November 27, 2019
By uclahealth 
“I was part of a female engagement team, and we were helping an all-girls school that had been blown up by the Taliban rebuild,” recounts Yoland Poullard, an Army veteran who came to Operation Mend for help with her survivor’s guilt. “I was transitioning to Kabul when my team went out on a convoy to […]
Tags: featured, intensive treatment program, PTSD
November 27, 2019
By uclahealth
“When I lost my arm, I felt like I lost my identity,” admits 46-year-old Darius Johnson, who was an infantryman and squad leader in the United States Army. “My first sergeant stepped on an IED, detonated it and took my arm in 2011. After that, I went straight into work for two and a half […]
Tags: featured, patient stories, PTSD
November 7, 2019
By uclahealth
“After 22 years of being around numerous explosions and jumping out of airplanes, it finally caught up to me,” reflects 51-year-old Tad Steckler, who was an Army engineer dealing with explosives and demolition. “Before Operation Mend, I was easily irritated, lacked an ability to focus, and couldn’t remember things. I knew what was happening to […]
Tags: featured, patient story, PTSD, TBI, traumatic brain injuries, Veterans Day
August 27, 2019
Keeping Families Close As They Heal
By uclahealth
This summer, UCLA Operation Mend took another step toward removing barriers to care for warriors by giving their children the opportunity to travel to Los Angeles together with their families. Children of patients participating in the intensive treatment program this past July were enrolled in the UCLA Recreation Summer Camp for three weeks, while their […]
Tags: featured, intensive treatment program, outpatient program, PTSD, TBI, UCLA Operation Mend, veterans, Warrior Care Network, Wounded Veterans, Wounded Warrior Project
June 13, 2019
Veterans with PTSD need integration into the family, not isolation
By uclahealth
When it comes to helping a veteran with PTSD, families too often tend to focus the majority of their physical, emotional and mental resources into taking care of that person, inadvertently creating an imbalance that can both constrain the veteran’s healing and further stress the family. Dr. Jo Sornborger, director of psychologic health for the […]
Tags: Dr. Jo Sornborger, mental health, Operation Mend, psychological injury, PTSD, UCLA Health Operation Mend, veterans, wounded warriors
February 7, 2019
By uclahealth
Clare Suomi and her family volunteered to become an Operation Mend Buddy Family back in 2009. In 2016, after lovingly caring for five warriors and their families, Clare happened upon a job opening for a Buddy Program Coordinator and knew it was perfect for her. Clare, who quickly earned the nickname “Clarebear,” is an incredible […]
Tags: Buddy Family, psychologic support, PTSD, UCLA Buddy Family Program, UCLA Operation Mend, veterans, Warrior Care Network, Wounded Warrior Project, wounded warriors
January 31, 2019
Treating the invisible wounds of war
By uclahealth
“I left the Operation Mend program in a much better place mentally and spiritually. You really do feel better when you come out of it,” says U.S. Marine John Kob, who went through UCLA Operation Mend’s intensive outpatient treatment program for PTSD and TBI, offered in partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project. With a total […]
Tags: brain injury, intensive treatment program, PTSD, TBI, UCLA Operation Mend, veterans, Wounded Care Network, Wounded Warrior Project
September 25, 2018
Ask the Doctors – How risky are ‘magic mushrooms’?
Dear Doctors: I see that psilocybin mushrooms – what we used to call magic mushrooms – are being studied now as a possible treatment for PTSD and depression. I’ve struggled with severe depression my whole life. Would it be risky for me to give magic mushrooms a try? In a word – yes. Although emerging […]
Tags: Anxiety, Ask the Doctors, Controlled Substances Act, depression, Dr. Eve Glazier, Dr.Elizabeth Ko, magic mushrooms, psilocybin, PTSD, Schedule 1 substance
November 8, 2017
Operation Mend patients to travel to New York City for nation’s largest Veterans Day parade
By Amy Albin 
Cities around the nation will hold Veterans Day parades on Nov. 11 to honor U.S. military veterans. The biggest parade of all will be in New York City, where more than 40,000 participants, cheered on by hundreds of thousands of spectators, are expected to march along a 1.3-mile route on Fifth Avenue. And, for the […]
Tags: intensive treatment program, physical rehabilitation, PTSD, TBI, UCLA Health Operation Mend, Veterans Day, Warrior Care Network, Wounded Veterans, Wounded Warrior Project
June 9, 2017
Parents with PTSD shouldn’t keep kids in the dark
By Leigh Hopper 
Parents, if you have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), don’t keep it from your kids. Talk to them. That’s the message this June, PTSD Awareness Month, from Tom Babayan, a licensed marriage and family therapist at UCLA. Babayan, who helps veterans communicate with their children about their PTSD symptoms, says these conversation can be powerful. His […]
Tags: parents, PTSD, PTSD Awareness Month, PTSD symptoms, Tom Babayan
