Sutton speaks with former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber.

What do warriors and professional football players have in common? Both are susceptible to sustaining concussions – whether in-theater or on the gridiron. And both are sometimes reluctant to seek treatment for fear of being seen as weak or forced to sit out of the action to recover.

Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton and Marine Sgt. Josh Hopper of DCoE’s Real Warriors Campaign traveled to the Super Bowl Media Day last month to promote our newest relationship with pro football. Real Warriors has joined forces with the Sports Legacy Institute (SLI) and the University of Michigan Depression Center to break the stigma among service members and NFL players in seeking treatment for concussions.

Sutton with former quarterback Joe Theismann and Sgt. Josh Hopper of the Real Warriors Campaign.

While at the Super Bowl, Brig. Gen. Sutton, SLI Founder and President Chris Nowinski and former Miami Dolphins quarterback Jay Fiedler appeared on more than a half-dozen sports talk radio programs encouraging service members and football players that seeking treatment for concussions is an act of courage and strength – not a sign of weakness.

Stay tuned to our Real Warriors Web site this month for a PSA featuring retired Detroit Lions quarterback Eric Hipple, who is now the outreach coordinator for the University of Michigan Depression Center. This PSA will be the first of a few highlighting our collaboration with former NFL players. Also, be sure to check out our Media Day pre-Super Bowl XLIV photo album on Facebook!

*What is DCoE learning from football players? If you missed it, read our recent article in the Holiday Issue of the DCoE in Action newsletter, “DCoE Collaborates with NFL Sports Medicine Experts.”

*Stay tuned for our March edition of DCoE in Action – we feature important information about traumatic brain injuries and more on what we’re learning about the brain from athletes.

If you are a service member currently receiving mental health treatment and you will be transitioning out of the service, or to a new assignment, the new inTransition program is for you. Maintaining your psychological health is important. Often during treatment, service members receive new orders, choose to separate from the military, or must retire as a result of an injury related or unrelated to battle.

inTransition is there to help you transition your mental health treatment after your move. To begin, call toll-free:

• 1-800-424-7877 (continental United States, including Alaska and Hawaii)
• 1-800-424-4685 (outside the United States), or
• 1-314-387-4700 (collect outside the United States)

Your current mental health provider may also contact inTransition for you if you so choose.

Once you or your provider calls, you will be assigned a transition support coach who will coach you one-on-one by phone as you go through your transition. These coaches are licensed, master’s-level behavioral health clinicians specially trained and skilled in understanding today’s military culture. They will help connect you with your new provider and empower you with tools to continue making healthy life choices. They understand and respect the importance of your privacy and most importantly, will be with you from beginning to end, remaining with you until you transition to your new provider.

Transition support coaches will offer support through motivational consultation and action planning. They will provide detailed information on how to successfully change providers, assist you with referrals, and follow-up with new providers to ensure continuity of care. They will also provide information on community resources, support groups, and other resources available at your new locale. In addition, coaches will have the knowledge to assist you should you be transitioning your mental health care to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The principal goal of inTransition is to ensure you receive the help you need regardless of where you are or where you may be going. The number one priority for the Department of Defense after all, is you. For more information, please visit the inTransition Web site at www.health.mil/inTransition, or contact your mental health provider.

- Lt. Cmdr. Frazer is senior policy analyst for Psychological Health Strategic Operations, Force Health Protection and Readiness Programs

Carlisle at the Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad, Iraq in 2007.

Critical care nurse Air Force Lt. Col. Mary Carlisle, who sought care for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after returning home from deployment, is the most recent volunteer to be profiled by our Real Warriors Campaign.

Carlisle served in the intensive care unit at the Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad, Iraq in 2007, where the casualties that she witnessed daily took a toll on her psychological health. Once back at home, Carlisle began to experience the signs and symptoms of PTSD.

"I started to isolate myself, and I was very, very, angry, and I couldn't figure out why," Carlisle said.

Carlisle in Washington, D.C. in November of 2009.

It was not until Carlisle saw video footage of her rotation at Balad Air Base that she realized that she needed to seek treatment. For Carlisle, the footage brought to the foreground many of the psychological wounds she had been coping with since her reintegration.

“I realized that I can’t be an effective leader if I’m not taking care of myself first,” Carlisle said.

Like many service members, Carlisle was concerned that seeking treatment might negatively impact her career. However, she drew inspiration after seeing the Real Warriors Campaign profile of Maj. Iwona Blackledge who spoke about her own experiences coping with PTSD.

Now, Carlisle hopes other caregivers and fellow service members will be encouraged to reach out for the care they need through her own story, and the stories of other Real Warriors, of having the strength and courage to seek treatment.

After seeking treatment, Carlisle was able to maintain her career success and was recently selected to be the surgical operations squadron commander at Misawa Air Base, Japan.

For more about the Real Warriors Campaign, click here. To read additional posts about the campaign, check out our Real Warriors Campaign/Stigma Category.

We encourage you to share your thoughts and continue the dialogue at:
http://www.realwarriors.net/socialmedia.php
www.facebook.com/DCoEpage
http://twitter.com/DCoEPage

In honor of Valentine’s Day, throughout the month of February Cmdr. Brenda Gearhart, a social worker who has taught relationship classes, is contributing a series of articles on the For Families section of our Web site that tackle the rewarding and often challenging issue of coupling aptly called “Couple Tidbits.”

The fourth and final article of this series focuses on the role you play in a relationship and how to make positive choices to strengthen the bond.

Realize change is a personal choice

Bobbi West, ombudsman-at-large with the Chief of Naval Operations, with her husband Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Rick West, on a recent visit to the Fisher House at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jennifer A. Villalovos/Released)

One of the difficult things to fully understand is that you can’t change another person unless that person wants to change. You may be able to influence your partner to change in the short term by threats or pleading, but unless he or she sees personal benefit to the change, chances are the change won’t last.

Example: Your significant other spends a lot of time on the computer chatting or e-mailing friends and promises to spend 30 minutes online and then head to the gym with you; but often time passes and you find yourself waiting alone and upset.

Take action (some examples):

• Let your partner know that you will be heading to the gym in 45 minutes and they can join you at the gym after their online time is over
• Get on the computer with your partner and share the time to send joint messages
• By making one change, you are interrupting the established patterns to shake things up in a potentially positive way

Incorporate romance on a daily or regular basis

Example: Act like you’re dating. Don’t take each other for granted and accentuate the positive

Take action:

• Tell them about a romantic dream you had about them
• Give or send something to them such as an e-mail, card or package
• Send/give them a note listing the 10 sexy things about them that make them irresistible
• Say or show your ‘thanks’ for small acts of kindness

One small step can start a chain of positive reactions and it can all begin when you take action to be more understanding and loving.

- CDR Brenda L. Gearhart

*Find the first post of the series and other helpful blog entries for families here.