stigma and barriers to care - Uniformed Services University of the ...

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Stigma and Barriers to Care — Caring for Those Exposed to War, Disaster and Terrorism
but it was telling us something that we should not ignore. How do you improve the
product That is quite difficult, and many people smarter than I have been working
on that for a long time. To echo what is being said across the room, it is time to
mobilize the non-mental health sector that has higher credibility.
Point number three: It is pretty clear that targeting people, telling them they have
a problem, let alone a mental health problem, or they need to change, or they need
to be more resilient, or less vulnerable, is not working. No matter how you phrase
it, people feel that you are targeting them. And, in a way, you are. Be clear as to
what these Peer Support and TRiM Programs are doing. They are not treating PTSD.
What they are doing is enlisting people to identify, support, and help others. It is an
appeal to altruism. You are here to support others, but we hope, it actually supports
the individual directly to help themselves. It is free of stigma and the intervention
has been done without people actually being aware that they might be the target of
the intervention. It might help them. It certainly does not do any harm.
All of you will feel much better when you finally admit that screening programs
are incredibly expensive, and they do not work. It is flooding your system with
people who immediately drop out of treatment, if they go into treatment at all. We
know from Charles’ papers that the ones you want to target are missing the system.
They are missing the system because they are the ones who are most severely ill,
who most severely feel the stigma, and, therefore, make the best efforts they can
to avoid your system. Resources are being wasted on an ineffective intervention. It
is clearly not working, because your rates are still going up and up. All of you will
feel so much more relieved when you finally admit that screening is not working.
DR. BATTEN: I just realized that we have not mentioned our Real Warriors
Campaign. My Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF) is that the Defense Centers of Excellence
would welcome anyone’s partnership in this room with either the implementation
or evaluation of our Real Warriors Campaign. Our Real Warriors Campaign
is a national and international public awareness campaign primarily targeted in
the Department of Defense to promote help-seeking for those who are having
functional concerns that are not resolving on their own. We did focus groups before
we launched, in which we talked to service members and their families, and asked
them, “What would encourage you to seek treatment” They said, “We want to see
examples. We do not want to have a shrink telling us what to do. We want to see
examples of real people who have had struggles like ours, and who have sought
treatment. We want to see proof that it has not harmed their careers.” That is the
foundation on which our campaign has been developed. We find individuals from
a variety of ranks, from Sergeant up to Two-Star Major General, who have talked
about their experiences after returning from combat. We also have some medical
professionals who talk about compassion fatigue from treating trauma patients in
theater. They talk about what it was like to come home. What struggles did they
have What was their resistance and hesitancy to enter treatment How did they
finally come to treatment Usually it is either a family member or a leader who
intervenes.
We use video-based clips that you can view in 30-second or five-minute versions,
which we have been pushing out around the country in both PSA format as well as
a longer format. We have a Facebook page and a Twitter page. We have forums in
which people can type to each other. We have a chat function, which they can use
to talk to trained health resource consultants 24 hours a day. We are very proud of
the program. It has only been up and running for about 10 months. Our primary