FREE Recovery Peer Specialist 40 hour Training!

Certified Recovery Peer Specialists (CRPS) utilize their unique lived experience to ensure client directed care by assisting individuals to build the specific skills and relationships needed to achieve and maintain recovery from substance use and/or mental health conditions. ~Florida Certification Board

CFBHN and DCF are presenting the new 40 hour (5- consecutive day course), Recovery Peer Specialist training curriculum “Helping Other’s Heal”.

This curriculum addresses the approved Florida Certification Board four content areas (Advocacy, Mentoring, Recovery Support, and Professional Responsibility).

Applicants must attest to the type of lived experience that makes them eligible to serve as a peer to others. The designations available through the Florida Certification Board are: Certified Recovery Peer Specialist (CRPS) – Adult, Veteran, and Family.  A Peer Specialist Course Self-Assessment will assist you to prepare for participation in the peer specialist course.

CFBHN’s Consumer and Family Affairs Department is offering this free training. Peer Specialist employed or volunteering and pursuing their professional credentials through the Florida Certification Board as a Certified Recovery Peer Specialist (CRPS) will have priority consideration.

There will be no cost for this training, any food, travel or lodging expenses will be the responsibility of the participant.

The first Suncoast Regional training will be held in St. Petersburg!

Dates:  Monday, November 9th, through Friday, November 13th, 2015
Time:  8:30am – 5:00pm each day.
Location: Boley Centers, Inc.

Class size is limited!

To complete our online application, please click here.

Application must be completed and submitted before close of business on September 11th.

Completion of this application does not guarantee registration.

For more information please contact Carol Eloian, B.A., CRPS-F                                                     by email or call (813) 740-4811 ext. 289

To order a free copy, click here.

Tears of a Warrior: A Family’s Story of Combat and Living with PTSD

by Janet and Anthony Seahorn

Returning war veterans may face a multitude of physical and mental challenges. Veterans’ families are often unprepared to deal with a family member who may experience pain, nightmares, feelings of detachment, irritability, trouble concentrating, and sleeplessness. These are some of the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress (PTS).

Experts estimate that between 25% and 30% of Vietnam veterans who fought in combat have symptoms of PTS and the experiences associated with combat. It’s been recently estimated that 30% of combat soldiers returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan are experiencing similar trauma.

“Tears of a Warrior: A Family’s Story of Combat and Living with PTSD” is a patriotic book written about soldiers who are called to duty in service of their country. It is a story of courage, valor, and life-long sacrifice. Long after the cries of battle have ended, many warriors return home to face a multitude of physical and mental challenges. Author Tony Seahorn writes from his experience as a young army officer in Vietnam who served with the Black Lions of the First Infantry Division, which fought in some of the bloodiest battles of the war.  He was wounded in action and continues to recover from the physical and emotional scars of combat.

Tony returned to Wyoming from the war decorated for heroism. Some of his most honored medals include two Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts, Air Medal for Valor in flight, the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross, and a Presidential Unit Citation. He has experienced the trauma of combat. His experience is painful. His story is real.

Janet Seahorn, Tony’s wife and co-author, writes from both the perspective of a wife who has lived for thirty years with a veteran with PTS, and as a professional in human development and neuroscience. Dr. Seahorn’s research has focused on the effects PTS has on the brain, body, and spirit.

“Tears of a Warrior” was written to educate families and veterans about the symptoms of PTS and to offer strategies for living with the disorder. The book includes over 50 photos integrated into the text which provide the reader with a visual picture of the sequence of events as the storyline moves from the realities of combat, to returning home, to the ultimate impact on family and friends. Families and society in general will better understand the long-term effects of combat. Veterans from all wars, regardless of service branch, will benefit by the authors’ experiences and their message of hope.

Frank E. Petersen, First Black General in Marines, Dies at 83

Frank E. Petersen Jr., who suffered bruising racial indignities as a military enlistee in the 1950s and was even arrested at an officers’ club on suspicion of impersonating a lieutenant, but who endured to become the first black aviator and the first black general in the Marine Corps, died on Tuesday at his home in Stevensville, Md., near Annapolis. He was 83.

Check out the NY Times Obituary by clicking here.

Section 702 of the Veterans Choice Act

GI Bill Resident Rate Requirements

Section 702 of the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014 (“Choice Act”), requires VA to disapprove programs of education for payment of benefits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill and Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty at public Institutions of Higher Learning (IHLs) if the school charges qualifying Veterans and dependents tuition and fees in excess of the rate for resident students for terms beginning after July 1, 2015.

To remain approved for VA’s GI Bill programs, schools must charge in-state tuition and fee amounts to “covered individuals.” A covered individual is defined in the Choice Act as:

• A Veteran who lives in the state where the IHL is located (regardless of his/her formal state of residence) and enrolls in the school within three years of discharge from a period of active duty service of 90 days or more.
• An individual using transferred benefits who lives in the state in where the IHL is located (regardless of his/her formal state of residence) and enrolls in the school within three years of the transferor’s discharge from a period of active duty service of 90 days or more.
• An individual using benefits under the Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship who lives in the state in where the IHL is located (regardless of his/her formal state of residence) and enrolls in the school within three years of the Servicemember’s death in the line of duty following a period of active duty service of 90 days or more.

A person described above will retain covered individual status as long as he/she remains continuously enrolled (other than during regularly scheduled breaks between terms) at the public IHL.

For more info, click here.

There you can also track the latest compliance status by state, territory, and school on using their map.

Now that the Department of Defense has granted veterans service organizations greater access to military installations to provide support for troops and their families, the American Legion has created a new publication as a resource for departments, districts and posts.

The booklet, “Access Granted: Benefits,” provides ways Legion members can gain access to military installations and connect with service members. Download “Access Granted: Assisting Troops with Transition Benefits” from the American Legion website.

Additional resources are available here.

For more veteran job news, listings and resources, visit the Military.com Veteran Jobs Center.

A man with an amazing past, an amazing memory and he can still wear his WWII uniform!

Take five minutes to watch this video interview — and listen carefully to what he says and how he says it.  I promise you, you won’t regret a second of it.
Ask yourself, how many of the few surviving WWII veterans kept themselves and their uniform in such good condition for over 70 years and can still proudly wear it?
Notice his superb  delivery, no teleprompter, no script  —  just a 91-year-old fighter-pilot representing the greatest generation at home and abroad who won WWII.  He has some surprises and a great take on the philosophy of life.
This is why we do what we do.

Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert A. McDonald issued a statement recently about the radical transformation the VA is going through to improve its relationship with veterans.

This relationship is the cornerstone for all that VA does. Read Secretary McDonald’s statement on VA’s VAntage Point Blog.

For more on veteran health care benefits, visit the Military.com Benefits Center.

Will your base commissary price match with other stores, such as Aldi and WalMart?

The answer to that question lies with federal law.

For more details, see the latest Questions and Benefits column.

Doctor and hospital bills are expensive even when you’re covered by TRICARE.

Help minimize or even eliminate out-of-pocket expenses with the MBA-sponsored TRICARE Insurance Supplement Plan.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has launched two new no-cost training programs, Accelerated Learning Programs (ALPs) and VA Learning Hubs, to help transitioning servicemembers and veterans from all eras learn skills, earn credentials, and advance in civilian careers following separation from service.

The first ALP cohort includes seven courses covering a range of IT-related topics.

Transitioning servicemembers and veterans from any era are invited to apply to their choice of courses.

Applications will be accepted starting August 17, 2015 – applicants are encouraged to apply early.

Visit the ALP website to apply.

VA is also launching Learning Hubs in 27 cities across the country this year.

For more information, contact VeteranEmployment.vbaco@va.gov.

For more veteran job news, listings and resources, visit the Military.com Veteran Jobs Center.