Recently, Duane France, the Executive Director of the Colorado Veterans Health and Wellness Agency had the opportunity to visit the Colorado Springs USAA Campus as part of their Veteran Employee Resource Group at USAA (VETNet) Speaker Series. Invited by David Thurston, a USAA Banking and Insurance Specialist, Duane had the opportunity to tour the Colorado Springs Campus in the company of the Site Director of the Colorado Springs campus, Jim Hannon.
After the campus tour, Duane provided a discussion on the topic of Veteran Mental Health, developed to assist the USAA team to better identify how to help each other and their USAA members through a transition out of the military and support their post-military lives.
During the talk, Duane discussed:
- How military service can be seen as a separate culture, and how to develop an understanding about it
- Areas of concern regarding mental health for veterans beyond the well-known aspects of PTSD and TBI
- Common thoughts and attitudes regarding aspects of veteran mental health
- Some methods by which to develop a greater understanding of veteran culture and veteran mental health
In addition to the presentation, Duane provided a supplemental handout that can be downloaded here PTSD, TBI, and Beyond or by clicking the picture below:
Some additional resources on the topics Duane discussed:
If you are interested in learning more about the topic, or would like to have Duane speak to your team about how to understand veteran mental health as the foundation of success, feel free to reach out to him through the Contact Page
The Head Space and Timing Blog is supported by the Colorado Veterans Health and Wellness Agency, a 501(c)3 Nonprofit in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The goal of the CVHWA is to provide military culturally competent mental health counseling to veterans and their spouses, regardless of characterization of discharge, time of service, or era of service. Our vision is to assist veterans to identify and remove barriers to their mental, physical, emotional, and behavioral wellness. For questions or inquiries, contact us!