Our History

Based on emerging evidence in medical and behavioral health studies, along with national and local news stories about the barriers to community re-entry by military veterans and their families following deployment, providers of medical and behavioral healthcare and social support services came together in 2014 and decided to launch and effort to educate our community providers about the unique circumstances of military service and their impacts on veteran and military family quality of life.

Since 2015 the Western Massachusetts Veterans Outreach Project has provided free educational seminars and published documents concerning military culture and significant military/combat experiences to civilian medical and behavioral healthcare providers and social support practitioners in western Massachusetts. Our goal was to inform providers about the unique characteristics of military culture that could impact the effectiveness of the care they delivered to veterans, military service members, and their family members.

Using grants from Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, MA surveys of veterans and military families living in the four counties of western Massachusetts were composed and distributed. Two focus groups- one composed of veterans, the other of family members- were conducted by professional facilitators to clarify and prioritize the challenges they encountered in getting care in the civilian community. The information gathered provided a baseline for a community educational curriculum designed to improve the delivery of care services.

We have also produced and provided printed resources that correlate to military service, including research and other educational materials on deployment-related conditions such as PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and exposure to toxic substances. We published newspaper and journal articles that describe events and trends in the veteran community and suggested how civilian healthcare providers can improve the effectiveness of their services.

To explore current academic research on veterans and military families, use our list of Research Centers.

For service agencies that provide your organization with training, see our list of Educational/Training Courses.

To contact local and national support agencies, see our list of Veteran & Military Family Service Organizations.