DCoE Division Chief Extends Resilience Outreach to Alaska Command

By Robyn Mincher, DCoE Strategic Communications

Cmdr. George Durgin, DCoE resilience division chief, speaks about resilience programs available to service members and their families to nearly 70 U.S. Army senior leaders at a senior leader conference, hosted by U.S. Army Alaska commander Maj. Gen. Raymond Palumbo, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Sept. 7, 2011. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Eric Reinhardt)

As U.S. Public Health Service Cmdr. George Durgin, Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) resilience division chief, addressed an audience of 75 Alaskan commanders, he saw the significance of DCoE outreach firsthand.

“Having this opportunity at major commands, such as Alaska, provides opportunities for collaboration with DCoE,” he said. “Sharing this information gives senior staff a toolbox to help their troops stay combat ready.”

In Anchorage on Wednesday, Durgin discussed a recent RAND report that encouraged standardization and evaluation of military psychological health programs to strengthen results. He also shared resources available through DCoE and its component centers, including the inTransition program and resources from the National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2) — ones that could be particularly valuable for Alaskan soldiers.

“Alaskan commanders wanted to engage in T2 programs for their behavioral telehealth needs at remote bases,” he said. “They liked inTransition, since it would benefit soldiers receiving medical care from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, to Walter Reed Army Medical center in the Washington, D.C. area, to their providers in Alaska.”

Durgin noted the unique environmental stressors service members stationed in Alaska face and how they could benefit from DCoE support.

“Stations up north have less daylight and longer winters, which impacts the environmental domain in the Total Force Fitness paradigm, possibly adding to psychological health concerns,” he said.

Durgin was able to talk to military leaders in Alaska because of a request that came through the DCoE Speakers Bureau. Durgin, a subject matter expert on the topic of resilience and active committee member for the annual Warrior Resilience Conference, was a natural fit. His latest efforts are helping to develop the resilience division’s upcoming web-based database, designed to be a one-stop resource to locate the best military psychological health programs.

“The leaders in Alaska are developing a flagship family program, and they asked where they could find a source for best practices, since there are so many military family programs,” Durgin said. “We’re looking forward to providing them with a web-based resource for all of the best resilience programs.”

Alaska has 5,000 soldiers deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, and another 4,000 are scheduled to deploy before Christmas, according to Maj. Gen. Raymond Palumbo, commanding general of U.S. Army Alaska.

Durgin is pleased with the response to his presentation in Alaska and looks forward to future DCoE outreach opportunities.

“Some leaders were unaware of the RAND study and our resources that provide resilience and behavioral health techniques, so this was their opportunity to be educated about a myriad of studies and resources across the Defense Department,” he said. “Our outreach provided them with a breadth of resilience programs to help them help their troops.”