Veterans With Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Essay Example

experience. It is wise to explore the professionals with more expertise as they pose less ethical, physical, mental risks than those with less experience. Professionals with the most experience will have likely invested in many types of software for designing protocols, assessing brain areas that are considered concerning.

Neurofeedback caps are to be used with clients which typically cost around $352 per cap, programs to run the sessions and supporting materials needed to successfully address the issues at hand for the client. The retail price for the most current software program and supporting materials to run the sessions is about $6,000 (Brainmaster.com & bio-medical.com). Most experienced professionals charge around $75-90 per session, with the average client having around twenty sessions, attending two times a week, to ensure effective treatment. The average veteran can be looking at spending around $180 a week, with a total of spending almost $2,000 minimum after twenty sessions. I would also like to mention that although twenty sessions are usually the bare minimum to see progress, sometimes it can take clients up to forty sessions for desirable outcomes.

Proposed avenues to make NFB affordable

-Grants for specific communities who have higher rates of Veterans with PTSD

To be eligible for a grant, first, you must apply. To start this first step you must have a strong foundation of what you are proposing the grant for and why it is worthy to be funded. The first step is planning the opportunity. This requires extensive research to gather information about how to get the proposed idea to be reviewed. This also requires announcing the proposed opportunities (FOA) to surrounding communities and citizens that this grant

would be applicable to.

Next, this will require searching for who may fund this proposed therapy and then registering to apply for grants. Potential grant awarding agencies can include: U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S Department of Justice (DOJ), U.S Department of Labor (DOL), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), National Science Foundation (NSF) and most importantly the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) An official application must be completed and submitted to be considered for grants. To be eligible to apply for grants, you have to first register with DUNS (Data Universal Numbering System), SAM (System for Award Management) and grant.gov HRSA (Health Resources & Services Administration). This may take forty or more hours to submit all these registrations and then searching for potential funding opportunities after the registrations are approved.

In regards to my proposal, my grant would be targeted for health care programs for community-based health care organizations that provide care in underserved areas. When putting together an application there are many components that are required by HRSA. This can include but is not limited to salary limits for professionals involved (CEO’s, psychologists, and neurofeedback professionals), funding costs for all equipment, training and necessary materials needed to run the sessions. Among the budget outline, this will need to include all materials and items needed.

This will include things such as rent for spaces needed for therapy, and utility money to run the space. This will also include equipment needed such as Deymed Truscan Neurofeedback hardware, LORETA software to create protocols, qEEG software to assess protocols and brain wave activity reports, biofeedback 19-channel caps to capture brainwave activity and the supporting gels necessary

to apply the caps, television system for the veterans to watch videos and movies on while their sessions are running, all related cords for hooking up television system/DVD player, and a variety of movies and videos to be seen. The budget outline should also include means necessary for training professionals who are to provide this therapy for the veterans and continued education for those professionals who are already competent within this field. This also will include a budget outline needed, a staffing plan, assurances for human research if applicable, and a project narrative.

Once submitted, the reviewers will assess the substance of the application, review the budget that was proposed in the grant application and then use unbiased reviewers to announce and award decisions. However, the process is not complete after that. After being rewarded a grant, it will be required to report reviews and progresses made within the created health system and continued checking-in with a review officer regarding audit requirements, financial reports, and progress reports among the veterans being served and their overall well-being. The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs would be a likely candidate to award financial aid for veterans wishing to receive neurofeedback therapy for their PTSD. According to the Veteran Population Projection Model, (Department of Veterans Affairs, Data Governance, and Analytics, 2017) Florida is among the top four states with the highest population of veterans.

Among the other states are Pennsylvania, Texas, and California, with ranges of the population from 845,500-1,735,200 in those given areas.

-Gathering Department of Veteran Affairs involvement to push for this type of treatment

This action would first require proving to the Department of Veterans Affairs that neurofeedback

is a safe and effective medical treatment for PTSD and other psychiatric disorders. This includes the Department of VA recognizing research about neurofeedback therapy for PTSD. Some important members for determining mental health treatment among veterans is the Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACT) within the veterans Primary Care clinics.

These specialized teams are made up of professional and competent providers. When the primary care physician cannot treat a mental health condition because of the intensity or complexity of the issue, the veteran may be referred to a specialized mental health program (VA.gov). If these physicians and PACT understand the potential gain and success for veterans from utilizing neurofeedback, they may be more willing to refer them to a neurofeedback professional who can provide the service. In doing so, the Department of VA may be more willing to work with neurofeedback professionals regarding reimbursements and treatment options. When veterans are referred to specialty mental health programs, they receive a Mental Health Treatment Coordinator (MHTC).

This individual is responsible for understanding the mental health goals of the veteran and can essentially act as a voice for the veteran when they cannot voice their own concerns. Ensuring every veteran has an MHTC will mean that every veteran has a lasting relationship with a mental health provider for life transitioning and mental health guidance. Right now the Department of VA offers free treatment to veterans who have suffered from MST and can target PTSD. However, as I have mentioned in the previous pages, they are most likely to offer PE, CPT, and EMDR for free.

I have already explored why, in some severe cases of PTSD, that these treatments might not be

helpful. This is another reason as to why the Department of VA should consider adding neurofeedback to their website as safe and effective treatments for PTSD. They should also consider making it free of charge for all veterans just like the MST treatment because it is just as important and prevalent. After the Department of VA recognizes neurofeedback as an alternative treatment for PTSD, there will be more and more evidence for this therapy from research efforts.

This recognition will also make affordability a reality for veterans who wish to pursue this treatment. With more recognition, means a higher demand for the utilization of this specific therapy. Hopefully, this will eventually result in a decrease in medications used by veterans, in substance dependency/abuse, in suicide among veterans and in relapse of related PTSD symptoms altogether.

-Creating a Non-Profit organization

A non-profit would allow direct benefit for veterans of combat directly. I could propose a non-profit organization that funds money to veterans who are seeking neurofeedback for their PTSD from war.

Whether this is from combat injuries, psychological trauma or sexual trauma, generous donors would be allowing this organization to give veterans the financial aid they deserve. In addition to receiving neurofeedback back, the organization would also participate in future research about post-traumatic stress disorder and neurofeedback therapy and have professionals from the organization to attend conferences to stay up-to-date in new research and improvements regarding veterans with PTSD. With respect to others features of the non-profit, I want to emphasize the differences between the different wars and the spectrum of symptoms this can create in our veterans. All veterans of all wars are equally important when dealing

with such a crippling disorder. Saying that, however, I would also like to highlight that I would want to appeal and include younger veterans, specifically, because of the most recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. All soldiers come back with a dream of living in the freedom they helped protect.

Going back to school and getting an education in a field of interest envision is something that is a potential path for many returning veterans. These younger veterans have more advantage when it comes to social media and modern ways of advertising to draw attention to this non-profit organization. With more recognition comes more support and donors that will pave the way for new breakthrough evidence about neurofeedback for PTSD among veterans and allow them to receive the best possible treatments to overcome their disorder and experience to be able to live a normal life after their service. To start a non-profit organization, you first have to start with an application.

There are criteria that have to be met in order to qualify as a veterans organization. A veterans’ organization must meet the following requirements to be exempt for tax deductions under section 501(c)(19): According to charitynavigator.org, if you are a donor to a non-profit organization you may be exempt in some of your tax deductions. Being registered with the IRS as a qualified as a charitable contribution deduction may serve as an additional incentive to contribute the welfare of the U.S veterans. The Neuro Development Center Inc., in Rhode Island, has a program that gives free neurofeedback therapy to veterans with PTSD. To create something like this in areas where veterans are underserved would change their

lives completely.

Instead of having veterans take time to travel long distances to receive treatment from a health center for their disorder, there could be one center implicated among the cities that do not have the same access similar to the center in Rhode Island. This would eliminate the obstacle of other private practices who offer neurofeedback but at a costly price that doesn’t accept insurance, therefore, restricting the veteran to therapies which might not be the best alternative for their case of PTSD. Finding beginning grant money may be a challenge due to the lack of recognition in the early stages of building a non-profit. Some recommend asking other related organizations for a list of the agencies that gave them grant money (nonprofithub.org). An organization I would be interested in teaming up with and getting a grant agency list from would be the SVA or the Student Veterans of America. The SVA’s mission is to emphasize higher education among our veterans and to provide them with the support, resources, and advocacy that they need.

This organization is established in that they participate in meaningful research, attend and hold conferences, and award veterans scholarships for higher education. The SVA also holds leadership summits to train up and coming scholars, hear the veterans stories, build alumni network and most importantly, build a web of support and partnerships from other organizations and corporate companies to fund student-veteran success.

-Fundraising Events

Fundraising events are a great way to bring awareness to PTSD and support our veterans and local companies. Many businesses’ will pair up with non-profit for fundraising for important causes. One idea for a fundraiser that can pertain to

local restaurants in the underserved area could be dinners/catering event that offers discounted services and proceeds going toward the non-profit.

For example, a restaurant could have discounted entrée’s from a certain time in the day where a percentage of proceeds go to the non-profit organization supporting neurofeedback therapy for veterans. Not only would this bring business into the local restaurant, a good incentive for them to participate, but this would also bring awareness to the cause (in this case, PTSD among U.S veterans) and help raise money to support veterans receiving this treatment, for research funding, and scholarship donations for student-veterans. Another idea would be a common fundraiser used among many charities: a walk for a cause is something that many people join in order to show support. Examples of these include walks for Breast Cancer, Alzheimer’s, Diabetes, AIDS, Arthritis, Ovarian Cancer. St. Jude’s Children Hospital, etc.

Many of these have become nationally recognized and anticipated each year. All participants will pay an entry fee to be able to register to participate. All fees paid for entry will go directly to the non-profit and others will also be allowed to make donations if they wish. With more recognition and proof of success, there will be more generous supporters who will come out, pay the entry fee and support their veterans receiving neurofeedback for treatment of their PTSD.

My recommendation

The first implication I would strive for is to have neurofeedback therapy listed under the U.S Department of Veteran Affairs website. This would bring more awareness to the implications of this therapy and brand it as being noticeably effective among the other mentioned therapy options. After being listed under

the website as an effective therapy for those with PTSD, I would like to propose the therapy to be covered by insurance, preferably insurance through Veterans Affairs. Although it is listed on the VA website that therapies that are FDA approved are covered by the VA health insurance, it does not specifically say what therapies are included (va.gov/HealthCare).

Also, many neurofeedback professionals do not accept insurance for this therapy because of the amount of money they have spent on their training, their equipment such as Deymed Truscan Neurofeedback hardware, LORETA software to create protocols. This also may include qEEG software to assess protocols and brain wave activity reports, biofeedback 19-channel caps to capture brainwave activity and the supporting gels necessary to apply the caps.