“Combat to cul-de-sac”: Non-profit provides mental health services for returning soldiers

This morning Give an Hour held a news conference in conjunction with the American Psychiatric Association and the Lilly Foundation, a foundation that gives grants to philanthropic organizations . The presentation highlighted the work of Give an Hour, an organization which seeks to provide mental health services to military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and military families.

Dr. Barbara Romberg said she founded Give an Hour in September 2005 to supplement mental health services already provided by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Romberg cited studies which stated that 20 percent of the 1.6 million soldiers that have served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from anxiety, depression, post traumatic stress disorder, or complications due to traumatic brain injuries. Romberg mentioned soldiers’ loss of self upon return to the United States, a loss that has caused an increase in divorce rates within military families and 18 suicides a day among the United States’s 25 million veterans.

Romberg said that Give an Hour is comprised of licensed professionals in the mental health field and includes psychologists, psychiatrists, professional counselors, and social workers. Members are asked to volunteer one hour a week in which they provide free services to members of the military and others affected by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. She also stated that 1,200 health care professionals participate and that the program hopes to recruit a total of 40,000 members.

Romberg said that Give an Hour continually works to expand services across the United States and to increase public awareness of the mental side effects of warfare. An informational video stated that Give an Hour hopes to erase a stigma that appears within military personnel which suggests that seeking professional mental help will harm one’s career in the armed forces. Steven Paul, the president of Lilly Research Laboratories, said that Give an Hour, the American Psychiatric Association, and the Lilly Foundation seek to form a network of local support for a national issue.