Give an Hour, as the lead activation partner for the health pillar of the Got Your 6 Campaign, is proud to announce two days  

of inspiring events in New York City, where we will inaugurate our program to educate 100,000 students in mental health disciplines on the unique issues of veterans and military families.  

A Celebration of Service, June 2-3, 2013, will bring together colleagues from the military, government, corporate, educational, and nonprofit worlds to focus on service and train the next generation of mental health professionals while encouraging voluntarism, engaging communities, and creating awareness of the need for critical mental health services. Many more will participate when our full-day conference, "Serving Those Who Serve: Training the Next Generation," is live streamed to multiple college campuses across the country.  

Give an Hour is honored to present the "Commitment to Service" award during the VIP Reception on Sunday evening to Colonel David Sutherland, U.S. Army Retired, and Debbie Gregory, CEO of Military Connection, for their extraordinary dedication to helping those who serve.

Give an Hour invites you to join this critical mission to educate students and spread awareness about the unique issues of veterans and military families. 

Here's an overview of our events:

Serving Those Who Serve - Signing Ceremony with Give an Hour and the Army National Guard

Give an Hour is excited to be launching an association with the National Guard for the shared goal of expanding mental health services to military personnel and their families. A formal signing of our joint Memorandum of Understanding will take place at a breakfast on Sunday, June 2, 2013. This will be an inspirational way to start the two days of activities devoted to celebrating service and raising awareness about the challenges faced by military families.

A Celebration of Service Community Project

Working with our partners such as City Year, The Mission Continues, Team Rubicon, and Student Veterans of America, our service project will invite community and military leaders, conference attendees, and students to roll up their sleeves and work side-by-side with veterans during the day on Sunday, June 2, 2013. 

A Celebration of Service VIP Reception and Benefit Concert

Serving Those Who Serve - Training the Next Generation

Conference and Post-Conference Reception

On Monday, June 3, 2013, at Columbia University, respected mental health and military professionals from around the country will help us educate students in mental health disciplines on the unique issues of veterans and military families, through a series of panel discussions and presentations. This full-day conference will be live streamed to college campuses around the country. Participants will include students from all of the major mental health disciplines. 

Our post-conference reception, to be held at Columbia University immediately following the conference on June 3, 2013, will allow time for continued networking and exchange of ideas.

We hope you will join us.

Give an Hour has expanding its reach to include victims, families, and first responders dealing with the aftermath of the Boston Marathon explosions.

"We have already been approached by people seeking help and we are here for them. Give an Hour is offering mental health services to anyone, including young children, affected by this tragic event," says Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, founder and president of Give an Hour. "With hundreds of licensed mental health professionals in Massachusetts--and thousands more across the country--Give an Hour has the capacity to help those who are experiencing grief, loss, and anxiety as a result of this horrible tragedy, and we want to do our part," adds Dr. Van Dahlen.

Mental health professionals interested in joining Give an Hour can complete an easy online form at www.giveanhour.org. 

Those seeking help from Give an Hour can visit www.giveanhour.org and click on "visitors" to locate a provider in their area.

Give an Hour Mental Health Professionals Offer No-Cost Counseling Services to

Victims, Families, and First Responders  

of West, Texas, Explosions

"We are saddened by yet another tragic event in our country," says Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, founder and president of Give an Hour. "With thousands of licensed mental health professionals ready to help, Give an Hour wants to reach out to those who are experiencing grief, loss, and anxiety as a result of the West, Texas, tragedy.  Though circumstances might be different, the psychological impact of horrific events is not. We stand ready to help this community heal," adds Dr. Van Dahlen.

Mental health professionals interested in joining Give an Hour can complete an easy online form at www.giveanhour.org. 

Those seeking help from Give an Hour can visit www.giveanhour.org and click on "visitors" to locate a provider in their area.

Veterans Join Senators in Call for Passage of Mental Health Legislation as Part of Gun Safety Package

One in Four Veterans Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan  

Will Need Some Form of Mental Health Treatment

Justin Constantine, veteran of Iraq and GAH board member, with Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)

One in four veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan will need mental health treatment of some kind, and community mental health centers are expected to soon be serving over 200,000 veterans. Twenty-two veterans commit suicide every day in the United States.

A bipartisan group of Senators introduced the Excellence in Mental Health Act in February. Cosponsors include Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Jack Reed (D-RI), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Susan Collins (R-ME), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Jon Tester (D-MT), Mark Begich (D-AK), and Chris Coons (D-DE).

Proponents of the act expressed their fervent support.  

Sen. Stabenow: "With more veterans coming home and living with mental illness, it is more important than ever to make sure they have access to quality mental health care.  We need to support our troops and veterans with more than just words--we need to support them with our actions. Now is time to act to expand access to treatment for our veterans, and all Americans living with mental illness."

Sen. Tester: "As Congress looks to reduce violence in our communities, we have to look first at how we treat those who need our help the most. This bill will increase access to mental health services on the ground so that more folks--including veterans--can get the care they need."

Jennifer Crane, Afghanistan Veteran: "It will be 10 years this October since I came home from overseas but the experiences live inside of me like it was yesterday. I suffer from Chronic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. My life will never be perfect but with the help that has been provided to me, I can truly begin to live life again. The Excellence in Mental Health Act has the ability to open up hope and help to our country, its veterans and civilians alike."

Justin Constantine, Give an Hour Board Member and Iraq Veteran: "Within our military and our American society at large, it is critical that we reduce the stigma attached to seeking behavioral health care. Seeking the help you need and deserve is a sign of strength, not weakness, and shows maturity and confidence. Making mental health care options available on a large scale is a huge step in the right direction.  The bipartisan Excellence in Medical Health Act does just that by expanding access and improving the quality of care."

Alex Nicholson, Director of Government Affairs, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America: "Providing quality care for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan requires an innovative approach that addresses both the physical and the mental health of a veteran. We must continue to expand efforts to connect more veterans to mental health resources, both within the VA system and outside of it. Senator Stabenow's efforts to ensure that veterans who need mental health care, like all Americans who need access to such critical services, can get that care no matter where they are or what their situation is constitutes smart and compassionate public policy, and that's why Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America stands with Senator Stabenow and her colleagues here today to support this legislation."

Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, Founder and President, Give an Hour: "We know that hundreds of thousands of the men and women who have served our country during the past decade of war will come home with invisible injuries such as post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury. We also know that one size doesn't fit all with respect to where those in need choose to seek treatment for these injuries. Some of our veterans will seek care through the Department of Veterans Affairs but others will prefer to see a community provider through organizations like Give an Hour or at their local community mental health center. Through the Excellence in Mental Health Act we will help to ensure that our Community Mental Health Centers are able to meet the needs of those who serve and their families."

Jennifer Crane, veteran of Afghanistan, and Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)

Click here to see video of the event.  

The themes of compassion and mentoring throughout the film provide a common thread of healing, tying these organizations together in support of the event. Following the screening, the writer, producer, and star of the film, Marty Papazian, and the Founder and President of Give an Hour, Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, will have a Q&A at the Cranford, New Jersey, Digiplex Theater, which will be broadcast live to the other Digiplex Cinemas via satellite. 

Give an Hour is the lead activation partner for the health pillar of the entertainment industry's Got Your 6 campaign (www.gotyour6.org), a national public awareness effort led by the entertainment industry and top-tier national nonprofits.

Named for a military term meaning "I've got your back" (and referring to the six o'clock position, designating the rear of a military formation), Got Your 6 aims to bridge the growing civilian-military divide in this country and show veterans and military families as civic assets and leaders. The campaign connects ordinary Americans with veterans and military families to better enable military veterans to succeed in civilian life.

Got Your 6 also focuses on tangible outcomes in six key areas that are pillars of veteran reintegration: jobs, education, health, housing, family, and leadership. For each of the pillars, Got Your 6 partners have established goals that can be identified, measured, and reported in quantifiable terms. Their progress will be monitored by the Clinton Global Initiative. Give an Hour has pledged to educate 100,000 students in mental health disciplines about military culture and the unique issues affecting military families and will host the conference mentioned above in New York City on June 3, 2013, to gather and teach students and mental health professionals.

As part of this effort, Give an Hour is launching the GAH Connected/Got Your 6 website, which provides training, education, and resources, while highlighting the great efforts already under way in programs across the country to educate these students. Issues such as PTSD, military sexual trauma, suicide, and TBI, along with deployment, reintegration, family life, and military children, will be explored. Students, whether in undergraduate or graduate programs, will have easy access to numerous research studies, reports, books, films, sites, video clips, and other interactive material.  "Our hope is that these students will gain a real understanding of what this particular community faces and what sets it apart," notes Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, founder and president of Give an Hour. Information will also be available for current mental health professionals and for university administrators of programs that address military and veteran needs.

On May 8, 2013, Give an Hour provider Dr. John H. Valentine, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, testified before the House Professional Licensure Committee about legislation that would make it easier for retired mental health care providers to volunteer their services to support military personnel and their families.

Under present law, the Volunteer Services Act, a retired health care provider may obtain a volunteer license to provide free primary health care services to low-income individuals but only inside an approved clinic and not in alternative locations such as libraries, community centers, or churches. House Bill 43 (and its counterpart in the senate, Senate Bill 81) changes current law to allow retired Pennsylvania psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, and counselors to obtain a volunteer license to provide mental health services to military personnel and their families through referral from approved nonprofit organizations like Give an Hour, even in locations outside an approved clinic.

Dr. Valentine's state representative, Kate Harper (R-Montgomery) proposed the bill to update the act. "Our servicemen and women have given so much of themselves to protect our freedoms, and even though many of them come back home alive, they are deeply changed by the horrors they have experienced," Ms. Harper said. "We owe it to them to do everything we can to support them, and we have highly qualified mental health professionals who are willing to help."

Dr. Valentine reports the reception was quite favorable and on a bipartisan basis. He adds that the services of Give an Hour are vital to addressing the coming health care crisis of military men and women dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, along with drug and alcohol problems commonly associated with those conditions.

Dr. Valentine is married, with 5 children and 12 grandchildren. He completed all of his

medical and psychiatric training at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he attained the rank of Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry on the Volunteer Faculty, teaching medical students and residents. He is a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Dr. Valentine was a captain in the Army Medical Corps from 1968 to 1970.

Over his career, he has practiced hospital psychiatry, geropsychiatry, and substance abuse management at several general hospitals and nursing homes and at a national cancer center in the Philadelphia area. But he principally treated individuals, couples, and families in his private practice. Later, Dr. Valentine switched to "giving back" by working part time in two different public sector mental health clinics, working with children in poverty and with mentally disabled adults, He also worked for a sustained period at the Philadelphia VA mental health and substance abuse clinic.

Currently, Dr. Valentine volunteers by advising and educating, as a "friend of the court," the very successful Montgomery County Veteran's Treatment Court Team that manages honorably discharged nonviolent minor felons who accept VA treatment and adult probation supervision instead of up to two years of county jail time. When his back is up to it, he enjoys golfing and travel to Europe or California.  He also serves on his Catholic parish council and the board of his local public library.

Thank you, Dr. Valentine, for your amazing efforts on behalf of service members, veterans, and their families!