Veteran’s Heart Georgia

presents

OUR TURN TO SERVE:
Ethical Issues, Community Transitions, War-related PTSD and Justice

A trio of professional workshops designed for professionals who work with, or plan to work with, military personnel returning from OEF/OIF, their families, and Veterans from other eras

Friday, December 4, 2009
Workshops 8:45 am – 4:15 pm

The Cathedral of St. Philip
2744 Peachtree Rd. NW, Atlanta 30305

Veteran’s Heart Georgia is a
A project of International Humanities Center
A nonprofit organization under 501(3)c of the IRS

Morning Workshop
3 hours of continuing education credits in ethics
8:45 am- noon

ETHICS AND CULTURAL ISSUES IN CLINICAL WORK WITH MILITARY PERSONNEL AND VETERANS

• Self-awareness and counter-transference
• Understanding and sensitivity to military culture
• Recognition of specific trauma injuries and stressors resulting from military service and war
• The impact of compassion fatigue and burnout

Afternoon Workshop
3 hours of core continuing education credits
1:00-4:15 pm

Community-Based Responsiveness to Troops, Veterans and Their Families: Addressing the transition of Veterans, Wounded Warriors and their families, from active duty through reintegration into civilian life

• Introduction The Warrior’s Journey: needs, themes, pitfalls, and challenges
• Optimal responses from clinicians, employers, faith communities, academic institutions and service agencies
• Life Cycles of Military Families
• Intervention strategies

Faculty

Christiane O’Hara, PhD. Psychologist. Dr. O’Hara is a Red Cross Consultant in the Behavioral Health Department/TBI Clinic, DDEAMC, Fort Gordon, GA. She is Chair of the GA Soldiers and Veterans Pilot Project of ArtReach: Project America. She is a USO volunteer and USO liaison with the Warrior Transition Battalion, Ft. Gordon. She completed her internship and postdoctoral training at the Atlanta VAMC, and has consulted at Womack AMC/Fort Bragg, and Fort Rucker Mental Health Clinic.  She has co-authored a text on traumatic brain injury rehabilitation and is a Founding Member of ISTSS. She has been an Army wife and is an Army mother.

Daniel Steppe, LCSW. Psychotherapist in private practice in Atlanta. Mr. Steppe has fifteen years experience working in direct service with children and adults from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. He previously worked as a mental health therapist at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Atlanta. He is Co-Chair of the GA Soldiers and Veterans Pilot Project of the ArtReach Foundation’s Project America.

Peter Bauer. LTC, USAR; LCSW, LMFT, ACSW, BCD. LTC Bauer is Chief, Wounded Soldier Sponsorship Program, Army Reserve Warrior and Family Assistance Center, US Army reserve Command, Ft. McPherson, GA. As a Clinical Social Worker, LTC Bauer served at Camp Shelby, MS, as Officer in Charge for Behavioral Health and TBI at the Medical Task Force, working with mobilizing and demobilizing military personnel serving in OIF/OEF. He is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and has served as a military chaplain.

Emily Simerly, PhD. Psychologist. Since 2001 she has been the Clinical Director of the Mental Health/Mental Retardation Unit, GA Diagnostic and Classification Prison, Jackson, GA., and is responsible for the oversight, administration and treatment in the prison’s 550 bed mental health unit. Dr. Simerly has worked with MHM Services and the GDOC since 1997. She has authored numerous articles related to mental health, Corrections, and the criminal justice system. She recently co-presented  “Combat Veterans and the Criminal Justice System: From Defending Our Liberty to Losing Their Own” at the 12^th Annual US Army Force Health Protection Conference.

REGISTRATION
Begins at 8:00 a.m.

ALL DAY, 2 WORKSHOPS

Prior to 11/27/09–$100

After 11/27/09– $120

Contact Kaye Coker at 770-338-7463 for further information

NOTE: No refunds, group discounts, or student discount as this is a fundraiser for Veteran’s Heart Georgia.

We expect limited, if any, registration at the door.