This workshop will explore:

1. The impact of military culture on veterans: “Military Culture, Training: Indoctrination, Hierarchy and the Bond between Warriors,” (Presenter S Sgt. Eddie Black)
2. The unique characteristics of MST: symptom, diagnosis and co-morbidity as well as best practice treatment and advocacy: “Understanding and Treating the Unique Aspects of PTSD Related to Military Sexual Trauma,”  (Presenter Elizabeth Stinson)
3. Identify the need for variance of treatment modality and the value of each modality presented in treatment of post traumatic stress disorder,“Treating Combat PTSD,” (Presenter Elizabeth Stinson)       
4. “The Needs of Military Families After Deployments” (Presenter Stacy Bannerman)

Emphasis: Advanced Clinical Training, Controversial/Critical Issues, Advocacy/Policy/Prevention

Snacks are provided; lunch is on your own

“Military Culture, Training: Indoctrination, Hierarchy and the Bond between Warriors,” (Presenter S Sgt. Eddie Black)

S Sgt. Black will explore the unique and defining characteristics of military culture and incorporate current information on military culture and its potential impact on the mental health of current war veterans and family members. He will also explain how military culture impacts veterans’ families’ ability to access needed services and will speak on the hierarchy, control and conformity of military culture and its impact on vets and family members before, during, and after deployment. SSG Black will also share his personal journey of recovery in living with and receiving treatment for combat PTSD.

“Understanding and Treating the Unique Aspects of PTSD Related to Military Sexual Trauma,” (Presenter Elizabeth Stinson)

Women in the military rarely report sexual assault and/or sexual harassment, particularly if they believe they may still be in danger or reporting the assault will end their career. Due to these and other factors that serve to bolster the trauma of sexual assault, MST survivors in the military often seek help from both community-based rape crisis centers and the VA.

The learning objectives for participants for this presentation include:

• The unique characteristics of Military Sexual Trauma.
• Basic military cultural competency components beneficial for clinicians treating survivors of MST.
• Best practices of agencies currently serving MST survivors and in the forefront for developing policy and advocacy efforts.
• How to establish a system of care for survivors of MST.
• Effective clinical treatment of military sexual trauma.
• Useful strategies to work with Department of Defense and VA in the prevention and treatment of MST.

“Treating Combat PTSD” (Presenter Elizabeth Stinson)

This presentation will cover methods for identifying the need for variance of treatment modality and the value of each modality presented in treatment of post traumatic stress disorder. The application and effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Treatment, and narrative and mindfulness in achieving clients’ chosen treatment goals will be explored, along with identifying client’s needs and strengths. This presentation will also include discussion on the need to assess suicidal ideation and homicidal ideation when working with a traumatized, post military client who may be experiencing a flooding of symptoms and dissociation.

“The Needs of Military Families After Deployments” (Presenter Stacy Bannerman)

Today’s military family members are suffering mental health issues at rates virtually the same as the troops themselves. Spouses and caregivers of veterans with combat-related invisible injuries have diminished physical and psychological health over their lifetimes, including significant stress and suicidal ideation.  This session will discuss secondary trauma, betrayal trauma, social isolation, loss of intimacy, anxiety, attachment and adjustment disorders in military and veteran’s family members, as well as the high rates of interpersonal violence reported by wives/caregivers of post-9/11 veterans with PTSD and/or TBI.  The workshop introduces participants to the unique culture of the military family/veteran’s caregiver, and offers concrete tools and practical strategies for working with this population. Workshop will include lecture and facilitated discussion with participants.  This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, clergy, first responders, primary care providers and therapists and is appropriate for all levels of practice.

About the Presenters:

Staff Sergeant Eddie Black, Oregon Army National Guard Resiliency Services Officer,  S Sgt. Black was previously the Integration Area Manager, Southern Oregon, for the South Oregon Reintegration Team. Eddie’s extensive military experience includes being an OIF 2 combat veteran, and a Desert Storm era Marine deployed veteran; an Infantry Instructor for the Oregon Guard and a Master Resiliency Trainer for the Oregon Guard. He also co-facilitates a Veterans’ Domestic Violence group and is a Military Culture Consultant to the OHSU Psychiatric Department.

Elizabeth Stinson, LMFT, Elizabeth provides MST trainings and counseling for clinicians throughout the United States and presented this training for RVP in 2010 and 2012.  Elizabeth has extensive experience working with survivors of trauma and torture and is often asked to consult with JAG (US Judge Advocate General), civilian attorneys and other clinicians on MST, PTSD and TBI.  In addition, Elizabeth is clinical advisor to BAMLP, the Bay Area Military Law Panel and a member of the Portland VA think-tank on military sexual trauma.  Elizabeth is also project director of International Trauma Assessment Project (ITAP), fiscally sponsored by the Allende Foundation for Social Medicine. She is a clinical member of the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies and a clinical fellow of AAMFT, the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. She was a contributor to the award winning documentary on military sexual trauma, “The Invisible War.”

Stacy Bannerman, Ms. Bannerman is the author of “When the War Came Home: the Inside Story of Reservists and the Families They Leave Behind,” and is the founder and director of Sanctuary Weekends™ for Women Veterans. She has created a variety of flagship programs for women while serving as the founding Executive Director of Sanctuary One, the Executive Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Outreach Center, and the Program and Marketing Director at Genesis II for Women, an alternative-to-sentencing agency. Stacy has held adjunct faculty positions at several colleges and universities. When her husband mobilized with the Army National Guard in 2003, she began advocating for the troops and their families, emerging as a national leader on the human costs of the war in Iraq, and has testified before several Congressional committees. Stacy holds an M.S., Magna Cum Laude, from Minnesota State University and a B.A. in International Relations and attended the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute’s Center for Visionary Leadership, and the Doctoral program at Wisdom University.