Operation Homecoming, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Department of Defense, has invited Associate Professor Joan Broderick, PhD to consult on research to evaluate the effectiveness of an expressive writing program for military service members dealing with both traumatic brain injuries and post traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Broderick is a clinical psychologist with expertise in the use of trauma-focused expressive writing as a behavioral health intervention. | |
| Operation Homecoming was created in 2004 by the NEA to help U.S. troops and their families write about their wartime experiences. This year the writing workshops will be incorporated into a four week, intensive medical protocol provided to service members at the newly opened National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. The facility is designed to provide state-of-the-art care to service members affected with “the signature wounds” from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder. |  |
| National Intrepid Center of Excellence | |
| On June 18 and 19, Dr. Broderick traveled to Bethesda to participate in a research working group charged with developing strategies for measuring the effectiveness of the Operation Homecoming expressive writing program. Multiple studies over the past 40 years have demonstrated that expressive writing can aid victims of trauma by reducing symptoms, elevating mood and increasing quality of life. The medical staff at the NICoE hope that Operation Homecoming will have similar benefits for returning service members and they have called upon Dr. Broderick and other experts to help them increase t | |
