Community Education

In addition to clinical and support services for veterans and family members, the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program offers education for clinicians and community members about the “invisible wounds of war”—post traumatic stress (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI)—and the challenges faced by returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their families.

The Home Base Program offers clinical and community education in a variety of settings, including on-line and in-person training sessions, as well as web-based educational materials for clinicians, educators, and other community members.

Why educate clinicians and community members?

Approximately 50% of returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will seek medical care outside the VA Healthcare System.  Home Base is working to help community clinicians recognize the signs of combat or deployment-related stress and traumatic brain injury in veterans and military-connected families who are patients in their clinical practices.  Many veterans and their families turn to their primary care doctor, pediatrician, clergy, school nurse, teacher, counselor and others in the community as 'first responders' for initial crisis intervention and counseling. These community caregivers have a genuine interest and desire to help, but they may need additional training to understand the military culture, recognize the symptoms of traumatic brain injury or deployment– and combat–related stress, or know where to refer patients for care.  At Home Base, we believe that we are all first-responders in caring for our returning veterans and families.

Who do we work with?

Home Base offers education and training to meet a variety of needs. We are a resource for clinicians and community members throughout New England who want to understand and support the mental health needs of veterans and families. We work with:

• Primary care providers and pediatricians who serve veterans and military families
• State government and other organizations to train school nurses, educators, school administrators and family service organizations about the needs of military families in their community
• Colleges and universities to understand the unique challenges of student veterans and provide treatment
• Employers and employee assistance programs to build awareness of symptoms of PTSD and TBI and help their veteran employees and military families seek effective treatment
• First–responders including emergency medical, law enforcement and clergy in recognizing PTSD and TBI

Clinical Education Programs

Home Base collaborates with the MGH Psychiatry Academy, and the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD, to provide live and web–based educational offerings that are engaging, interactive and practical for physicians, psychologists, nurses, social workers and other health professionals. The MGH Psychiatry Academy offers advanced teaching methods and interactive learning formats that focus on solving real-world challenges, while building new models of collaborative care (provider, service members, family and community) to enhance resilience and self-management skills. In 2012, Home Base and the VA's National Center for PTSD collaborated to present a free, on-line educational series for clinicians, called From the War Zone to the Home Front: Supporting the Mental Health of Veterans and Families.