@article{52742a1c2b8c4d8f930b1b343258aa04,
title = "Launching a Competency-Based Training Program in Evidence-Based Treatments for PTSD: Supporting Veteran-Serving Mental Health Providers in Texas",
abstract = "Community mental health providers play an essential role in delivering services to veterans who either have limited access to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities or who prefer to seek care outside of the VA. However, there are limited training opportunities in evidence-based treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) outside of the VA. In 2017, the STRONG STAR Training Initiative was established to develop competency-based training in two evidence-based therapies for PTSD and to provide that training for mental health providers serving veterans and their families in community settings in Texas. This article describes the program{\textquoteright}s development and implementation, baseline characteristics of participating clinicians, and lessons learned toward the scale-up and extension of this competency-based training effort to include other interventions and locations.",
keywords = "Cognitive processing therapy, Dissemination, Evidence-based treatments, Prolonged exposure, PTSD, Training",
author = "{for the STRONG STAR Training Initiative} and Dondanville, {Katherine A.} and Fina, {Brooke A.} and Straud, {Casey L.} and Finley, {Erin P.} and Hannah Tyler and Vanessa Jacoby and Blount, {Tabatha H.} and Moring, {John C.} and Pruiksma, {Kristi E.} and Blankenship, {Abby E.} and Evans, {Wyatt R.} and Mariya Zaturenskaya",
note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank the Texas mental health providers and their organizations for their enthusiastic engagement in this project and the important care they provide every day to veteran and non-veteran trauma survivors. We would like to thank our regional Learning Community partner organizations which include: University of Texas at San Antonio, University of North Texas, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Baylor University, Texas State University, Innovative Alternatives, and University of Texas at Austin. The authors thank Julie Collins and Joel Williams, who provided editorial support for this manuscript and Jeremy Karp and Arthur Marsden, who provided project management support. Funding Information: With 15 military installations, Texas is home to the third-largest population of active duty military personnel and reservists and second-largest population of veterans in the United States (Department of Defense Manpower Data Center ; Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts ; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ). In response to the growing mental health care needs of Texas veterans, the state of Texas has created the Texas Veterans + Family Alliance (TV + FA) grant program. In 2017, the STRONG STAR Training Initiative received grant funding from TV + FA and the Bob Woodruff Foundation to support the development and implementation of a training program to promote competency in EBTs for PTSD among Texas mental health providers who serve veterans and their family members in community settings. The STRONG STAR Training Initiative translates the Research Consortium{\textquoteright}s research outcomes and clinical expertise into practice. Its aim is to improve access to EBTs for PTSD by providing mental health providers competency-based training in military cultural competence and two EBTs for PTSD: CPT and PE (Dondanville and Fina ). CPT and PE are time-limited, cognitive-behavioral treatments for PTSD with strong evidence for their efficacy in reducing PTSD among civilians and veterans and with various types of trauma, including sexual and physical assault, combat trauma, natural disasters, and motor vehicle accidents (e.g., Foa et al. , , ; Galovski et al. ; Monson et al. ; Powers et al. ; Resick et al. , , ; Rothbaum et al. ; Schnurr et al. ). Funding Information: Under the leadership of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, the STRONG STAR Research Consortium is a multi-institutional, multidisciplinary research group of over 150 collaborating scientists and clinicians working to develop and evaluate the best approaches for preventing and treating combat-PTSD and related mental health problems among active duty military and veterans. The STRONG STAR Research Consortium network of over 60 ongoing or completed projects are federally funded through the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), VA, and National Institutes of Health, as well as by private institutions. Among these are the largest clinical trials to date establishing the efficacy of EBTs for combat-related PTSD (Foa et al. ; Resick et al. , ). Additionally, the STRONG STAR Research Consortium clinical research therapists have treated hundreds of service members and veterans and published clinical practice articles to aid providers in the implementation of EBTs for PTSD for combat-related PTSD (Blount et al. ; Fina et al. , ; Hall-Clark et al. ; Wachen et al. ). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.",
year = "2021",
month = jul,
doi = "10.1007/s10597-020-00676-7",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "57",
pages = "910--919",
journal = "Community Mental Health Journal",
issn = "0010-3853",
publisher = "Springer Netherlands",
number = "5",
}