Clearinghouse, Outreach and Advocacy Directorate

Mission:

To provide relevant information, tools and resources for warriors, families, leaders, clinicians and the community that empower them, support them and strengthen their resilience, recovery and reintegration.

Director:

Cmdr. Anthony Arita

Overview:

The Clearinghouse, Outreach and Advocacy Directorate provides relevant information, tools and resources about psychological health (PH) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) to warriors, families, leaders, clinicians and the community.

The directorate oversees the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) Outreach Center, which provides tools, information and resources to military service members, veterans, their families and others who have questions or concerns about PH and TBI. It operates 24/7. The DCoE Outreach Center is staffed by behavioral health consultants and nurses with advanced degrees and expertise in PH and TBI issues. In addition to answering questions, consultants refer callers to contact centers in the Department of Defense, other federal agencies and outside organizations when appropriate.

Goals and Objectives:

• Disseminate useful information about PH and TBI that will benefit warriors, veterans and families.
• Disseminate information of relevance to multiple target audiences.
• Actively engage with warriors, families, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, leaders, educators, support organizations and treatment resources to connect, share, collaborate and coordinate to serve the needs of warrior families.
• Engage network resources to proactively identify concerns regarding the receipt, delivery and navigation of care for wounded warriors as well as to assist in the identification and mobilization of those resources that best address those concerns.

Functional Areas:

Information Clearinghouse: The directorate serves as the central source where any warrior, family member, caregiver, clinician, researcher, educator, military leader, or other interested person may obtain current information regarding PH and TBI.

Outreach: The directorate disseminates information of relevance to multiple target audiences, communicates DCoE’s position as the premiere resource on PH and TBI issues and actively engages with warriors, families, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, leaders, educators, support organizations and treatment resources to connect, share, collaborate and coordinate to serve their needs.

Advocacy: The directorate engages network resources to proactively identify concerns regarding the receipt, delivery and navigation of care for wounded warriors as well as to assist in the identification and mobilization of resources that best address those concerns.

Annual Gender and Ethnic Specific Conferences: The directorate is responsible for addressing the Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health and the recommendations of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008 to note the gender and ethnic-specific mental healthcare needs of members of the armed forces. In response to this, DCoE co-hosted the inaugural conference “Trauma Spectrum Disorders: The Role of Gender, Race & Other Socioeconomic Factors” in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Institutes of Health. The conference was designed to improve identification and treatment of gender and race factors in traumatic stress and TBI.