Dr. Franke counsels a patient.
director of Scott & White’s Military
Homefront Services.
More than $800,000 in funding
support has been received from the TRIAD
(Texas Resources for Iraq-Afghanistan
Deployment) of the Dallas Foundation and
the San Antonio Area Foundation. A
partnership between the Central Texas–
Fort Hood Association of the United
States Army and Scott & White, TRIAD
and the San Antonio Area Foundation
recently dispersed an additional $60,000
to help secure counseling for Department
of Defense employees and soldiers
immediately after the Fort Hood shooting.
“We’d like to train mental health
counselors from around the United States
in military culture and counseling
practices, and collect much-needed data to
support our work,” says Mrs. Trent. She
hopes to establish a $4 million endowment
to develop a center of excellence, cover
operational costs and conduct research on
the data collected.
Helping the bereaved
The loss of a loved one is one of the most
difficult events in a person’s life. Since
1994, Louis A. Gamino, PhD, ABPP,
clinical psychologist at Scott & White, has
been studying how people adapt during
the grieving process. As the principal
investigator of the Scott & White Grief
Study, Dr. Gamino is dedicated to learning
innovative ways to help troubled people
with the issue of grief. His research has
focused on distinguishing between those
bereaved persons who require grief
counseling and those who find ways to
grieve naturally. He has begun to identify
characteristics of grievers who are able to
adapt without professional help, and he
will apply those findings to patients who
benefit from counseling. “This makes a big
difference because it allows us to continue
refining our methods for intervening
clinically with those individuals whose
personal loss overwhelms them to the
point that they cannot function or manage
on their own,” says Dr. Gamino. The
study is funded by the Scott & White
Research and Education Division and has
generated a dozen scholarly articles and
book chapters.
Scott & White experts want citizens of
Central Texas to know that if they’re not
feeling like themselves or think that
someone they love can benefit from mental
health support, they can get the help they
need at Scott & White. ■
Dr. Franke also is an assistant professor
of psychiatry and behavioral science,
the Texas A&M Health Science Center
College of Medicine.
Dr. Gamino also is an associate professor
of psychiatry and behavioral science,
the Texas A&M Health Science Center
College of Medicine.
Dr. Meek also is an associate professor
of psychiatry and behavioral science,
the Texas A&M Health Science Center
College of Medicine.
To learn more about mental health services,
visit sw.org or call 800-792-3710.
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