Providing comfort to soldiers with brain injuries

Three NATO troops were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan Wednesday. That kind of attack has caused nearly 40 percent of fatalities in Afghanistan and Iraq. It often causes the what's considered the "signature wound" of these wars: brain injuries. CBS News correspondent Clarissa Ward in Afghanistan says the military is taking a new approach.

Getting treated by Capt. Amy Gray can entail playing with dogs, watching movies, even getting massages.

An occupational therapist, Gray heads the concussion care center at Forward Operating Base Fenty where a simple technique is making the world of difference in treating soldiers with mild traumatic brain injury, known as brain sprain.

"I tell them, 'Your mission when you are with me is to sleep, relax and get better,'" she said.

By

Clarissa Ward

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57349476/providing-comfort-to-soldiers-with-brain-injuries/

Vet Families Can Access Mental Health Tools Online

MONTROSE, N.Y. – The VA Medical Center in Montrose has become the epicenter for a new online veteran’s mental health initiative. “Family of Heroes” is a website which uses avatars, realistic animations of people, to allow people to anonymously work through conversations with veterans recently returned from deployment.

“We’re trying to help families attain some skills,” said Benny Linneman, a therapist for residents of the Montrose VA. “A lot of vets think the problem is theirs, and that they can deal with it,” he said about veterans afflicted with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The program was launched on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

“Family of Heroes”is meant to provide those who know a veteran recently returned from deployment with the skills to defuse arguments, approach a veteran who may need help and recognize signs of PTSD. The metropolitan area has about 34,000 veterans home from theaters of war, according to Linneman, and there are about two million veterans nationwide who served in both the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters.

“Family of Heroes” is only available to residents of southern New York and New Jersey as it undergoes development.

According to Linneman, stressors for veterans returning home from a theater of war can run the gamut of what civilians consider everyday activities. Difficulty driving, dealing with packages or garbage (which in Iraq or Afghanistan may indicate explosives) and behavioral changes in the veteran can all be difficult for friends and extended family of veterans to understand.

by Jessica Glenza

http://www.thedailyarmonk.com/wellness/vet-families-can-access-mental-health-tools-online