The USC School of Social Work has established a new center to address the critical need to train social workers and other mental health practitioners to become better providers to veterans and their families.

The mission of the Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families is to advance the individual, group and community well-being of American veterans and military families through value-driven education, training, research, partnerships and leadership.

A recently released study by RAND's Center for Military Health Policy Research found there are not enough mental health care resources in communities for veterans. Mental health specialty care for conditions such as post-traumatic syndrome disorder and depression is not readily available in many parts of the country.

Challenges facing military service members returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been increasingly well documented. According to RAND, a substantial number of the 1.7 million military service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan face mental health problems. An estimated 18.5 percent of military personnel back from deployment reported symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of PTSD or depression, the study reported.

"In an effort to fill this gap in quality care in community settings across the United States, this center at the USC School of Social Work will provide education and training in evidence-based practices on trauma/PTSD and familiarize mental health practitioners with military culture," said Anthony Hassan, director of the new center.

The Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families was established, in part, by congressional appropriations and funding from the Lincy Foundation. It aims to deliver education and training via innovative state-of-the-art instructional methods, provide consultation to communities and states serving veterans, and develop partnerships with other leaders to help identify gaps in the military and veteran health care systems and opportunities for improvement.

Through collaboration with the USC Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT), an Army-affiliated research center, the center will work to rapidly revolutionize the delivery of education and training to mental health professionals. ICT has developed a virtual reality exposure therapy to treat soldiers and veterans suffering from PTSD.

"The goal is to revolutionize professional internship training through the development of 'virtual humans,' who will simulate stress reactions commonly seen in veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts," Hassan said. "Online and mobile learning programs will also be created for national dissemination."

The creation of the center builds on the school's ongoing efforts to address the mental health needs of current and former members of the armed forces. A new graduate specialization in military and veteran services is offered through the School of Social Work's new military social work sub-concentration.

The program – the first of its kind at a major research university – prepares students to help the nation's armed forces personnel, military veterans and their families manage the pressures of military life and postwar adjustments.