ursano-headshot

Director’s Message

Our Center advances trauma-informed care through cutting edge research, education and training, and resources that draw upon our expertise in military and disaster psychiatry. . . . [more]

Fact Sheets

Publications

Education and Training

Conferences & Symposia

Curriculum Guidance

Health Campaigns

Forum on Health and National Security

Consultation

Presentations

Videos

Research

Active Research Studies

Child and Family Programs

Funded Grants

What’s New?

Managing the Stress of Holiday Gatherings During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered society’s approach to social interactions and become a source of conflict for some families and communities around how to approach holiday gatherings. Considering what is most important to your family and planning in advance for how to address challenging situations can help lower stress and make gatherings more enjoyable.

Dr. David Scharf is a recipient of the 2021 Sigourney Award

David Scharf, MD, Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, USU, is a recipient of the 2021 Sigourney Award. The Sigourney Award annually rewards outstanding work that advances psychoanalytic thought and practice with international recognition and a substantial cash prize. This year submissions from five continents were evaluated by a distinguished panel of independent judges.

Dr. Scharf's (and his wife Dr. Jill Scharf) work adapts psychoanalytic thinking and practice for those far from a psychoanalytic center and educates analysts on how to provide remote treatment. Embracing teaching at the heart of their work, the Scharffs’ remote teaching and treatment efforts were accomplished in large part through the International Psychotherapy Institute (IPI) they co-founded, and as Supervising Analysts at the International Institute for Psychoanalytic Training (IIPT at IPI) and Teaching Analysts at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute. Long before the pandemic forced clinicians to endorse remote learning and service delivery, the Scharffs’ work employed videoconference technology in certificate programs that have reached psychoanalytically oriented trainees in the United States, China, Russia, and Latin America, with additional programming that enabled them to reach trainees and colleagues in such locations as Greece, Austria, South Africa, New Zealand, and Israel. Their books and articles have reached a worldwide audience through translations into Chinese, Russian, German, Korean, Japanese, French, Italian, and Spanish, while their contribution to the dissemination of free e-books in psychotherapy, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis expanded access to psychoanalytic literature for readers in 200 countries and territories.

Read the press release here.

Army STARRS: Volume 5, Issue 3, Updated September 29, 2021

This document is an ongoing continuous summary of Army STARRS and STARRS-LS publications. Army STARRS (2009-2015) was the largest and most comprehensive research project of mental health among U.S. Army Soldiers ever conducted. The project was designed to examine a broad range of risk and resilience (protective) factors across a complex set of outcomes including suicidal behaviors and associated mental health issues. Army STARRS scientists created a series of large and extensive databases with the potential to achieve groundbreaking results. These databases allow scientists to investigate a diverse combination of factors from demographic, psychological, biological, neurological, behavioral, and social domains with the goal of generating actionable findings for the Army. The project was designed using an adaptive approach which means it evolved as new information became available over the course of the project. The research team shared preliminary findings, as they became available, with senior Army leadership so the Army could apply them to its ongoing health promotion, risk reduction, and suicide prevention efforts. The work is continuing under the STARRS Longitudinal Study (STARRS-LS) which runs from 2015 to 2020.

Trauma and Resiliency in Military Families, with Dr. Stephen Cozza

In this podcast with One in Ten, Dr. Stephen Cozza discusses the unique strengths and challenges of military families. When we think of military families, we rightly think of sacrifice and duty. But do we also think about resiliency, perseverance, and a sense of community? The unique sense of identity that comes with military service comes with a complex set of supports and struggles for service members. Click HERE to listen

DISASTER MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES TO SUPPORT RESPONSE AND RECOVERY FROM HURRICANE IDA

Catastrophic natural disasters, such as Hurricane Ida, cause extreme disruption for communities, which can be worsened by other disasters, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (resources can be found HERE). Brief and easy-to-read education fact sheets with recommended actions to protect the mental health and well-being of individuals, communities, and organizations during Hurricane Ida can be found HERE.