Healthcare Professional Continuing Education Credits
Connecting with the VA
Connecting with the VA is intended for healthcare providers and is narrated by Dr. Abigail C. Angkaw, a member of the PTSD Consultation Program within the VA’s National Center for PTSD.
Columbia Scale for Healthcare Providers
Talking to a service member or Veteran about suicide -- and asking the right questions -- are the first steps in saving a life. To create an open, honest discussion about mental health healthcare providers should use the C-SSRS
Barriers to Treatment
In this course, Dr. Shauna Springer discusses how differences in military culture affect mental health and explains how to help military or Veteran patients overcome barriers to seeking treatment.
Crisis Response Plan for Healthcare Providers: Introduction and Assessment
This course introduces the theory behind the Crisis Response Plan, and explains the importance of narrative-based assessment of predisposition, risk factors and protective factors in your clinical interactions with patients.
Crisis Response Plan for Healthcare Providers: Intervention
This course introduces the theory behind the Crisis Response Plan, and explains the importance of narrative-based assessment of predisposition, risk factors and protective factors in your clinical interactions with patients.
Unit Stabilization After Suicide Loss
In this course, “Unit Stabilization After Suicide Loss,” Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors VP and suicide survivor Kim Ruocco shares how the TAPS Postvention Model of Support can be applied to advising military leaders following suicide loss.
Intimacy and Emotional Disconnect in Military Populations
This course investigates links between emotional disconnect and relationship intimacy issues primarily among Veteran and active duty military couples.
Supporting Student Veterans in Reasonable Academic Accommodations
This course is designed for healthcare providers working with student Veterans. It provides an explanation of the term academic accommodations and describes qualifying psychiatric conditions that might impact a student's learning experience.
Postvention: Healing After Suicide
Postvention is a term unfamiliar to many people, yet it is a critical component of suicide prevention. This course, narrated by Dr. Shauna Springer, explains postvention, what it is and why it is important.
Traumatic Brain Injury
TBI is considered a signature wound of the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and its prevalence in military service members and Veterans makes it an important topic to review for providers who treat Veterans.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Narrated by Dr. Heidi Kraft, clinical psychologist and Navy combat Veteran, this course explains the difference between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and posttraumatic stress (PTS).
Military Sexual Trauma
This course provides critical clinical information about military sexual trauma (MST), which is defined as sexual assault or sexual harassment during military service.
Grief and Trauma
In “Grief and Trauma,” Dr. Shauna Springer explains that grief and trauma are different challenges — and that they require different healing strategies.
Suicide In Military Members & Veterans
Dr. Craig Bryan of the University of Utah National Center for Veterans Studies provides an overview of military suicide statistics and explains unique factors that may be related to increased rates in military suicide.
VA S.A.V.E.
By taking this course you will develop a general understanding of the problem of suicide in the United States; understand how to identify a Veteran who may be at risk for suicide; and, finally, know what to do if you identify a Veteran at risk.
Inner Conflict and Survivor's Guilt
Intended for all healthcare providers who treat service members and Veterans, this course is narrated by clinical psychologist and Navy combat Veteran Dr. Heidi Kraft. Through storytelling and clinical case examples, Dr. Kraft will guide healthcare l
15 Things Veterans Want You to Know for Healthcare Providers
This course was created to educate Healthcare Providers who care for our military Veterans. PsychArmor asked hundreds of Veterans what they wanted civilians, employers, educators, health care providers, and therapists to know about them.
Taught by world class instructors:
Abigail Angkaw, Ph.D.
PTSD Program Director, VA San Diego, Associate Clinical Professor, UCSD
Kelly Posner, Ph.D
Founder and Director, The Columbia Lighthouse Project
Kelly Posner, PhD is a Professor of Psychiatry in the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University and the Founder and Director of The Columbia Lighthouse Project. The U.S. Department of Defense said her work is “nothing short of a miracle,” central to their National Strategy, and “will help propel us closer to a world without suicide.” For this work Dr. Posner has been awarded with the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service. The former President of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, noted the Columbia Protocol (or C-SSRS) and its dissemination could be “like the introduction of antibiotics.” He also stated that because of her work, we “may actually be able to make a dent in the rates of suicide that have existed in our population and have remained constant over time…that would be an enormous achievement in terms of public health care and preventing loss of life.” Dr. Posner’s work with the Columbia Protocol has been noted in a keynote speech at the White House and in Congressional hearings, and she presented in a forum on school safety at the U.S. Senate. Jim Shelton, Former Deputy Education Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, says her work “has the potential to keep the 64 million children in our schools safe physically and mentally by helping prevent school violence.” Through her advocacy, she has changed local, national and international policy, which in turn has helped achieve reductions in suicide across all types of public health settings including healthcare, schools, the military, states and countries. Her policy work helped the state of Utah achieve its first decrease in suicides in a decade and helped the U.S. Marine Corp achieve a 22% suicide reduction. Israeli officials said her work “is not only saving millions of lives but in Israel it is literally changing the way we live our lives.” Dr. Posner gave the invited presentation on tackling depression and suicide at the first European Union high level conference on mental health, was recognized as the most Distinguished Alumna of her graduate school in the past fifty years, and received the New York State Suicide Prevention Award. She was named one of New York Magazine’s “Most Influential,” received the Angel Award of New York’s “100 Socially Responsible,” and the Anne Vanderbilt Award from Partnership for Children. Recommended or adopted by CDC, FDA, DoD, and NIMH, the C-SSRS has become the gold standard for suicide monitoring and is ubiquitous across the U.S and many international agencies. The FDA has characterized her work as “setting a standard in the field” and the CDC said that her work is “changing the paradigm in suicide risk assessment in the US and worldwide.” A lead article in The New York Times called this work “one of the most profound changes of the past sixteen years to regulations governing drug development.” Dr. Posner’s scholarly work has been included in the compendium of the most important research in the history of the study of suicide.
Shauna Springer, Ph.D.
Relationship Expert. Trauma Expert. Trusted Doc.
Dr. Shauna Springer – known as “Doc Springer” in the military community, is one of the nation’s leading experts on PTSD and transitional trauma. Her work has been featured on CNN, VICE, Business Insider, THRIVE Global, US News and World Report, NPR, NBC, CBS Radio, Forbes, Washington Post, and Military Times. She is a regular contributor to Psychology Today.
Over the past decade, Doc Springer has earned a rare form of trust with military leaders and combat warfighters. After serving for 8 years as a frontline psychologist in the Department of Veterans Affairs she transitioned to becoming the Senior Director of Suicide Prevention Initiatives for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. In her new role as Chief Psychologist of Stella Center, she is working to advance a new model for the treatment of trauma, that fuses biological and psychological interventions. She continues to collaborate with colleagues at TAPS to elevate TAPS field-leading expertise on grief and loss. For example, she is a lead subject matter expert for the NFL Foundation funded PsychArmor series of courses on suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention. Dr. Springer wrote and narrated 5 courses to support this critical initiative – on barriers to treatment, TAPS postvention model, grief and trauma, grief in the veteran population, and post-traumatic growth after loss.
Dr. Springer’s reputation for walking with warfighters in the trenches of mental warfare is widely recognized. What Dr. Springer has learned from helping our nation’s warriors confront and overcome the challenges they face gives her a uniquely valuable perspective on how to lead ourselves – and those around us – through times of trauma, challenge, and unforeseen life disruption.
Craig Bryan, Psy.D., ABPP
Stress, Trauma, & Resilience Professor, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Division Director of Recovery and Resilience, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health
Dr. Craig J. Bryan, PsyD, ABPP, is a board-certified clinical psychologist in cognitive-behavioral psychology. He is the Stress, Trauma, & Resilience (STAR) Professor at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and Division Director of Recovery and Resilience in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health. Dr. Bryan is the former Executive Director of the National Center for Veterans Studies at The University of Utah. He served on active duty in the U.S. Air Force as an active duty psychologist, which included a deployment to Iraq in 2009. He has published hundreds of scientific articles and several books including Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Suicide Prevention. He is one of the nation’s leading experts on military and Veteran suicide.
Kim Ruocco, MSW
Vice President, Suicide Postvention and Prevention, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors
Kim Ruocco develops comprehensive, peer-based programs that offer comfort and care to all those who are grieving the loss of a service member to suicide. Kim also provides suicide prevention education and is an internationally renowned speaker, providing trainings to both military and civilian audiences. Kim is a military widow; her husband, Marine Major John Ruocco, was a decorated Marine Cobra helicopter pilot who died by suicide in 2005 while preparing for a second Iraq combat deployment. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Services and a master’s degree in Clinical Social Work
Sarah Nunnik
Director of the Center for Emotional Change
Katherine Mitchell, MD
VA Quality Scholar
Dr. Mitchell is a former nurse and current physician with over 18 years experience within the VA health care system. As a long-time VA Emergency Department physician Dr. Mitchell became quite familiar with the physical and mental health issues challenging today’s Veterans. As the medical director of the Phoenix VA Post-Deployment Clinic, Dr. Mitchell developed an in-depth understanding of the multiple physical, psychological, and psychosocial concerns of Post 9/11 Veterans. While providing care for OEF/OIF/OND Veterans Dr. Mitchell recognized how mental health issues could cause significant impairment of student-Veterans’ learning abilities. Dr. Mitchell saw a tremendous need to educate student-Veterans, caregivers, and other health care providers about the availability of academic accommodations for psychiatric diagnoses. Dr. Mitchell recognized these accommodations could empower Veterans to self-advocate, overcome barriers to learning, and ultimately achieve academic success. With the goal of disseminating information to Veterans and health care providers throughout the VA, as a VA Quality Scholar she subsequently developed educational materials and authored two peer-reviewed journal articles on academic accommodations for Post-9/11 Veterans with psychiatric diagnoses.
Amy Jak, Ph.D.
Staff Neuropsychologist & Director, TBI Cognitive Rehab Clinic, VA San Diego Healthcare System
Amy Jak, Ph.D. is a clinical neuropsychologist with extensive treatment and research experience with Veterans with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI). She is a Staff Neuropsychologist and Director of the TBI Cognitive Rehabilitation Clinic at the VA San Diego Healthcare System and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). She is also a member of the VA VISN 22 Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health. She is currently the PI of a DoD-funded randomized trial investigating a hybrid treatment for Veterans with both PTSD and a history of mild TBI. Dr. Jak’s work has been funded by VA, DoD, NIH, and/or Alzheimer’s Association since 2007. She is a fellow of Division 40 of the American Psychological Association (APA), serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, and has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles.
Heidi Squier Kraft, Ph.D.
Chief Clinical Officer, PsychArmor
Heidi Squier Kraft received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the UC San Diego/SDSU Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology in 1996. She joined the Navy during her internship at Duke University Medical Center and went on to serve as both a flight and clinical psychologist. Her active duty assignments included the Naval Safety Center, the Naval Health Research Center and Naval Hospital Jacksonville, FL. While on flight status, she flew in nearly every aircraft in the Navy and Marine Corps inventory, including more than 100 hours in the F/A-18 Hornet, primarily with Marine Corps squadrons. In February 2004, she deployed to western Iraq for seven months with a Marine Corps surgical company, when her boy and girl twins were 15-months-old. RULE NUMBER TWO is a memoir of that experience. Dr. Kraft left active duty in 2005, after nine years in the Navy. She currently serves as Chief Clinical Officer at PsychArmor Institute, a national non-profit dedicated to evidence-based education for those who live with, care for, and work with the military-connected community. She is frequently invited to speak at conferences and panels on stress, vicarious trauma, and military culture. She is a lecturer at San Diego State University, where she teaches Stress, Trauma and the Psychological Experience of Combat, Health Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Field Placement, and Infant and Child Development. Dr. Kraft lives in San Diego with her husband Mike, a former Marine Harrier pilot. Her twins Brian and Meg, who have no memory of their mother’s time in Iraq, are in college now.
Margret Bell, Ph.D.
VA National Deputy Director, MST, National Center for PTSD
Margret Bell, Ph.D. earned her doctorate in counseling psychology from Boston College and currently serves as the national Deputy Director for Military Sexual Trauma (MST) in the Department of Veterans Affairs. In conjunction with that role, she leads the MST Support Team, which works at a national level within the Veterans Health Administration to promote best practices in the field and assist VA in meeting legal mandates related to services for Veterans who experienced sexual assault or sexual harassment while in the military. Dr. Bell also serves as a staff psychologist at VA Boston HCS, where she provides therapy to women Veterans and clinical supervision to trainees through VA Boston’s Women’s Stress Disorder Treatment Team. She is also affiliated with the Women’s Health Sciences Division of the National Center for PTSD and Boston University School of Medicine where her research focuses on victim, community, and systemic responses to interpersonal trauma and violence against women. An overarching goal of her work is to use knowledge about the aftereffects of trauma and context of victims’ lives to inform the development of effective, victim-sensitive intervention programs and policies.
Megan McCarthy, Ph.D.
Deputy Director of Suicide Prevention, Veteran's Health Administration, Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention
Dr. Megan McCarthy is the Deputy Director of Suicide Prevention in the Veteran’s Health Administration Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. As Deputy Director, Dr. McCarthy’s work focuses on the development of VA’s comprehensive public health approach to suicide prevention and on oversight of the office’s day-to-day operations. Dr. McCarthy is also an Assistant Health Sciences Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. She received a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, where she studied philosophy and international relations, and a doctorate in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed her doctoral internship at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and a postdoctoral clinical fellowship specializing in psychotherapy for underserved communities at Harvard Medical School.
