MILITARY & VETERANS AFFAIRS
NEWS RELEASE

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT:

Kryn P. Westhoven at 609-530-6950/Cell 609-902-1758

WHAT: News conference to announce partnership between UMDNJ-University Behavioral HealthCare (UBHC) and the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to provide mental-health services to the nearly 2,800 New Jersey Army National Guard Soldiers who are currently returning home after serving nearly a year in Iraq. It was New Jersey's largest National Guard deployment in more than 60 years.

 

Nearly 100 volunteer peer counselors and UBHC clinicians will conduct one-on-one “Welcome Home” psychoeducational sessions with each of these returning Soldiers during their demobilization. The aim is to provide an additional layer of mental-health screenings in an effort to identify all instances of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

 

UBHC and DMAVA have a history of working together. The two organizations operate the New Jersey Veterans For You helpline, which has handled more than 6,000 calls since it launched in April 2005. It is one of only three veterans' hotlines in the nation that uses veteran peer counselors and the only one that also assists family members.

 

The returning National Guard Soldiers are members of the 50th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

 

WHO: UMDNJ President Dr. William F. Owen, Jr. and Maj. Gen. Glenn K. Rieth, The Adjutant General of New Jersey

 

WHEN & WHERE: 10 a.m. on Wednesday, May 27 at the Lawrenceville Armory. 101 Eggert Crossing Road, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648