September is Suicide Prevention Month, and in an effort to promote awareness regarding this very relevant issue, we’re highlighting two of our partners–Mt. Carmel Veterans Service Center and Headstrong. Mt. Carmel offers wellness and employment services to veterans and their families, and Headstrong is known for their military/veteran-specific mental health support groups, counseling and more.
HFMN is fortunate to have a myriad of service providers in our Partner Agency Network, to see the full list of HFMN Partners, visit https://homefrontmilitarynetwork.org/partners/.
Even though Suicide Prevention Month is coming to a close, don’t forget to share/memorize the 5 Signs of Emotional Suffering every day:
- Personality changed
- Feeling agitated
- Feeling withdrawn
- Poor self-care
- Feeling hopeless
Mt. Carmel Veterans Service Center
Mt. Carmel Veterans Service Center provides integrative services and support to military service members, veterans, and their families. The three core services offered include Transition and Employment assistance, Behavioral Health and Wellness support, and Veteran and Family Resources (non-clinical crisis case management). Mt. Carmel also offers support through connections to community resources, monthly food distributions to those in need, and a safe event space.
Mt. Carmel offers Behavioral Health and Wellness services to include individual, group, and couples therapy, no-cost therapeutic retreats, and non-traditional therapies including trauma-focused yoga, art, music, and tai-chi classes, and more. Services are confidential and open to all veterans regardless of discharge status. They support treatment services including: depression, anxiety, trauma or relationship struggles, PTSD and life transitions. Clients do not need a referral and do not need to have insurance. Through partnerships with local universities, Mt. Carmel offers a range of counseling services for individuals, couples, families and children. Treatment is provided by licensed professionals, post-grad/prelicensure therapists, and graduate interns supervised by an on-site supervisor who is a Licensed Professional Counselor. All clinicians are uniquely trained and experienced in providing military specific services. Graduate interns are chosen from the top accredited universities along the front-range, have completed advanced coursework in mental health services, and provide confidential, trusted, and supervised care. Many providers have either served or are military connected.
Veteran and Family Resources provides non-clinical case management to assess and address veteran and family well-being in the areas of physiological needs, justice involved issues, safety and esteem (through integrated services with behavioral health and community resources). The team offers a “hand-up” to members of the military community experiencing life challenges involving counseling, social services such as housing, utilities, financial, and food assistance. Working with national and community partners, the goal is to stabilize lives while providing resources to clients for wellness and career services.
Mt. Carmel also provides a safe, multi-functional space to support groups and our partners. They collaborate with dozens of community partners to support veterans in the Pike’s Peak region.
Since Mt. Carmel opened its doors in 2016, they have supported over 60,000 client visits. The Transition and Employment team has placed nearly 3000 veterans and family members into employment, Veteran & Family Resources has provided food for over 8,000 families, and Behavioral Health and Wellness department has provided counseling services to over 2,000 clients. Mt. Carmel is pleased to be further expanding service in 2021 by establishing satellite offices in Trinidad, Fountain, and Pueblo through continued collaboration with its numerous partners. Mt. Carmel recently celebrated 5 years of positive and enduring impact in the community. This year, they are on track to serve more veterans than ever before continuing a tradition of supporting those who have served.
Headstrong
Headstrong is a national-facing mental health treatment practice of choice for our nation’s military, veterans, and in some communities, even the family members.
Operating as a nonprofit, they offer confidential, barrier-free, stigma-free evidence-based treatment approaches regardless of era of service or discharge status. All of these services are at no cost to the client.
Headstrong, veteran-founded in 2012, is one of the nation’s leading mental health care providers for military veterans, active duty, national guard, reservists, and their families. Since their inception in 2012, they have provided over 80,000 total therapy sessions which have directly impacted over 6,200 families and friends. They have developed a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive treatment program for clients addressing a wide range of conditions in relation to their time in military service.
Treatment is individually tailored and not time-limited to ensure no mind is left behind. On average, the average Headstrong client sees a clinician for 35 different visits, each one of them being at no cost. Headstrong’s resources are for those who are actively serving members of the armed forces, members of the National Guard & Reserves, veterans of all eras and additional family members on a case-by-case basis. All individuals are eligible regardless of service era, discharge status, military occupation, or combat exposure.
On average, Headstrong treats 1,000 clients per month through 270+ clinicians across 28 markets in 12 states. The communities Headstrong serves is continually expanding as Headstrong hopes to be able to offer support to each of the 18 Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISN) by 2025. This bold strategy, led by Headsrong’s Executive Director, Col. (USA, Ret.) Jim MicDonough, was developed in response to the growing demand for quality mental health treatment in communities big or small, urban and rural, and everything in between.
Headstrong offers outpatient mental health services to address common psychological challenges such as deployment or combat-related stress; military sexual trauma; childhood adverse events; depression; anxiety and stress; transition and adjustment issues; substance abuse; relationship difficulties; irritability and anger control challenges.
Headstrong’s treatment consists of individually tailored, outpatient weekly therapy; Headstrong’s therapy is also completely confidential and at zero cost to the client. Headstrong clinicians follow adherence to evidence-based treatment modalities—CBT, CPT, DBT, EMDR, PE, and others. They focus on symptom tracking and outcomes; participate in collaborative planning around treatment duration and open accessibility to return to treatment, and all of the clinicians have a military cultural competency. If you’re interested in using Headstrong for treatment, here’s what to expect from their 6-step Treatment Plan.
Headstrong understands the ever-changing climate and continues to innovate to keep up with changing demands. During Covid-19, Headstrong not only pivoted its program model to a hybrid solution that included telehealth services but also increased its flexibility in how it operates and supports their clinical partners. These adaptations include such things as intake processing support to online peer-support groups. Headstrong realizes these aspects of their service will continue to be of importance so is continuing to operate at a hybrid model, again putting the emphasis on meeting the clients where they are at. Additionally, the telemental health capabilities increase access to quality care for many of the rural citizens around the country that may not have local care.
Here are some of the important statistics that speak to the quality of the care clients receive and the real life benefits: 83% of patients felt their experience with Headstrong was excellent and 94% of clients would recommend Headstrong to a friend or family. 7 out of 10 clients demonstrated reduction in suicidal ideation. 8 out 10 clients demonstrated improvement in quality of relationships, and 6 out of 10 clients reported improved quality of sleep.
If you think Headstrong and their programs might be the right fit for you, go to https://getheadstrong.org/get-help/ and get started today.
Additionally, if you know someone that would benefit from our services and support, please share the link to ‘get help.’