The National Hispanic Veterans Advocacy Network (NHVAN)

The National Hispanic Veterans Advocacy Network (NHVAN) is a multifaceted digital platform that offers culturally competent advocacy for United States (U.S.) Hispanic military veterans. NHVAN is an initiative of You Are Strong! Center on Veterans Health and Human Services (You Are Strong!), a national nonprofit 501© 3 organization, whose social change advocacy mission is to combat stigma and provide health and human services information to U.S. veterans and their families. NHVAN was created by You Are Strong! founder Xiomara a. Sosa and launched in partnership with Latina Lista. Its mission is to provide culturally competent advocacy for the health and human services needs of U.S. Hispanic military veterans. NHVAN’s vision is to create a well-established, organized, active, and strongly connected community of Hispanic veterans by improving communication and advocacy for their health and human services needs that is culturally appropriate.

Veterans are 18 and above and have served their country with honor. The majority of them currently live throughout the United States and its territories. For example, according to national data records there are 108,476 veterans currently living in the state of Montana. Of that number, 37,631 are 65 or older. The number of homeless veterans across the nation is on the rise. Male veterans outnumber female veterans in the percentage of homeless veterans by only 8%. The total of African Americans serving in the U.S. military is 10.4% of the total population, whereas Hispanic Americans make up 3.4%. However, the Hispanic veteran homeless population is close to 40%, a significant difference in numbers. As a population, 1.4 million veterans are at higher risk of experiencing homelessness or other health and human services challenges (“Substance Abuse And Mental Health Services Administration “, 2013).

With the increasing and ever changing nature of combat, the needs of veterans who serve on the battlefield have grown and the government has been challenged in keeping up with the necessary transitioning and readjustment services veterans need to reintegrate successfully into civilian life. The magnitude of the visible and invisible wounds that veterans have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with these past 13 years has been overwhelming for a system that was completely unprepared for such large numbers and vast needs. NHVAN is part of the response to that need and strives to improve services for Hispanic veterans so that their culturally specific needs are met, and they can become and remain fully successful and contributing members of civilian society after their military service.

Veterans serve their country with dignity and honor, and they sacrifice their lives in the battlefield and through other heroic military assignments and duties. They deserve to be honored, protected, and supported by their country when they have completed their service. NHVAN strives to facilitate this for Hispanic veterans through its mission and social change advocacy work.

NHVAN’s mission and vision:

NHVAN’s mission is to provide culturally competent advocacy for the health and human services needs of U.S. Hispanic military veterans.

NHVAN’s vision is to create a well-established, organized, active, and strongly connected community of Hispanic veterans by improving communication and advocacy for their health and human services needs that is culturally appropriate.

NHVAN accomplishes its mission by:

Providing a bilingual, culturally appropriate multi-platform advocacy platform.
Synthesizing culturally appropriate online materials, publications, resources, and events.
Working with evidence-based empirical research data.
Highlighting health and human services issues affecting Hispanic veterans from a culturally appropriate perspective.
Establishing, organizing, activating, connecting, and supporting a Hispanic veteran’s network.
Improving communication between Hispanic veterans and culturally appropriate resources and support systems.
Educating and informing the government, providers, and the public.
Creating and publishing an articles series of Hispanic veterans’ interviews for Latina Lista’s Editorial Initiative Articles Series.
Spotlighting unique challenges, needs, and stories of Hispanic veterans.
Elevating voices of Hispanic veterans from a positive and pragmatic perspective.
Highlighting Hispanic veterans in a positive light.
Spotlighting Hispanic military personnel and military-serving organizations.
Assembling and disseminating critical legislative, government, and military initiatives.
Coordinating Legislative Days with representatives to advocate for health and human services needs.
Coordinating Town Hall meetings with community stakeholders, including health and human services professionals, to educate, and raise awareness.

To learn more about NHVAN please visit http://www.youarestrong.org/national-hispanic-veterans-advocacy-network/ or contact: Xiomara A. Sosa, Executive Creator, NHVAN, xasosa@youarestrong.org

Reference:
Substance abuse and mental health services administration (2013). Retrieved from http://www.samhsa.gov/militaryfamilies/

http://myvoicetv.net/blog/nhvan-you-are-strong/

http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2445

http://aps.psychologicalscience.org/convention/program_2013/search/viewProgram.cfm?Abstract_ID=26303&AbType=&AbAuthor=&Subject_ID=&Day_ID=all&keyword=Hispanic%20combat

The television announcements have aired since April on the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Network, and are 15, 30 and 60 seconds in length, officials said.

“A veteran or service member returning from a deployment, [whether] at home or abroad, is subject to a certain amount of distress,” said Jacqueline Garrick, director of the Defense Suicide Prevention Office. “Regardless of where they served, there still are challenges when they return home, and we want to encourage them to seek help.”

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=120046

“We’re losing the confidence of the women who serve that we can solve this problem,” Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey told reporters as he returned from NATO meetings in Brussels. “That’s a crisis.”

Dempsey has actively been researching this issue since he became the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command chief in 2008. He continued the research as Army chief of staff, and now as chairman.

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=120054

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151815836117454.1073741843.17328142453&type=1

While it hasn’t always been smooth sailing and stress-free, my Army service has brought me irreplaceable life experiences, valuable lessons, unique skillsets, and amazing friends. Professionally, my 12+ years as an Army Behavioral Health Specialist has given me a wealth of knowledge, perspective, and insight that helps in my current work as a Licensed Professional Counselor with the LifeWorks Group in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.

I’ve had 2 overseas tours which earned my Veteran status: Guantanamo Bay as a member of the Combat/Operational Stress Control team and more recently to Afghanistan with the 101^st Airborne Division Surgeon Cell. I’ve also been to numerous other countries and served in a humanitarian role in Haiti and the Dominican Republic which were amazing experiences.

I have seen true poverty in Haiti along with “billions of U.S. dollars in aid” somehow not reaching those who need it; I have heard rockets whistle over my head and felt the impact of mortar hitting the ground nearby; I have stood holding a medical litter while a Blackhawk helicopter approached, not knowing what kind of blood and gore might come off it…

And then I come back to my life in the U.S. where I see people being rude to the Starbucks barista for not putting a little green stopper in their to-go latte.’ And a man on a D.C. street corner cursing at a woman for not giving him the dollar he wanted from her. I see married couples becoming “bored” with one another and people forgetting the importance of family and of love.

It’s no wonder to me that so many of my fellow Veterans have a difficult time adjusting to their lives back home. It’s hard enough to deal with whatever may have been experienced overseas. But then to return to homes where loved ones get angry over a toilet seat being left up or how “different” they are acting. This aspect of life adds another layer of challenge. Worse yet, when many Veterans seek psychological support, instead of someone truly hearing them, understanding them, and helping them process things, they often get…diagnosis and prescription bottles?

It seems not too many people are aware of the fact that Licensed Professional Counselors and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists are excluded more than all other psychological professions when it comes to working with Veterans. They are excluded from all military branches’ Behavioral Health Officer positions and are often rejected from the Veterans Administration positions. Hopefully this is something I’ll see change in the near future, but it seems slow going at the moment.

I am thankful to my Army experiences for giving me the gift of perspective. And I am glad to be able to do my part in offering support to my fellow Veterans and their families through empowerment rather than just diagnoses and prescriptions…because most often that’s what is needed.

Like any other organ or organ system in the body, it’s important to understand what the underlying problem is in order to effectively treat it. This is particularly true when we think about an individual with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

http://www.dcoe.health.mil/blog/13-05-10/DCoE_Director_Explains_Science_Behind_PTSD.aspx

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