NAMI Homefront & Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Homefront
A course for military families on topics related to anxiety, depression, traumatic brain injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. NAMI Homefront is designed to help families improve their communication skills and manage stress.
Need
According a recent study, nearly one in five men and women deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2004 suffer from severe depression or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Pentagon statistics for 2012 report 154 suicides for active-duty troops in the first 155 days of the year, about 50 percent more than the number of U.S. forces killed in action in Afghanistan. Still, only half of all service personnel affected by the symptoms of mental illness seek treatment, a decision that impacts loved ones as well. NAMI provides a point of connection between these family members and links them to other resources in their communities to ensure maintain the ongoing support and help needed in this unique situation.
Project
NAMI Homefront is a lecture-style course for military families on topics related to anxiety, depression, traumatic brain injury and PTSD designed to help improve their communication skills and manage stress. The course will be provided in-person to those able to attend. For those who prefer an online experience, there will be an instructor-led version of the program available online with a trained instructor leading the course. Three, six-session courses will be delivered in five states.
Program effectiveness will be evaluated by The Center for Practice Innovations at Columbia University, New York.
Project Leader
Suzanne Robinson, srobinson@nami.org
Partners
- National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
- Center for Practice Innovations at Columbia University