University of Michigan, zero8hundred and TAPS will use peer
support to assist transitioning soldiers and families; Rosalynn Carter
Institute will help caregivers of wounded veterans
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
To honor Veterans Day and the sacrifices and contributions of America’s
military personnel and their families, the Bristol-Myers
Squibb Foundation today announced five new grants totaling more than
$2.77 million to help military veterans and their families transition
back to civilian life and provide assistance to caregivers of wounded
veterans.
The grants were awarded through the Foundation’s Mental Health &
Well-Being initiative, which supports community-based solutions that
address the mental health and community integration needs of U.S.
military service personnel returning from active duty, their families
and the families of the fallen.
“The needs of our military veterans and their families span a range of
issues that include physical and mental health challenges, employment
and education needs, social connections, housing and long-term care of
veterans wounded in action,” says John Damonti, president, Bristol-Myers
Squibb Foundation. “A major component of the programs our partners are
developing and implementing involves peer support, which has been shown
to be an effective way to connect with and help veterans and their
families. We are proud to support our partners in their efforts to
minimize the barriers transitioning military veterans and their families
face upon leaving the service.”
The University of Michigan received a two-year, $848,870 grant to expand
and scale up its replicable Peer Advisors for Veteran Education (PAVE)
program, which connects student veterans on participating college and
university campuses with upper-level student veterans who can help them
navigate college life and refer them to appropriate resources when
needed. A 2012 grant from the Foundation funded a prototype program that
was piloted on 10 campuses; the new version of PAVE that will be
developed through the grant will be introduced to an additional 30
campuses at universities across the country.
The platform for the national rollout includes tools for training campus
teams, a mobile application that tracks student veterans’ needs and use
of the program and web-based access to resources, program materials and
outreach strategies for campus teams.
“The largest percentage of separated veterans is now on college
campuses, due to the passage of the Post 9-11 GI Bill,” says Jane
Spinner, project officer, Strategic Initiatives, University of Michigan
Depression Center and Department of Psychiatry. “The transition from the
military to academia can be challenging, but we have already seen the
impact of PAVE on student veteran health and wellness through a prior
grant from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation. The ability of peers to
overcome stigma issues around asking for help has been powerful.”
Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) received a grant of
$326,125 to continue implementing the Military and Veteran Community
Network’s (MVCN) Online Caregiver Peer Support Community Program, one
of three structured programs introduced as part of a comprehensive
nationwide network of support for veteran caregivers. The grant supports
MVCN’s platform for hosting peer dialogues among caregivers and the
soon-to-be launched online peer support groups.
"The Military and Veteran Caregiver Network is helping to reduce
caregiver isolation by giving them a safe and secure place to ‘meet’ to
discuss their shared lived experiences and common concerns,” says Lynda
Davis, Ph.D., executive director, MVCN and executive vice president,
TAPS. “Over the past month alone, almost 1,400 caregiver comments have
been shared through the online community."
The grant will allow MVCN to continue implementing the Online Caregiver
program so the impact of peer-based support on health outcomes specific
to military and veteran caregivers can be evaluated by RAND, also the
recipient of a Foundation grant. RAND received $425,000 to conduct a
study of MVCN’s peer-engaged caregivers of veterans to assess the
program’s impact and how program activities led to those outcomes. The
study is expected to demonstrate the positive impact of peer support as
a key component of behavioral health service to the military and veteran
community.
RAND also received a separate $175,000 grant to map the distribution of
evidence for peer support programs for veterans. The project will
provide an overview of the focus, quantity and quality of existing
research on peer-led interventions related to health promotion and
disease prevention and identify different types of peer-support programs
based on the formal roles that peers play, including providing social
support, mentorship, information and referral and treatment.
Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving (RCI) received a three-year,
$600,000 grant to pilot an all-volunteer workforce version of Operation
Family Caregiver, a support program for caregivers of service men and
women who have been wounded in action. Volunteers will come from Blue
Star Families, a national veteran service organization, and will include
former members of the National Guard, the Reserve and active military
service or family members of military service members or veterans.
Zero8hundred received a two-year, $397,422 grant to implement the
Physical and Mental Health support segment of the Military Transition
Support Project, which engages peer counselors and uses an online
network to link transitioning military families locating in San Diego,
California, to a broad range of resources and opportunities in the
community. Physical and Mental Health is one of four pillars of a
Veteran’s Wellness Framework. The others are Education and Jobs, Basic
Needs and Personal/Social Connections.
About the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation
The mission of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation is to help reduce
health disparities by strengthening community-based health care worker
capacity, integrating medical care and community-based supportive
services, and mobilizing communities in the fight against disease.
For more information about the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, please
visit www.bms.com/foundation
or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bmsnews.
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Source: Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation