating the VA with Invisible Wounds
14 May 2012 | posted by Center for Innovation and Research | in CIR News Archive
NAVIGATING THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS WITH INVISIBLE WOUNDS: HOW TO OVERCOME THE STIGMA OF “DELAY, DENY, & HOPE YOU DIE”
April 2012
Susan Thompson, JD
In this policy brief, the author describes the difficulties that veterans with invisible wounds face in obtaining treatment or benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and proposes recommendations for improving VA service to veterans and their families.
To download this policy brief, click here.
Infographic: What is PTSD?
27 Jun 2011 | posted by Center for Innovation and Research | in CIR News Archive
In recognition of PTSD Awareness Day, the USC School of Social Work created this infographic to help increase understanding of PTSD’s symptoms, causes, and treatments.
Brought to you by: Masters in Social Work | MSW@USC
June 27th is PTSD Awareness Day
24 Jun 2011 | posted by Center for Innovation and Research | in CIR News Archive
June 27 is PTSD Awareness Day! This month, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Center for PTSD is working to increase PTSD awareness.
To learn how you–as a community member–can help, click here.
For information on PTSD, resources, and ways to spread the word about PTSD awareness, click here.