HOW WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT AIMS TO HELP OUR NATION’S VETERANS   

TWENTY-FIVE MILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENT WILL HELP TREAT POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER, TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY AND SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER    

Erin Fletcher, Psy.D.

Director of Wounded Warrior Project’s Warrior Care Network    

Tonya Oxendine

Veteran Living with PTSD    

When returning to civilian life, our nation’s veterans face many challenges, from physical to mental and emotional. It is estimated as many as 600,000 post-9/11 veterans live with the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and according to the Department of Defense, more than 430,000 U.S. service members were diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI) between 2000 and 2020.     

Wounded Warrior Project^® is announcing new investments in its Warrior Care Network^® including an effort to treat substance use disorder concurrent with PTSD and/or TBI The latest $25 million investment will help innovate new approaches to treating PTSD and TBI as well as address substance use and opioid use. WWP launched its innovative Warrior Care Network five years ago with four academic medical center partners to improve the lives of thousands of veterans and families. Today’s announcement of $25 million in additional funding brings the total investment in clinically treating PTSD and TBI to nearly $290 million. The end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan does not mean the end of service to these men and women.     

This new investment will help Warrior Care Network:      

• Treat chronic pain through surgical procedures so warriors can better focus on treating PTSD.    
• Enhance and expand efforts to diagnose and treat traumatic brain injury and add a TBI track for Special Operations Forces.    
• Research novel mental and brain health treatment options and how veterans respond to treatment. One study will look at how artificial intelligence can identify how a veteran responds to specific treatments.     

Just in time for Veteran’s Day, Wounded Warrior Project’s Erin Fletcher, Psy.D will talk more about the Warrior Care Network, discuss some of the challenges veterans face when they return to civilian life and how her organization is helping veterans in their time of need. She’ll be joined by veteran, Tonya Oxenide who will share her experience with PTSD and how the Wounded Warrior gave her the outlet that she needed to treat this condition.    

For more information, please visit www.woundedwarriorproject.org    

MORE ABOUT ERIN FLETCHER PSY. D.:
Erin Fletcher, Psy.D. serves as the Director of Wounded Warrior Project’s Warrior Care Network. Erin collaborates with the four Academic Medical Centers that compromise WWP’s Warrior Care Network to foster Network alignment regarding program implementation and delivery. Warriors taking part in Warrior Care Network receive a year’s worth of mental health care during a 2–3-week intensive outpatient program, using evidenced-based treatments with alternative therapies. Erin has over 15 years of mental health experience working with adults in a variety of treatment settings. Prior to working for Wounded Warrior Project, Erin served as the Clinical Director of an intensive outpatient treatment program for adults with anxiety disorders.    

MORE ABOUT TONYA OXENDINE:     

Tonya Oxendine joined the United States Army a year after finishing high school — mostly, she says, to run away from a very difficult childhood and abusive family. Unfortunately, it turned out she left one abusive situation only to find another. She was raped in basic training and endured years of sexual harassment and assault thereafter. The abuse continued on-and-off until she’d attained a high enough rank that no one could get away with it anymore – about halfway through her 30-year military career. Yet instead of seeking help, she felt she had to remain silent and keep the pain and emotions bottled up inside. Tonya felt honored to be given the responsibility to serve her country and she didn’t want to jeopardize that. But eventually, during Tonya’s last deployment in Afghanistan, all of the pent-up emotions started to take a toll on her mentally. But it would be two more years before Tonya finally sought help for her post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the severe depression and anxiety she was experiencing. She received mental health treatment at Emory Healthcare — part of WWP’s Warrior Care Network — which helps veterans like Tonya who are living with PTSD.