Paving the Road Home: The National Behavioral Health Conference and Policy Acade

SAMHSA Returning Veterans Conference

Paving the Road Home: The National Behavioral Health Conference and Policy Academy on Returning Veterans and Their Families

August 11 Conference is Open to Public

SAMHSA, along with the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, is sponsoring a national conference—"Paving the Road Home: The National Behavioral Health Conference and Policy Academy on Returning Veterans and Their Families." The conference, open to the public on August 11, is intended for representatives of veterans and service organizations, service providers, family members, and veterans themselves.

A major goal is to strengthen the behavioral health systems on a state level by ensuring that community efforts are coordinated and collaborative, urging peer-to-peer veteran support networks. The conference will focus on issues facing veterans of both genders and all ranks and services and their family members.

Possible topics include:

•        – Improving state models and best practices for meeting mental health and substance abuse needs
•        – Developing appropriate competence in military culture among those working with returning veterans and their families
•        – Understanding traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder
•        – Increasing awareness about suicide prevention and mental health promotion
•        – Addressing substance use, mental and co-occurring conditions, and traumatic stress.

The conference is a followup to the 2006 SAMHSA national conference on veterans (see SAMHSA News online, May/June 2006). Attendance is limited to 500 people. For more information on the conference and how to register, visit SAMHSA’s Web site at http://samhsa.gov/vets/conference2008.aspx.