By Dr. Lolita O’Donnell, DCoE Clearinghouse, Outreach and Advocacy directorate acting director
Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury

The Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) recently completed the first year of its DCoE Monthly Webinar Series. The series is an ongoing, informational series, in which both government and non-governmental organizations present resources and best practices associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and psychological health care. The webinar provides an interactive environment where participants can ask questions of subject matter experts and comment on the issues presented.

This year’s series addressed different topics, including, but not limited to, family support techniques, combating stigma, suicide prevention and reintegration programs. Speakers included representatives from the DoD Yellow Ribbon Program, Sesame Workshop, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and others.

Looking ahead, we are pleased to announce the 2011 DCoE Monthly Webinar Series schedule! The 2011 topics vary and will discuss both clinical and non-clinical issues in TBI and mental health care. Topics include indirect neurotrauma, neuropathophysiology of mild TBI and compassion fatigue. Whether you are a servicemember, family member, friend, clinician, or other professional supporting patients with TBI or psychological health concerns, we hope you will find the 2011 webinar schedule to be of interest.

We are excited to report, attendance has increased by more than 400 percent since the first webinar in November 2009. We hope you’ll join us next year to make the series even more successful! To be added to the DCoE Monthly Webinar Series listserv and to sign up for upcoming webinars, e-mail DCoE.MonthlyWebinar@tma.osd.mil.

To view the list of 2011 webinars, visit http://www.dcoe.health.mil/DCoENews/DCoEAnnounces2011MonthlyWebinarSchedule.aspx