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Mental health and related resources for assisting service members, veterans, and their families
Note: This document was prepared by the APA Public Interest Government Relations Office with assistance from the APA Executive Office and the Education, Science, and Practice Directorates. The list of resources cited in this document is not comprehensive and does not reflect implicit or explicit endorsement by the American Psychological Association.
Department of Defense (DoD)
Air Force Crossroads
Official U.S. Air Force website.
Battlemind
The Battlemind website has briefs, videos, and other materials developed by the Army to help prepare soldiers, military leaders, and families for dealing with war and adjusting back to life after combat. It also has resources for providers who care for soldiers.
Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress
As part of the Department of Psychiatry of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress conducts research, education, consultation, and training on preparing for and responding to the psychological effects and health consequences of traumatic events.
Deployment Health Clinical Center
Official website with extensive up-to-date information on Post-Deployment Health Evaluation and the Post-Deployment Health Reassessment Program and other health-related issues.
Key Divisions of the American Psychological Association (APA)
Society of Clinical Psychology (Div. 12)
Society of Counseling Psychology (Div. 17)
Psychologists in Public Service (Div. 18)
Military Psychology (Div. 19)
Rehabilitation Psychology
(Div. 22)
Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice (Div. 37)
Health Psychology (Div. 38)
Clinical Neuropsychology
(Div. 40)
Family Psychology (Div. 43)
Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
(Div. 53)
Pediatric Psychology (Div. 54)
Trauma Psychology (Div. 56)
For more information about these and other divisions, please visit: APA Divisions |
Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
The CDP is a triservice initiative whose mission is to help better prepare military and civilian mental health professionals for working effectively with service members and their families throughout the deployment cycle.
Suicide Prevention and Risk Reduction Committee's (SPARRC) Preventing Suicide Network
The Preventing Suicide Network is a resource center aimed at providing authoritative and problem-specific information about suicide prevention.
The Post-Deployment Health Reassessment
Force Health Protection and Readiness Policy and Programs
Official website of the Force Health Protection and Readiness Policy and Programs, which is responsible for deployment related health policy, doctrine, theater information systems, system rightsizing, and international agreements.
LIFELines Services Network
Official U.S. Navy website for the LIFELines Services Network, which focuses on the delivery of Quality of Life information and services to Active and Reserve Marines, Sailors, and family members.
Marine for Life
Official U.S. Marine Corps website for Marine for Life, which assists the transitioning Marine to go from Active Duty Marine to civilian.
Military Homefront
Military Homefront is the official DoD website for Quality of Life information designed to help troops and their families, leaders and service providers.
Military OneSource
Military OneSource is the official website with a toll-free call center that has information for service members and their families concerning health care, financial resources, family support, and concerns throughout the deployment cycle.
Military Student.org
A Department of Defense official website with many resources that can help military families make informed choices regarding the appropriate educational settings for their children.
Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center
This Navy website is designed to serve as a “Health Promotion Toolbox” useful for military personnel and their families in preventing disease and promoting health.
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Courage to Care Campaign
The Courage to Care Campaign website has various "Courage to Care" handouts for service members, couples, and families related to deployment and returning home.
U.S. Army
Official U.S. Army website.
VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines
This Deployment Health Clinical Center website provides background information and a direct link to the VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines.
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Homeless Veterans Program
This website provides information on VA’s Homeless Veterans Program, which offers a wide array of special programs and initiatives specifically designed to help homeless veterans live as self-sufficiently and independently as possible.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Quick Guide
National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (NC-PTSD)
The National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder aims to advance the clinical care and social welfare of veterans through research, education, and training on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other stress-related disorders.
VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines
This website provides VA/DoD guidelines for practitioners on health conditions, including post-traumatic stress, major depressive disorder, and substance use disorders.
Seamless Transition Home
The VA Seamless Transition Home website provides benefits information and assistance to eligible veterans.
Suicide Hotline 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
The VA Suicide Hotline responds to toll-free calls from across the country and works closely with local VA mental health providers to help callers.
Women's Trauma Recovery Program
The Women’s Trauma Recovery Program is an intensive 60-day residential program and has expanded its treatment services to include war-zone related stress, as well as military sexual trauma.
Vet Centers
Vet Centers provide readjustment counseling and outreach services to all veterans who served in any combat zone. Services are also available for their family members for military-related issues.
Veteran Recovery
The Veteran Recovery website is for veterans, VA staff, and others who work with or care about veterans. The goal of the website is to provide detailed information regarding peer support, substance abuse and mental illness, VA programs, research, and other support services. It is also an opportunity to give a voice to veterans.
Related Resources for Military Service Members, Veterans, and their Families
American Legion
The American Legion is a war-time veterans’ organization devoted to mutual helpfulness.
Association of VA Psychologist Leaders (AVAPL)
The Association of VA Psychologist Leaders is a non-profit organization with a voluntary membership of psychologists with various leadership roles within the VA. AVAPL’s purpose is to address the professional needs and concerns of VA psychologists with the primary goal of helping to provide the highest quality of patient care to our nation’s veterans. AVAPL is committed to excellence in training and the advancement of clinical care through both program development and research.
Center for Military Health Policy Research
The goal of this Center is to help the DoD and VA meet the challenges of providing the best care possible to this diverse population, while containing costs.
Disabled American Veterans (DAV)
DAV is an organization of disabled veterans that is focused on building better lives for disabled veterans and their families by providing free assistance to veterans in obtaining benefits and services earned through their military service.
Give An Hour
Give An Hour is developing a national network of volunteer mental health professionals to assist service members and families affected by the current military conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America is the nation's first and largest group dedicated to the troops and veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and their civilian supporters.
Military Child Education Coalition
The Military Child Education Coalition is anon-profit organization that promotes partnerships and provides for networking of military installations and their supporting school districts.
Military Family Research Institute at Purdue University
The Military Family Research Institute website offers deployment support resources for soldiers and their extended families.
Sesame Street Talk, Listen, Connect
These bilingual kits help military families and their young children cope with feelings, challenges, and concerns experienced during various phases of deployment: pre-deployment, deployment, and homecoming.
Military Women.org
Military Women.org is a meeting place for military women to exchange information unique to their military experience and to offer firsthand information to women thinking about a military career.
National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV)
The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans is the resource and technical assistance center for a national network of community-based service providers and local, state and federal agencies that provide emergency and supportive housing, food, health services, job training and placement assistance, legal aid, and case management support for hundreds of thousands of homeless veterans each year.
National Military Family Association
The National Military Family Association is an organization committed to advocacy for improvements in the quality of military family life.
Strategic Outreach to Families and All Reservists (SOFAR)
Strategic Outreach to Families and All Reservists coordinates pro bono psychotherapy and psycho-educational services to Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom National Guard, Reservists and their families.
Surviving Deployment.com
Surviving Deployment.com provides information and resources for military families.
Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, Inc. (TAPS)
Tragedy Assistance Programs for Survivors, Inc., has caseworkers who act as liaisons, assisting the family members in finding solutions to problems.
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)
The Veterans of Foreign Wars’ mission is to "honor the dead by helping the living" through veterans' service, community service, national security, and a strong national defense.
Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA)
Vietnam Veterans of America is the only national Vietnam veterans’ organization congressionally chartered and exclusively dedicated to Vietnam-era veterans and their families.
Trauma Resources
David Baldwin’s Trauma Information Pages
David Baldwin’s Trauma Information Pages focus primarily on emotional trauma and traumatic stress, including PTSD and dissociation, whether following individual traumatic experience(s) or a large-scale disaster.
International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS)
The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies is an international multidisciplinary, professional membership organization that promotes advancement and exchange of knowledge about severe stress and trauma. This knowledge includes understanding the scope and consequences of traumatic exposure, preventing traumatic events and ameliorating their consequences, and advocating for the field of traumatic stress.
National Center for Victims of Crime
The National Center for Victims of Crime is the nation's leading resource and advocacy organization for crime victims.
National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)
The NCTSN was established to raise the standard of care and increase access to care, treatment, and services for traumatized children and families exposed to traumatic events. The NCTSN serves as a national resource for developing and disseminating evidence-based intervention, trauma-informed services, and public and professional education.
National Organization Against Male Sexual Victimization
The National Organization Against Male Sexual Victimization is committed to preventing, healing, and eliminating all forms of sexual victimization of boys and men through support, treatment, research, education, advocacy, and activism.
National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC)
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center is a national information and resource hub relating to all aspects of sexual violence.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Resources
Brain Injury Association of America
The Brain Injury Association of America is a national organization serving and representing individuals, families, and professionals who are touched by brain injury.
Brain Injury Society
The Brain Injury Society is committed to empowering persons living with conditions caused by a brain injury.
Brain Trauma Foundation
This Brain Trauma Foundation was established to improve the outcome of patients with traumatic brain injuries by developing best practice guidelines, conducting clinical research, and educating medical personnel.
Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC)
The mission of the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center is to serve active duty military personnel and their dependents and veterans with TBI through state-of-the-art medical care, innovative clinical research initiatives, and educational programs.
International Brain Injury Association (IBIA)
The International Brain Injury Association is dedicated to the development and support of multidisciplinary medical and clinical professionals, advocates, policy makers, consumers, and others who work to improve outcomes and opportunities for persons with brain injury.
National Association of State Head Injury Administrators (NASHIA)
The National Association of State Head Injury Administrators serves as a source of information and education for state agency employees who are responsible for public brain injury policies, programs, and services.
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control – Facts about Concussion and Brain Injury
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke – Information about TBI
Traumatic Brain Injury National Resource Center
Traumatic Brain Injury Technical Assistance Center
The Traumatic Brain Injury Technical Assistance Center is a learning, collaboration, and benchmarking resource for grantees and others affiliated with the Federal Traumatic Brain Injury Program.
Depression and Suicide Resources
Air Force Suicide Prevention Program
The Air Force Suicide Prevention Program website provides extensive information on the Air Force’s suicide prevention program, as well as additional resources such as the Leader's Guide for Managing Personnel in Distress, the Frontline Supervisor's Training manual, and the newly released "Landing Gear" program for deployers.
American Association of Suicidology (AAS)
The American Association of Suicidology is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the understanding and prevention of suicide.
Department of Defense: “What You and Your Family Should Know about Depression”
National Institute of Mental Health - Information on Depression
Suicide Prevention Action Network USA (SPAN USA)
The Suicide Prevention Action Network USA is an organization dedicated to preventing suicide through public education and awareness, community action, and federal, state, and local grassroots advocacy.
Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC)
The Suicide Prevention Resource Center provides prevention support, training, and resources to assist organizations and individuals to develop suicide prevention programs, interventions and policies, and to advance the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention.
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences - Depression Fact Sheet
Chronic Pain Resources
Alliance of State Pain Initiatives (ASPI)
The Alliance of State Pain Initiatives is a network of state-based pain initiative organizations that works to remove the barriers that impede pain relief through education, advocacy, and institutional improvement.
American Academy of Pain Management
The American Academy of Pain Manage mentis an interdisciplinary organization serving clinicians who treat people with pain through education, setting standards of care, and advocacy.
American Chronic Pain Association (ACPA)
The American Chronic Pain Association’s mission is to facilitate peer support and education for individuals with chronic pain and their families and to raise awareness among the health care community, policymakers, and the public at large about the issues involved in living with chronic pain.
American Pain Foundation
The American Pain Foundation is a non-profit organization serving people with pain through information, advocacy, and support.
American Pain Society
The American Pain Society is a multidisciplinary community that brings together a diverse group of scientists, clinicians, and other professionals to increase knowledge about pain and transform public policy and clinical practice to reduce pain-related suffering.
Conill Institute for Chronic Illness
The Conill Institute for Chronic Illness provides education for healthcare professionals to increase empathy toward people living with chronic illness and physical disability.
National Pain Foundation
The National Pain Foundation is an on-line educational and support community for persons in pain, their families, and physicians. It is also a peer-reviewed source for treatment options and pain information.
Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Pain Management
The purpose of the Veterans Health Administration Pain Management website is to facilitate effective pain management by providing convenient, centralized access to resources for the provision of pain services within the VA health care system.
August 2008 |
