Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Paul Wu | 180712-N-NR803-074 Portsmouth, Va. (July 12, 2018) Members of the embedded provider...... read more read more
PORTSMOUTH, Va. - More than 100 mental health and other healthcare providers attended the 2018 Joint Navy Mental Health Symposium at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) July 12, with this year’s event focusing on the Embedded Mental Health Provider Program.
While the symposium was geared toward psychologists, social workers and occupational therapists, other providers also attended, including psychiatrists, behavioral health technicians, psychiatric nurse practitioners and senior medical officers.
Topics included the history and future of embedded mental health, how occupational therapy and neuropsychology complement each other in a deployed setting, and the operator, provider and the Naval Special Warfare model.
“Each year, the psychology and social work communities get together to share lessons learned and celebrate the different things that we are doing in our communities,” said Lt. Cmdr. Kaarin Coe, the Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Program department head at NMCP and member of the symposium’s organizing committee. “We have presentations on initiatives we are working on or share experiences within the community. This year, we invited occupational therapy as well.
“The theme this year was on embedded mental health, and we have a lot of subject matter experts speaking today – those who have served with Naval Special Warfare units as well as on the carriers,” Coe continued. “The afternoon includes panel discussions so we can get a larger number of folks with different experiences speaking to the group.”
Embedded healthcare providers are attached to an operational unit, deploy with the unit and provide care for service members assigned to the unit. With embedded mental health providers, the intention is to allow Sailors and Marines to get to know the provider and therefore reduce the stigma of seeking mental health care.
These providers are also able to gauge the unit’s psychological health and wellbeing, provide psychoeducation, and identify opportunities for care before service members find themselves in a crisis or that they have developed more significant symptoms.
“This is a worthy program to see built up,” said Capt. Christopher Culp, NMCP’s commanding officer, who spoke during the symposium and was involved in the creation of the program while he was the Pacific Fleet Surgeon. “The embedded mental health program increases resiliency and decreases unplanned losses. You know from being in these billets that what you are doing matters, and it’s a worthy thing to talk about across the mental health specialties when you get together in a forum like this.”
According to Cmdr. Arlene Saitzyk, assistant specialty leader for Psychology, preparing to be assigned to an operational billet requires more than just baseline skills within their healthcare specialty.
“Something we highlighted today was cultural competency,” Saitzyk said. “Yes, we are all trained in baseline psychotherapy skills, but each of the operational communities are different. Having a subject matter talk to us and brief us about what to expect when serving that community is important so we can be effective and build trust.”
While mental health providers have been on carriers for more than a decade and with Marine units as well, more recently, they have been added to other operational commands, like Navy Expeditionary Combat Command and those within the Submarine Force.
Saitzyk said at least a third of Navy psychologists are now embedded in operational units, and more are being added to these units as the need is identified. That applies to the social work and occupational therapy specialties as well. Social work recently expanded into the Embedded Mental Health Program, bringing their clinical skill set to augment the mental health team.
“We bring crisis intervention skills,” said Lt. Cmdr. Bryan Pile, assistant specialty leader for Social Work, “and we help the service member resolve issues that would otherwise become much more complex or much more negative for them that might pull them out of theater or off the ship. Our presence allows them to work on issues sooner and resolve them so that medical evacuation doesn’t have to happen.”
From an occupational therapy standpoint, their role is to augment the mental health provider in assessing work performance.
“The pinnacle of occupational therapy is looking at return to work, return to duty for the member,” said Cmdr. Leah Geislinger, specialty leader for Occupational Therapy. “We look at the goals that our mental health partners have set with individuals in their work performance. We specialize in those key skills that offer success in the performance of their duty.”
For many of the participants, the annual symposium is important for their professional development.
“This symposium is vital for us to have every year,” said Lt. Eric Neumaier, a staff psychologist at NMCP who was on the symposium’s organizing committee. “It’s an opportunity for us to learn the status of our communities. We are all Medical Service Corps officers, and we all work together. It’s so important to see where we are now and where we are going in the future, as well as a chance for us to be mentors. One of the biggest goals is mentorship, mentorship connections, and building those relationships.”
At the end of the symposium, Saitzyk hopes participants walked away “with an excitement, a passion for doing embedded mental health. It’s why we joined the military.”
| Date Taken: | 07.12.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 07.18.2018 07:44 |
| Story ID: | 284707 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 75 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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