Mental health teams embedding to fight stress

Mental health teams embedding to fight stress
By Trista Talton - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Dec 6, 2009 9:01:12 EST

The Marine Corps is sending more mental health teams to the front lines in hopes of better treating an emotionally strained force.

Operational Stress Control and Readiness, or OSCAR, teams will soon be assembled at the battalion and company level, putting mental health support services much closer to combat troops, according to Marine Administrative message 667/09, signed Nov. 23.

These teams include mental health professionals such as Navy psychiatrists and corpsmen trained as psychiatry technicians. They were requested by operational commanders and have served previously as part of a pilot program to train and deploy mental health professionals with Marine regiments and groups. Embedding mental health support down to the company level will make it easier for Marines, especially those leery of seeking help, to get the services they may need, officials said.

Through prevention, early identification and intervention with stress-related problems, OSCAR teams will help “keep Marines and sailors in the fight,” according to the message.

The program creates full-time billets within Marine divisions and infantry regiments, positions that will be filled by psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, mental health clinical nurse practitioners and psychiatric technician corpsmen on loan from naval hospitals.


Rest of article at: http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/12/marines_oscar_120509w/