Behind The Mission Duane K. L. France

Show Summary
On today’s episode, we conclude our mini-series of four episodes on LGBTQIA+ Veterans with  returning guests, veterans Erika Hoover and Andrea Norton, as part of  public awareness campaign developed in partnership with the Michigan Governor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide among Service Members, Veterans and their Families 
About Today’s Guests
Erika Hoover has been working at the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency and serving veterans since October 2017. In her role, Erika oversees a team that includes our Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Analyst, Community Health Technicians, Homeless Veteran Coordinator, Women Veterans & Special Populations Coordinator and General Office Assistant-Veteran Connector. She is also the Chair of the Michigan Women Veterans Coalition, a statewide coalition created by MVAA to engage with federal, state and local organizations to solve statewide female veterans' issues.  
Erika served in the Navy from 2009-2013 as an Aviation Machinists Mate, Petty Officer Third Class. She holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Portland State University and a culinary arts degree from Oregon Culinary Institute.
Andrea Norton is an USAF Veteran and Licensed Master Social Worker at the Aleda E. Lutz VAMC in Saginaw MI.  Prior to working at the VA, Andrea served in the USAF for 8 ½ years as an intelligence analyst and mobile instructor. Ms Norton left the Air Force in 2007 to pursue her education earning both her BSW and MSW at Michigan State University.
 She has worked with and advocated for underserved Veterans her entire career as a Housing Specialist, Intensive Case Manager, LGBTQ Veteran Care Coordinator, Women Veteran Program Manager, and most recently as a Community Engagement & Partnership Coordinator on the Suicide Prevention Team. 
She is passionate about working with communities to help promote a public health approach to suicide prevention and increase the awareness of the rich diversity that exists in the Veteran community.
Links Mentioned In This Episode
Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency Website
Declaration of June 12th as Women Veterans Recognition Day
PsychArmor Resource of the Week
This week’s PsychArmor resource of the week is the previous three episodes in this series, episode 166 with Erika Hoover and Andrea Norton on the goals of this public health awareness campaign, episode 169 with MaCherie Dunbar and Ashley Carothers on LGBTQIA+ Veteran Healthcare, and episode 171 with Ale Hernandez on Myths and Misconceptions about LGBTQIA+ veterans. 
 
You can see find the episodes here:  
 
Episode 166 with Erika Hoover and Andrea Norton
Episode 168 with MaCharie Dunbar and Ashley Carothers
Episode 171 with Ale Hernandez
 
This Episode Partner:
 
This episode is brought to you by partners that believe that education changes lives. The partner this week is the Michigan Governor’s Challenge, working to prevent suicide among Service Members, Veterans and their Families. 
 
Contact Us and Join Us on Social Media 
Email PsychArmor
PsychArmor on Twitter
PsychArmor on Facebook
PsychArmor on YouTube
PsychArmor on LinkedIn
PsychArmor on Instagram
Theme Music
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families.  You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com  

Show Summary
On today’s episode, we feature a conversation with Dr. Alan Teo, a Psychiatrist and Researcher with the VA Portland Health Care System and Associate Professor at Oregon Health & Science University. We talk about a recent article that he and colleagues published on the effectiveness of online VA S.A.V.E. training for veteran families. 
About Today’s Guest
Alan is a psychiatrist and health services researcher, having completed his education and training at Stanford University, University of California San Francisco, and University of Michigan. Since 2013, he has been a Core Investigator in the VA HSR&D Center to Improve Veteran Involvement in Care at the VA Portland Health Care System, and is an Associate Professor at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in the Department of Psychiatry.
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His work intersects the fields of health services, behavioral science, and social and cultural psychiatry. The overarching theme of his research is how our social connections shape and influence mental health outcomes.  In this work, he attempts to understand ways to mitigate social isolation and loneliness, and also harness the benefits of social support. He has a particular focus on depression and suicide prevention and a strong interest in developing, testing, and evaluating interventions in real-world settings.
 
Links Mentioned In This Episode
Dr. Teo’s Website
Research article on VA S.A.V.E. Training  
PsychArmor Resource of the Week
This week’s PsychArmor resource of the week the PsychArmor course VA S.A.V.E. Developed in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs, this course presents a general understanding of suicide within the military and Veteran community in the United States. It addresses how to identify a Veteran who may be at risk and teaches viewers what to do to help. Using the simple steps of S.A.V.E., we can all make a difference.
 
You can see the course here https://learn.psycharmor.org/courses/va-save  
 
Episode Partner:
 
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor. PsychArmor is the premier education and learning ecosystems specializing in military culture content PsychArmor offers an. Online e-learning laboratory that is free to individual learners as well as custom training options for organizations.
 
Contact Us and Join Us on Social Media 
Email PsychArmor
PsychArmor on Twitter
PsychArmor on Facebook
PsychArmor on YouTube
PsychArmor on LinkedIn
PsychArmor on Instagram
Theme Music
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families.  You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com  

Show Summary
On today’s episode, we continue the LGBTQIA+ Veteran Public Health Awareness series with a conversation about myths and misconceptions about members of the LGBTQIA+ community with veteran Ale Hernandez
About Today’s Guest
Alejandra Hernandez served in the United States Marine Corps for four years a Food Service Specialist with Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune Headquarters and Marine Support Squadron 272 Marine Corps Air Station New River, NC. She deployed once in 2007 to Kuwait, Camp Al Asad, and Camp Al Taqqaddum Air Base. After her unit returned home from Iraq, she spent her remaining time in the service as an Assistant Chief Cook.
After her time in service, Alejandra attended Waubonsee Community College while working in the auto parts industry. She then went on to get her bachelor’s degree at the University of Illinois at Chicago and studied Sociology at UIC.  She worked as a community health worker prior to coming to the Road Home Program in April of 2022. She is a member of Post #939 and American Legion Post #973 Tattler Post.
Links Mentioned In This Episode
Community Clinics and Resources for LGTBTQIA+
American Veterans for Equal Rights
PsychArmor Resource of the Week
This week’s PsychArmor resource of the week is the previous two episodes in this series, episode 166 with Erika Hoover and Andrea Norton on the goals of this public health awareness campaign, and episode 169 with MaCherie Dunbar and Ashley Carothers on LGBTQIA+ Veteran Healthcare. 
 
You can see find the episodes here:  
 
Episode 166 with Erika Hoover and Andrea Norton
Episode 168 with MaCharie Dunbar and Ashley Carothers
 
This Episode Partner:
 
This episode is brought to you by partners that believe that education changes lives. The partner this week is the Michigan Governor’s Challenge, working to prevent suicide among Service Members, Veterans and their Families. 
 
Contact Us and Join Us on Social Media 
Email PsychArmor
PsychArmor on Twitter
PsychArmor on Facebook
PsychArmor on YouTube
PsychArmor on LinkedIn
PsychArmor on Instagram
Theme Music
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families.  You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com  

Show Summary
On today’s episode, we have a conversation with Gold Star family member Lupe Urdaneta, surviving spouse of Sergeant First Class Dennis Urdaneta, and her journey with wear blue: run to remember, an organization that honors the service and sacrifice of the American military through active remembrance and programs to support all those who have lost a loved one while in the military.
About Today’s Guest
Guadalupe Urdaneta is the surviving spouse of Sergeant First Class Dennis Urdaneta. After his passing in 2019, she connected with wear blue: run to remember to support her in her grief and to engage their two sons in active engagement and to honor the loss of their father. 
Lupe’s story has been featured on numerous news outlets, including Good Morning America. 
Links Mentioned In This Episode
Gold Star Youth Mentorship Spotlight: Urdaneta Family
wear blue: run to remember on GMA
wear blue: run to remember web site
PsychArmor Resource of the Week
This week’s PsychArmor resource of the week is the wear blue: run to remember podcast episode from 2023 that shares stories of active remembrance from wear blue participants across the country. 
 
You can see find the episodes here:  
 
https://psycharmor.org/podcast/enduring-remembrance-with-wear-blue-run-to-remember
 
This Episode Partner:
 
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor. PsychArmor is the premier education and learning ecosystems specializing in military culture content PsychArmor offers an. Online e-learning laboratory that is free to individual learners as well as custom training options for organizations.
 
Contact Us and Join Us on Social Media 
Email PsychArmor
PsychArmor on Twitter
PsychArmor on Facebook
PsychArmor on YouTube
PsychArmor on LinkedIn
PsychArmor on Instagram
Theme Music
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families.  You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com  

Show Summary
On today’s episode, we feature a conversation with military spouse and family member Ellen Gustafson, the Co-Founder and Executive Director of We the Veterans and Military Families, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that empowers the veteran and military family community to strengthen democracy. We’re going to talk about their work supporting education around information integrity and civic involvement in the military affiliated population.  
About Today’s Guest
Ellen Gustafson is a proud Navy Spouse and Navy and Coast Guard Granddaughter. She is a Co-Founder and Executive Director of We the Veterans, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that empowers the veteran and military family community to strengthen democracy. She is also the Co-Founder of the Military Family Building Coalition, the first non-profit supporting active duty military in building their families. She previously co-founded FEED, Food Tank and co-directed the Summit Institute. 
 
Ellen is the author of "We the Eaters: If We Change Dinner, We Can Change the World," has been a Fortune Most Powerful Women Entrepreneur and given four TEDxTalks. She lives with her husband and three young children in Virginia Beach, VA.
 
Ellen is a member of the Board of We the Veterans Society for American Democracy and is the Executive Director and Board member of We the Veterans Foundation. As Executive Director, Ellen is the chief executive officer of We the Veterans, overseeing all general management and operations.
 
Links Mentioned In This Episode
We the Veterans and Military Families Website
Vet The Vote Website

PsychArmor Resource of the Week
This week’s PsychArmor resource of the week is Episode 48 of the Behind the Mission Podcast, a conversation with Bill Braniff. In that episode, we have an initial conversation about how We the Veterans is addressing the growing trend of misinformation and disinformation targeting service members and veterans in an attempt to radicalize them and use them to engage in violent extremism and domestic terrorism.
 
You can hear the episode here:  https://psycharmor.org/podcast/bill-braniff
 
Episode Partner:
 
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor. PsychArmor is the premier education and learning ecosystems specializing in military culture content PsychArmor offers an. Online e-learning laboratory that is free to individual learners as well as custom training options for organizations.
 
Contact Us and Join Us on Social Media 
Email PsychArmor
PsychArmor on Twitter
PsychArmor on Facebook
PsychArmor on YouTube
PsychArmor on LinkedIn
PsychArmor on Instagram
Theme Music
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families.  You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com