Innovative Interventions Videoconference

Mental Healthcare For Veterans and Families
Wednesday May 14th, 2008
10:00am - 12:00pm PDT

Register at http://www.uces.csulb.edu/innovativeinterventions

Presenter Biographies

Ursula B. Bowling received her PsyD in clinical psychology from Fuller Theological Seminary and undergraduate degree from Baylor University. She is a clinical psychologist in the Family Mental Health Program at the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center and a clinical assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (Department of Psychiatry/Behavioral Sciences). Through funding from the South Central Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), she recently completed a treatment manual, titled Operation Enduring Families, focused on adjustment issues of returning veterans and their families. Areas of interest include trauma recovery, the impact of mental illness and trauma on family relationships, the impact of domestic violence on children, care giving and altruism.

Tracy Stecker, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the Psychiatric Research Center in the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School and a Health Research Scientist at the White River Junction VA. Dr. Stecker is a psychologist and mental health services researcher who focuses on help-seeking behavior in individuals with mental illness. She has been funded by NIMH to develop an intervention to increase treatment seeking among OIF veterans returning from war, and has applied this work in another funded project through NIAAA focusing on individuals with alcohol use disorders in primary care settings.

Albert 'Skip' Rizzo conducts research on the design, development and evaluation of Virtual Reality systems targeting the assessment and training/rehabilitation of spatial abilities, attention, memory, executive function and motor abilities. He also conducts research on VR applications that use 360 Degree Panoramic video for exposure therapy (social phobia), role-playing applications (anger management, etc.), journalism studies and digital media art creation. In collaboration with Jeff Gold at LA Children's Hospital, he is investigating the use of VR for acute pain distraction during at painful medical procedures and for discomfort reduction during chemotherapy. His latest project has focused on the translation of the graphic assets from the Xbox game, Full Spectrum Warrior, into an exposure therapy application for combat-related PTSD with Iraq War veterans. In spite of the diversity of these areas of research, the common thread that drives all of these applications involves the study of how VR simulation technology can be usefully applied to serve the needs of the user/client/patient in a manner that goes beyond what is available with traditional 20th Century tools and methods!

Dr. Scott Johnston received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Davis and his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Pacific Graduate School in Palo Alto. In addition, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Pediatric Psychology at Harvard Medical School. He has been a Licensed Clinical Psychologist since 1995 and a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychological Specialties since 1997. Dr. Johnston is a Commander in the United States Navy and currently stationed at the Naval Medical Center San Diego. He has served around the world including San Diego, Iceland, District of Columbia, Japan, Hawaii, and the Persian Gulf. He has participated in two combat deployments to Iraq and one aboard an aircraft carrier. His clinical specialties include fitness for duty evaluations, operational psychology, child and family issues, and forensic psychology. His recent research on screening combat Marines from Iraq was presented at the 2006 and 2007 conference of the American Psychological Association. He is currently the Primary Investigator on three Office of Naval Research studies looking at treatment of PTSD in combat veterans.


COL Joseph Pecko is a PhD social work officer who has served in the US Army for the past 22 years. Currently he is assigned to the Army Medical Department Center and School as the Chief of the Soldier and Family Support Branch and Director of the Army – Fayetteville State University Master in Social Work program. In this capacity, he has successfully designed and led multiple critical initiatives at the core of the Army’s reengineering of behavioral health training for all soldiers and for care providers. He executed the challenging stand-up of the Army’s first Master of Social Work program. His Battlemind initiative is creating a paradigm shift in how behavioral health training is provided to our diverse populations. This and his other initiatives such as provider resiliency and PTSD training are focused on wellness and post traumatic growth with the goal of increasing leader awareness, reducing stigma to warriors with behavioral health issues and increasing their access to care.
The programs he leads have been relevant and timely to sensitive behavioral health issues at the Department of the Army and Department of Defense levels. His efforts have been recognized by the Army Surgeon General and senior Department of the Army leadership.

John S. Huang is a clinical psychologist at the VA Healthcare System in Long Beach, CA. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Barbara and his B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley. He works on the PTSD clinical team as a full-time clinician. His interests include effective treatments for PTSD as well as incorporating diversity issues, meditation, relaxation, and spirituality (including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Native American approaches) into treatment.

CDR Scott Johnston (live panel only) received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Davis and his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Pacific Graduate School in Palo Alto. In addition, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Pediatric Psychology at Harvard Medical School. He has been a Licensed Clinical Psychologist since 1995 and a Diplomat of the American Board of Psychological Specialties since 1997. Dr. Johnston is a Commander in the United States Navy and currently stationed at the Naval Medical Center San Diego. He has served around the world including San Diego, Iceland, District of Columbia, Japan, Hawaii, and the Persian Gulf. He has participated in two combat deployments to Iraq and one aboard an aircraft carrier. His clinical specialties include fitness for duty evaluations, operational psychology, child and family issues, and forensic psychology. His recent research on screening combat Marines from Iraq was presented at the 2006 and 2007 conference of the American Psychological Association. He is currently the Primary Investigator on three Office of Naval Research studies looking at treatment of PTSD in combat veterans.

Adam Renteria (single veteran) attended St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower California and graduated in May, 1999. He joined the US Army and attended the Infantry Basic Training course at Fort Benning Georgia in August of 1999. After basic training PVT Renteria was assigned to Charlie Company, 1-41 Infantry, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division at Fort Riley, Kansas. PVT Renteria deployed for two training tours in Kuwait; one from August to December, 2000 and the other from May to November, 2002. On September 1st 2002 Adam was promoted to sergeant E-5. In February of 2003, his unit received orders for Operation Iraqi Freedom and they were deployed back to Kuwait on the 1st of March. SGT Renteria and his unit began combat operations on 20 March, 2003. His unit was attached to other divisions such as the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Air Assault Division throughout the war. Adam redeployed home on 13 July 2003 after 5 months of combat. On 20 December, 2003 Adam left the service and returned home to California. Since then, he has been attending school at Golden West College in Huntington Beach and Pasadena City College. He has served as the Los Angeles County Chairperson for the Veterans for the Bush organization and the Viva Bush Coalition. He is now pursuing a Juris Doctorate as a History major and working as a personal trainer at 24-Hour Fitness. Adam has a nine-year old son A.J.

Traci Garrett (Adam’s former spouse) is the mother of A.J. and was a military spouse for five years. She has worked as a cosmetologist in Long Beach for the past five years. She and Adam were separated when he returned home from Iraq.

Francis Hamilton, MPH and presenter for Dr. Stecker, is a Project Coordinator at the Psychiatric Research Center in the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School and at the White River Junction, Virginia. Ms. Hamilton's focus is on implementing research techniques involved in help-seeking behavior in individuals with mental illness. Ms. Hamilton is working closely on Dr. Stecker's research to develop an intervention to increase treatment seeking among OIF veterans returning from war.

Art Levine, moderator. Dr. Art Levine is a professor of ethics and legal studies at California State University, Long Beach. He has taught at CSULB for over 30 years and is the recipient of the 2002 CSULB Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award. He is an attorney and a graduate of Yale Law School. He is quoted regularly in the press on issues of ethics and political reform. Professor Levine is also the host/executive producer of the Straight Talk Television Show. The show focuses on politics, the arts and business and has been on air for fifteen years. Straight Talk airs in Long Beach on Charter Cable Channel 3 is also seen on cable systems in
35 surrounding cities. The show is viewable anywhere from the website--www.StraightTalkTV.com.