Warrior Care Network is a mental health program that provides care, travel, and accommodations at no cost for United States veterans and their families. Treatment options consist of intensive outpatient care, mainly focusing on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI), military sexual trauma (MST), and related conditions such as anxiety and depression. Warrior Care Network began accepting veterans into the program on January 15, 2016. It was created by a joint effort between Wounded Warrior Project, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and partners consisting of four academic medical research hospitals located throughout the United States. The four programs are Operation Mend at UCLA Health, the Veterans Program at Emory Healthcare, Road Home at Rush University Medical Center, and Home Base, a Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Program. Initial cost of the project was $100 million which was funded by a three-year grant from Wounded Warrior Project and its treatment center medical partners. On October 23, 2018, Wounded Warrior Project announced a reinvestment of $160 million to the Warrior Care Network. In 2024, it invested another $100 million to fund programs aimed at alleviating depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders among post-9/11 veterans. Warrior Care Network offers evidence-based individual psychotherapy for PTSD, including prolonged exposure (PE) or cognitive processing therapy (CPT).
Medical PTSD treatment centers
Los Angeles, CA In 2007, UCLA Health created the Operation Mend Program via a partnership with the U.S. military and the Department of Veterans Affairs. In 2010, Operation Mend began treating PTSD and symptoms of mild to moderate TBI. There is no charge for the patient. Operation Mend handles all the planning burdens associated with medical care. This includes booking flights and scheduling medical appointments. Operation Mend provides a veterans program which includes two to three weeks at the PTSD treatment center, followed by three weeks care from home via telecommuting and social networking. In 2015, it joined the Warrior Care Network and expanded its veteran reconstructive surgery program to include mental health care from neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry and integrative specialists. In 2015, Wounded Warrior Project committed a $15.7 million grant over three years for UCLA Health to expand the Operation Mend Program. The grant funded a new three-week intensive treatment program for post-9/11 era service members, veterans, and their families living with the challenges of mild TBI and PTSD. All expenses for the veterans, including travel and housing, are covered by Operation Mend.
Atlanta, GA Emory Healthcare Veterans Program joined Warrior Care Network in June 2015. It received a $15 million grant and was required to raise an additional $7.5 million over the next three years. Emory offers a military sexual trauma survivors program as part of the Warrior Care Network. On September 17, 2018, Wounded Warrior Project continued to contribute to the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program with a five-year, $29.2 million grant to help expand space and treatment for veterans suffering from PTSD, TBI, depression, and anxiety. The Emory Healthcare Veterans Program (EHVP) is a two-week intensive outpatient program (IOP) that offers daily prolonged exposure (PE) and clinically indicated adjunctive interventions. A 2018 study by the American Psychological Association found that a PE-based IOP model of treatment for PTSD in veterans leads to large improvements in PTSD and depression symptoms in two weeks. PTSD treatment programs historically have high drop-out rates, but Emory's program retains more than 90% of patients, according to Sheila Rauch, deputy director of the Emory HealthCare Veterans Program.
Boston, MA The Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program were chosen to provide a PTSD treatment center in the northeast United States. Home Base joined the Warrior Care Network in 2015 and was slated to move into a building in the Navy Yard in Charlestown under the leadership of executive director Jack Hammond and chief operating officer Mike Allard. In September 2018, Home Base opened the National Center of Excellence in Charlestown, Massachusetts, to further assist veterans. Home Base provided care to more than 1,600 clients in 2021, and about 400 veterans and service members go through the intensive program each year. The program includes daily group and individual therapy, as well as holistic classes such as tai chi, yoga, nutrition, and fitness. Veterans participate in group therapy with 10-12 people who have experienced similar situations. Patients receive about 70 hours of care, which equals about a year's worth of therapy in two weeks. Veterans also learn how to identify warning signs for suicidal thoughts, and how to follow a safety plan. All services, even those not covered by insurance, are free. Researchers at Home Base and Harvard University are working with the social network RallyPoint to more accurately predict suicide risk among service members using machine learning.
Chicago, IL Rush University Medical Center began the Road Home Program in 2014 to treat veterans and family members affected by PTSD and TBI related to military service. The program provides evidence-based treatment including cognitive processing therapy (CPT) and prolonged exposure (PE). CPT is recommended as a front-line treatment for PTSD. CPT has significant support for treating veterans with PTSD. The approach helps people develop more appropriate accommodated beliefs, which results in a changed emotional response and a reduction of PTSD symptoms. As of 2022, thousands of veterans have traveled from all over the country to receive care since Road Home started. In 2015, Rush received a grant for $15 million from Wounded Warrior Project to develop its outpatient evaluation and treatment program and become part of the Warrior Care Network. Wounded Warrior Project also promised to match $2 to every $1 raised by Rush to develop its program, up to $2.5 million per year. In 2018, Wounded Warrior Project donated $45 million to Rush University Medical Center. It was the largest donation Rush UMC ever received, and helped 5,000 veterans with PTSD receive free mental health care services.
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